Handmade Christmas Crafting Projects
Have you heard of “anticipatory joy”? It’s the good feelings created by the experience of looking forward to something or the planning that goes into some future event or activity. We think that Christmas crafting is peak anticipatory joy! Taking time away from the busy stores to slow down and create special, personal touches for your Christmas season is a wonderful way to truly savor a season that often feels like a whirlwind.
Have you ever noticed that the holidays seem to rush past when the focus is on checklists and mass gifting? But you have the power to intentionally and joyfully make spirits bright this year—and always—by choosing a more thoughtful, handmade approach. There’s a reason personalized gifts are trending! Both creating and receiving a gift meant especially for one individual boosts connection and helps both the giver and recipient feel seen through the rush of activities and to-dos of the season. And isn’t coming together what Christmas is all about?
Christmas crafting is especially meaningful when you can enjoy it with friends and family. Nothing sounds better than turning on some Christmas music, warming up some hot cocoa, and pulling out the craft supplies for a day of chatting, laughing, and telling old stories with friends while we whip up a little holiday cheer!
Creative Handmade Christmas Ideas
Making DIY Christmas cards, handmade Christmas tree decorations, holiday gift tags, homemade advent calendars, and Christmas garlands are just a few of the options you have available in the realm of Christmas crafting that we’ll touch on here.
But that’s just the beginning! We’ve seen amazing Christmas crafts from our Stampin’ Up! community over the years. The sky’s the limit when it comes to creating paper crafts that will bring joy to your friends and loved ones this holiday season.
DIY Christmas Cards
DIY Christmas cards are one of the best ways to spread a touching dose of holiday cheer. Whether you’re sending a written annual update or including photo highlights from the year, making a handcrafted Christmas card is so much more special than store bought.
Just make sure you’ve got the basics on hand—good cardstock to serve as the card base, a paper trimmer to cut paper to size, quality adhesive, Christmas patterned paper to add layers of visual interest, and a sentimental message in the form of a stamp, color coordinating marker, or pre-printed holiday cutout.
And if you’re ever in doubt or in a hurry, keep a set of Mix & Match ephemera packs on hand to whip up a unique but simple DIY Christmas card in a flash! This is actually one of our favorite ways to create a batch of cards efficiently in one sitting. These packs are coordinated, making it super fun to experiment with a single card design using different cutouts. For instance, try putting one larger die cut image in the center of your card, placing a smaller premade sentiment overlapping it just to the right. Attach a small bow or some festive twine and voila—you’ve got yourself a simple pattern of a card that can be customized to your friends’ and families’ personalities and tastes!
Holiday Gift Tags
Easy holiday gift tags are another way to pack a personal punch! You can make a matched set or personalize each one to match the gift wrap or bow being used—hello, coordinated Christmas morning!
Gift tags are another simple handmade Christmas craft that pays big dividends, whichever creative route you choose. Plus, with pre-cut gift tags in a variety of shapes and styles, you’ll never get bored coming up with festive new designs or new gift ideas to attach them to. Add a handmade tag to a jar of hot cocoa mix for a delicious neighbor gift this holiday season!
DIY Christmas Tree Decorations
Everyone knows that the fan-favorite Christmas tree decorations are always the ones that mean something! Why not create handmade Christmas tree decorations for your family with a memory in mind? Or gather a group of friends to personalize their own DIY tree ornaments and commemorate the season together?
DIY Christmas tree ornaments can be made with any number of on-hand supplies, but a simple way to start (and end with a professional yet personal touch) is with a Christmas tree craft kit from Stampin’ Up! This self-contained kit is particularly popular for its versatility and style, providing everything you need (even the cutest miniature pinecones!) to create 9 unique and quality ornaments. They’re perfect for hanging on your own tree or for a gathering of friends to create their own unique Christmas crafts and memories that’ll last a lifetime. This Christmas ornament kit makes a perfect gift in itself!
Handmade Advent Calendar
Advent calendars are a highlight of the holiday season no matter your age, and making one that really speaks to your own family’s style and traditions can only add to the merrymaking. We love the idea of creating a papercraft advent calendar in the form of a personalized Christmas village, daily gift boxes, a hanging advent calendar, or one based on your own photos and memories of Christmases past! You’d be surprised what some folded paper, number stickers, and a little extra detail can do!
You could also delight the readers in your house by giving your holiday books festive covers and “unwrapping” one each night leading up to Christmas for a bedtime story advent that your kids will always remember.
Christmas Cutout Garland
A Christmas garland is the piéce de resistance of any mantle or staircase decoration come the holiday season. One of our favorite ways to create a festive garland is with holiday-themed die cuts strung on ribbon or baker’s twine. Consider using reindeer, snowman, Christmas light, pine tree, or even house punch silhouettes and adding details with stamps or pom poms (imagine the coziest little gingerbread houses like the ones pictured on the tags and cards below) and buttons (for outfitting Frosty) on your own garland, and then layering it with a string of felted wool balls or a real pine bough!
How To Host A Handmade Christmas Craft Night
As we all look forward to spending quality time together during the holidays, we’re hard-pressed to come up with many better ways than a craft night. And it doesn’t have to get fancy or involved! But we do know that slowing down and creating together builds uniquely powerful bonds, so why not host your own little event? Here are some of our favorite tips for bringing people together to get creative this Christmas season.
Time it right. The hustle and bustle can be tricky, but timing your craft night just right isn’t terribly hard. We suggest hosting it during the first week of December to kick the season off right. And don’t forget, an hour is plenty of time when the goal is simple handmade cards or gift tags (made easy with product) and connection!
Provide quality supplies. This certainly doesn’t mean getting all the advanced products and tools on the market—just that a few nice basics will do the trick! For most paper Christmas crafts you’ll need cardstock, adhesives, maybe a simple stamp set and ink, and a couple of extra embellishments to make things really fun and customizable.
Make it memorable. Again, it’s not about getting fancy—it’s just the little details that keep these events in our hearts. Try coming up with a theme (Nutcracker Christmas, anyone?) and provide a few snacks to complement it (we’re thinking mixed nuts, gingerbread cookies, and hot chocolate with mini candy canes for stirring—yum!).
That’s it—a sweet and memorable Christmas craft night in three simple steps!
Creating Lasting Memories through Christmas Crafting
While solo crafting can provide its own fun, creating lasting memories through Christmas crafting brings the festivities to elf-levels of merriment! Let the kids make their own patterns with Christmas cutouts, gather friends to make festive paper crafting wreaths, or do a DIY Christmas tree decoration swap with the neighbors! Whichever you choose, make more magic this holiday season with Stampin’ Up!
Want to see how the pros do handmade Christmas crafting? Connect with a demonstrator today!