Toy Crafting Christmas Decorating Ideas

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85 DIY Christmas Crafts to Add Personality to Your Home in an Instant

Put your creativity— and hot glue gun — to the test!

Photographed by Antonis Achilleos. Craft Stylist: Blake Ramsey. Prop Stylist: Helen Quinn.

Between juggling work and family commitments, it might feel impossible to make time to decorate your home for the holidays. You might think your only option is scrambling to find a few decorations at your local retailer, but this isn't the case. Carving out a bit of time to enjoy a crafting session with your family is a great way to create memories and make your home more inviting for the holiday season.

There are tons of Christmas crafts for beginners as well as more advanced creators that can bring your space to life. Pick from colorful wreath designs using things like gift bows and candy holders to unexpected Christmas trees made of mittens or yarn. What's more, these ideas are inexpensive and many of them simply call for using household items that you already own, whether it's cardboard boxes or fabric scraps. Click through for some of our favorite DIY Christmas crafts that are worth trying this year.

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Mitten Christmas Tree

If your family has more mittens than you can count, round them up to create a playful Christmas tree. Add a few colorful pom-poms to the mix for visual interest.

SHOP MITTENS

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Candy Cane Place Card Holder

Bring more holiday cheer to your dinner table by resting place cards — preferably with names written in calligraphy — on mini candy canes.

SHOP PLACE CARDS

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Glitter Tape Candle Holder

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Gift Bow Wreath

If your kids had enough of holiday gifts adorned with bows, reserve them for your front door. This creative wreath idea is good enough to use for years on end.

SHOP GIFT BOWS

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Candy Cane Decor

If all of your candy canes didn't make it onto your Christmas tree, use the extras as heart-shaped garland or candle holders.

SHOP PILLAR CANDLES

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Christmas Straws

Pretty red and white striped straws are just begging to be topped with die-cut holly leaves and berries.

SHOP STRAWS

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Christmas Light Napkin Rings

Rather than toss your old Christmas bulbs, repurpose them into festive napkin rings. Simply place a loop of red and white baker's twine at the bottom of the bulb using hot glue. Tie your new creations around your favorite rolled napkins.

SHOP BAKER'S TWINE

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Holiday Shakers

Who doesn't love a good holiday shaker? Show off your creativity by turning basic salt and pepper shakers into eye-catching holiday decor. Place everything from deer to evergreens inside your shakers for a cheery holiday look.

SHOP SALT & PEPPER SHAKERS

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Holiday Card Tree

Go for a mix of vintage and current holiday cards to make a creative Christmas wall tree. It can also serve as the perfect photo opp for family and friends.

SHOP CHRISTMAS CARDS

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Plaid Shirt Ribbons

To experiment with a country-inspired gift-wrapping look, cut strips out of your unwanted plaid shirts (make sure the pattern appears inside and out). Next, create a fringe effect by pulling the loose threads. You can even sew multiple pieces together to lengthen the stripes if necessary. Tie your plaid strips around your presents and spruce them up with doilies, candy canes, and ornaments.

SHOP DOILIES

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Garland Card Holder

Enhance garland with your favorite holiday cards and decorative acorns for a festive look.

SHOP GARLAND

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Yarn Gift Toppers

Take advantage of all the extra boxes you have lying around the house and use them for gift-giving. Wrap them in kraft paper and add a tree motif on top out of green and red yarn.

SHOP KRAFT PAPER

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Thread Spool Wreath

Up for a simply DIY wreath? Grab your stash of empty spools and wrap them in ribbon. Hang your new wreath with wire, and you're ready to welcome holiday guests!

SHOP THREAD

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Button Gift Toppers

Yes, you can hot glue buttons right on top of gift-wrapping for an impressive presentation.

SHOP BUTTONS

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Fabric Wreath

Don't let your sewing scraps go to waste. Turn them into a colorful wreath to give them new life.

SHOP FABRIC

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Leaf Paper Garland

Snag construction paper in two complementary green shades and cut out leaf patterns to make your own Instagram-worthy garland for your mantel.

SHOP CONSTRUCTION PAPER

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Snowball Wreath

Who would have thought that styrofoam balls could look so good? They're just what you need to make a crafty-looking wreath. All you have to do is apply the styrofoam balls to a wreath form with hot glue, allow them to dry, and top it off with a bow and wire for hanging.

SHOP STYROFOAM BALLS

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Ladder Advent Calendar

Decorative ladders are versatile, especially for the holiday season. Let yours function as an advent calendar this year. Tie ribbon across each rung of the ladder, and then use them to hang numbered burlap bags.

SHOP LADDER

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Cross-Stitch Ornament

You don't need to be a crafting pro to make something truly breathtaking. Even beginners can have fun cross-stitching this ornament with our easy-to-follow pattern.

GET THE PATTERN

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Embroidery Hoop Ornaments

Can you cross-stitch? If so, you can crewel embroider a festive pattern on a small embroidery hoop, and get that DIY feel onto your tree.

SHOP EMBROIDERY HOOPS

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Pinecone Wreath

Bring a little bit of the outdoors to your front door. Start by laying out the pinecones in the shape that you want. Then, hot glue all of the pinecones to a wire wreath form, starting with the main circle. Continue to glue the pinecones into five-pointed-star shapes. You may need to use a little wire and extra hot glue to secure a few pinecone tips that are hard to line up.

SHOP PINECONES

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Candle Cutouts

This one is for serious crafters, since you'll need a Cricut machine. Use machine to cut out the tree design template on white vinyl. Then, you can just peel off the design and stick it onto the bottom of a hurricane candle holder.

SHOP CANDLE HOLDER

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Filled Glass Ornaments

There are a million ways to fill a glass ornament for a one-of-a-kind decoration for your tree. You can use bottle-brush trees, jingle bells, sprigs of pine branches, colorful feathers — whatever strikes your fancy. You can also coat the inside with white glue (you have to shake it around to get it even), then fill it with colored glitter — which will stay on the inside, and not rub off on your hands year after year.

SHOP GLASS ORNAMENTS

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Reindeer Place Cards

Rudolph with your nose so bright, won't you find my seat tonight? These deer place cards are extra festive when you glue gold or silver glitter onto the antlers.

SHOP DEER FIGURINES

Marisa LaScala Parenting & Relationships Editor Marisa LaScala covers all things parenting, from the postpartum period through empty nests, for GoodHousekeeping.com; she previously wrote about motherhood for Parents and Working Mother.

Caroline Picard Health Editor Caroline is the Health Editor at GoodHousekeeping.com covering nutrition, fitness, wellness, and other lifestyle news.

Monique Valeris Senior Home Editor, Good Housekeeping Monique Valeris is the senior home editor for Good Housekeeping, where she covers decorating ideas, home tours, gift guides and more.

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