Using assorted colors of construction paper (green and red works nicely), cut out strips of identical length and width, 1 inch by 6 inches . Form one strip into a loop, fastening shut with either tape, a staple, glue stick, or glue gun. Take another strip, of another color, and insert it through the first loop and fasten shut. You will now have two loops, linked together. Now simply repeat with the remaining strips. Alternate colors in a pattern for a great look.

This craft requires you to trace and cut 10 hand prints out of green construction paper or craft foam. Arrange four "hands" in the bottom row, overlapping slightly. Fasten together with glue stick. Next, maker a new layer out of three more "hands", and lay this on top of the first one you made, with just the fingers hanging over it. (See photo below.) Keep going, making another layer out of two hands, and finally making the last layer -- the of the tree-- from a single hand. Make sure everything is securely fastened down with glue stick.

To make it even more fun, decorate your tree. Cut out a gold star for the top, some round circles to be the ornament balls. Make strings of "garland" on the tree with glitter.

Need to make a whole lot of handprint trees? Order a super inexpensive kit! Now $3.49 per Unit (12 items per Unit).

Includes materials and instructions to make 12 handprint trees. Each tree is approximately 11” x 11 1/2” when assembled. Glue not included.

Baker's Clay "Cookie" Ornaments

Use our recipe below for Baker's Clay to make inexpensive ornaments. Make a batch of the dough, roll it out, and get out your holiday cookie cutters. After they bake and cool, you can paint them! Don't forget to punch a hole in the top of your ornament however, so that you can run a ribbon through it to hang the finished ornament. (An old pencil with the eraser missing from the metal holder works great! We also like using the end of a straw.)

Please note that baker's clay ornaments sometimes puff up in unexpected ways and areas. But don't throw them away when this happens-- just use your imagination when decorating to turn that puff into an interesting 3-d effect!

Baker's Clay

4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water

What To Do:

Mix ingredients together well, then knead by hand until smooth. If dough will not hold together, slow add in small amounts of extra water. Be sure to knead well!

Shape dough with hands or roll flat to cut with cookie cutters. (Cover work surface with baker's parchment paper, wax paper, or non-stick aluminum foil --or just flour lightly.) Bake items on a cookie sheet for one hour at 350 degrees. Note that thinner items will bake more quickly than thick items and may need to be removed sooner to prevent burning and cracking.

After cooling, you can paint your ornaments. We like to use regular markers to decorate as most kids can do fine detail with markers more easily than with a paint brush. And surprisingly markers do a great job! We also love using the glitter glue 3-D squeeze bottles add glitz and color.

When the paint, ink, and glue is dry, spray a layer of varathane plastic spray to help preserve your art and to give a shiny appearance.

Pasta Christmas Wreaths

To make this classic holiday craft, start with small plain paper plates (the size used for dessert). Now cut out the center. leaving the ridged, outer portion intact. Glue on macaroni to cover the wreathe-shaped paper plate -- any interesting shapes could be used -- and let dry.

Now, you can either spray paint the dry wreaths with gold or silver paint -- or paint them with green tempra paint (finger paint). If you use green paint, try brushing on a second coat of green glitter paint after the first coat of paint is dry -- or try mixing glitter paint with regular paint. Whatever you do, be sure to lay out plenty of newspaper to catch the drips or the overspray.

When the finished product is dry, tie on a bit of wide red ribbon, or chubby yarn, to make a bow. For an added step, you could brush the wreathe with a bit of glitter paint, glue on small or metallic pom poms. Have fun!

3-D Silver Bells

Ring-a-ling! Hear them ring! Made of paper cups, this project gives kids a real bell that they can ring or hang on the tree.

Supplies:

·       Purchase plain white paper cups, 6 or 8 oz size.

·        Purchase an equal number metallic silver “pipe stem cleaners”. (A craft project wire which is covered in a fuzzy fringe.)

·        Purchase one small jingle bell for each cup

To construct bells:

1.     Make 2 small holes in the bottom of the cup.   (Note: keep holes very small so that craft wire does not slip and slide once inserted.)

2.     Push one end of pipe cleaner through each hole

3.     Knot/twist pipe cleaner

4.     Slide bell onto one end/side of pipe cleaner

5.     Tie/twist pipe cleaner again

Silver Bells

Reuse those old cereal boxes to make something pretty! Instead of tossing them in the trash, cut them open and use their light cardboard for art projects like our silver bells. Print and cut out the Bell Shape Template, then use it to trace the bell shape onto the cardboard of the box. Next cut out the cardboard. Poke a hole so you can string through a ribbon or piece of yarn later for hanging your bell (but don't thread them through yet).

Now you're ready to use silver paint (or gold) to turn drab brown to gleaming metallic. After the paint dries, you can brush over the bell with glitter paint. Alternatively, you can cover the bell with white craft glue and then heavily coat it with shake-on glitter. Finally there's no rule that says bells have to be silver or gold! What about green, red, or magenta?

For an added touch, group your bells together in a mobile... or add a sprig of mistletoe, tied into the ribbon at the top of your bell.

Handprint Reindeer Antlers Headband

Using 12x18" construction paper, cut out a headband -- about two or three inches thick. Hold the band up to your head and wrap around to size it -- tighten to fit. Tape ends securely. Next, lay your hands on another piece of construction paper and trace, being sure to trace a little of the wrists (these will be the "tabs" that you use when attaching). Cut out the hand shapes and attach to inside surface of headband. Decorate, if you wish, with glitter.

Origami Stars

Make these stars out of metallic origami paper for dazzling ornaments you can hang on the tree, tape to windows, or tape onto packages.

