yule/ christmas decorating

[misschief]

does anyone make things to use as yule/xmas decorations out of just regular stuff you have around the house? i thought it would be cool to make some things with my kids to put up, but don't want to buy stuff for it. if anyone has ideas let me know :).

[Amadore]

For kids, I suggest making decorations out of paper. They're easy and fun. Christmas wreaths can be made out of green and red papers. Snowflakes are also lots of fun(fold a white piece of paper several time, cut out random shapes, unfold.)

As for the wreaths that I was talking about, there are several different types you can make.

If you have really young kids, then the paper-plate wreaths would be the best. (Take a paper plate, cut out the middle, paint the plate green and glue on bits if breeen and red papers to make holly berries and such. You can also take ribbin and tie a bow over it.)

I found some websites with step-by-step instructions for more complex crafts:

http://www.make-stuff.com/hollidays/tube_wreath.html
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/hdwreath.html
http://www.kidsdomain.com/craft/candycane.html

I hope I helped!!

[Faery-Wings]

Votive holders- tissue paper in whatever colors you choose to represent the season, white glue and glass votive holders. I thin out the glue with a bit of water and then add some glitter to it. Decoupage the tissue onto the glass. When it is dry you can write on the date or year the kids made them.

I always use tealights in mine, cuz I have a fire phobia, but I know other people have done this and used votives. Either wa, they look so pretty when lit.

[mucgwyrt]

Mothwench did something totally fantabulous last yule - she got a load of hazel and hung it from the ceiling and hung speshal cookies in the earth shape (circle with a cross through it) from them and sparkley bits...

There's a picture in her album :uhhuhuh:
http://www.mysticwicks.com/photoalbum//displayimage.php?album=6&pos=16

[Jackiedanielz]

I remember I used to take 1 inch think stips of red & green paper, glueing them at the ends to make circles & used to make chains, which we either hung up aound the house as a swag or used on the tree.

You could also string popcorn or cranberries around the tree too!

We also used to do the snowflakes that Amadore suggested, I still love doing those.

If you have cotton balls you can make snowmen. Just use paper plates or thick paper & glue the cotton to that to make Frosty!:damncold:

If you have any extra ribbon, material, or even oragami paper you can make ornaments together. Even with candy canes, you can decorate them to look like reindeer using pipe cleaners & small cotton balls & jiggly eyes. :ahhhh:

[Tanya]

We are outdoorsy witches in my family, so we set off with a pair of clippers into the woods and trim small (so as not to hurt the tree too much ) pieces of pine. there has been lots of mining where we live and thus lots of government pine trees planted now some thirty years back. we gather pine cones too and come back with our big load and put it on mantles, and with a staple gun around door ways and weave in little white lights, and add electric candles in the windows with more greens. We either spray paint the pine cones with gold paint or roll them in thin glue and glitter and stuff them here and there in the greens. One can also gather crows foot and other ground greens, again being most careful not to impact the site where we gather. We also look for big pine cones under neighborhood trees then make a nasty mix of fat and peanut butter and bird seed and slap it on them, (messy work and my 2 year old was a bird in the last life and loves the goo) With florist's wire I make a loop and we tie on a bow and decorate our trees ourside for the birds.

We also make cinnamon ornaments.... I'm sure you could find the recipe with a quick google search. they smell lovely, but are fragile. after Yule i usually throw them in drawers to keep them smelling sweet.

bb
Tanya

[wakywitch]

For years I have used the snowmen,snow flakes and other wintery art projects my son has made at school. They go up on the doors and in the windows--snow flakes.