Laminated Handprint Decoration
A fun way to make a keepsake of a little person's handprint,
this craft idea includes directions for including a photo.

Easy "Stained Glass" Cross Decoration

Make your own Holiday Cards

All you really need is some construction paper or cardstock (stiff paper), folded in half to make a great card. Make a picture of something you like or just make a pretty design with different colors of glitter.

More ideas:

Cut out shapes to glue on the front -- glue on three white circles of different sizes and stack them up to create a snow man, or cut out three green triangles and a thin brown rectangle and make it into a xmas tree.
Take a photo of yourself and glue on the front or inside of the card. (Ask permission first!)
Draw a holiday scene, cut an image of you out of the photo (so you look like a paper doll) and glue it onto the scene. (Ask permission first!)
Decorate the front of your card with a collage, using holiday images cut out of newspaper ads and old catalogs (ask permission before you cut).

DESIGN YOUR OWN CARDS KIT

Want slightly more formal cards, complete with envelopes? Order this kit of 4" x 6" Design-Your-Own Cards.
Set includes fifty cards and fifty envelopes. © OTC $5.95 per Unit (50 items per Unit)

Make Your Own Wrapping Paper & Gift Bags

Express your creativity by making your own gift bags and wrapping paper this year. One classic technique is to save brown paper bags from the grocery store (you or a parent can tell the clerk at the store you want paper bags if they usually give you plastic). To make wrapping paper, just cut the bag open and use the blank inner surface to decorate. When you wrap your gift just make sure that your decorations are showing!

To use those same paper bags to make a gift bag, simply paint over the store logo or advertisements. Spray paint, such as metallic gold or silver, works well for this. But you could also use tempra paints. Another good trick is to glue construction paper over the print, and then create some art on the construction paper.

Remember that your art doesn't have to be flat! You can cut out big red ovals and glue them on as the flower petals of a poinsettia. Use some little pom poms as the center of the flower. Or make a Santa Clause face and glue white cotton balls on for his beard, mustache, and bushy eyebrows. Don't forget the googly eyes and a red paper hat!

Try this kit for making small (4 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 5 3/4") gift bags.

REINDEER GIFT BAG CRAFT KIT

$7.95 per Unit (12 items per Unit)

Make Your Own Photo Frame

Make your own photo frames to give as gifts to friends and relatives. You can leave the frame empty for them to fill with a photo of their own, or you can fill it with a photo of your and your family. Kids used to makes frames by gluing popsicle sticks into a square shape, but you can make it easier (and fancier) by starting with one of these inexpensive kits. Each photo magnet craft kit below comes with enough supplies to make twelve frames.

Make A T-Shirt/Sweatshirt

You can buy a plain, undecorated T-Shirt or Sweatshirt at your local craft store or drug store (Walgreen's, Rite Aid, etc.). Bring it home, toss it in to wash in hot water to pre-shrink it. Dry it. And then get ready to make a fun and practical gift.

There are different ways to decorate your gift shirt: you can print out a photo or clip-art picture onto an iron-on T-shirt transfer (a picture of you could make a nice gift), then iron it on and decorate around it with fabric paints or fabric markers OR you could decorate the T-shirt with a design made from your handprints.

FABULOUS FABRIC MARKERS (8PC)
Kids can design t-shirts, caps and more! Set of 8 assorted colors.
$4.95 per Set

3 or more (Set) $3.95

CHRISTMAS BEADED IRON ON STICKERS

1 1/4" - 2" Assorted styles. (8 iron-ons
per sheet, 12 sheets per unit)

$3.95 per unit (12 sets per unit)

Make An Ornament for Someone Else

PENGUIN JINGLE BELL ORNAMENT CRAFT KIT
Includes materials and instructions to make 12 penguins. (Approximately 2 3/4” when assembled)

Glue not included.

$4.95 per unit (12 items per unit)

Apple Cinnamon Ornament

These are a sweet-smelling ornament that adds the fragrance of apple pie to your house! Hang it in the kitchen or dining room, or place it on the tree. To make, line a colander with heavy paper towels or cheesecloth and pour in a jar of applesauce. Let sit for one hour then remove drained applesauce to a mixing bowl. Add an equal portion of cinnamon (i.e. 1 cup sauce plus 1 cup cinnamon) and mix together to form a dough. Note that Costco is good source for bulk spices, as is most Indian markets.

Roll the dough out on wax paper to ¼ - ½ inch thick. From shapes by hand or use holiday cookie cutters, then use a straw to poke a hole in the top of each ornament for hanging later. Let dry for several days in a warm location. When your ornament is completely dry, slip a ribbon or yarn through the hole and make a loop for hanging.

Need Supplies?

SUPER MEGA HAPPY HOLIDAY CRAFT KIT

Super Mega Happy Holidays! Craft Kit. Wow! Foam shapes, paper 3-D ornaments, glitter, chenille stems, adhesive foam sheets, pompoms and cardboard frames. Mega Crafting Fun!ize="2"> $29.95 per Unit (1 item per Unit)

ADHESIVE BACK JEWELS (500PC)

ASSORTED COLOR WIGGLE EYES
1/4" - 1/2" Plastic Colored Wiggle Eyes.
Assorted Colors And Sizes. (150 Pcs Per Unit, Poly Bag With Header).

FANCY FABRIC PAINT Fancy Fabric Paints. Here's a great way for kids to express their individuality! Set of 8 assorted permanent colors in 4-oz. bottles. Conforms to ASTM D-4236. $14.95