All the Christmas Crafts

Update: I've decided that this is where all our Christmas craft tutorials will live, so even though this post is originally from 2014, its Christmas crafting game is current!

One of the reasons why I enjoy blogging is the feeling of re-discovering an old post, especially when it's something that I've otherwise forgotten completely about. That time when the younger painted the wall with peanut butter. The day that the older kid threw a fit in a modern art museum. A glimpse of her protectiveness toward her sister.

This particularly applies to Christmas crafts, since they're often done and displayed within the day, and I don't tend to keep them for the next year (gasp, I know!). So, in honor of Christmas Recipe Day and Christmas Craft Day and Christmas Ornament Day on our Advent calendar, and my deep desire to save some time and avoid reinventing the wheel, here's my definitive round-up of all of my Christmas crafts that I can unearth:

wooden stars

Big stars are tree toppers, and little stars are ornaments!

filled ornament

In my opinion, those clear glass baubles exist solely to be filled with cuteness.

Mason jar lid ring ornaments

There's scope for making any kind of art that you want to illustrate these ornaments.

light bulb Christmas ornament

This one uses a hollowed out light bulb as a base for a regular filled ornament.

paint-filled clear ornaments

This is a fun process-oriented craft... and it's good for using up the last bits of various paint pots!

painted holiday shirt

I was surprised at how much effort the younger kid put into this project. It turned out stinkin' adorable, too!

puzzle ornament

Do you love a puzzle that has some missing pieces? Turn your favorite perfect sections into ornaments!

cinnamon dough ornaments

This might be my favorite Christmas craft. We make them every year.

papier mache star

This is a super fun, super messy, VERY hands-on craft.

Icelandic laufabraud

The kids made this for their Geography Fair project in May, but it's actually a Christmas recipe!

steampunk snowman

For when your teenager gets into steampunk...

dipped pinecone ornaments

These are crazy pretty, and they last for freaking ever. I'm partial to the crayon-dipped ones.

popsicle stick ornaments

The more glitter, the better!

waffle cone Christmas trees

These are quicker and easier to make than gingerbread houses.

sticker Christmas cards

These were dead easy for me to organize and for the kids to make, and I think that they turned out really cute.

chalkboard gift wrap

This is especially fun, because you can do it right on brown paper (I do a lot of wrapping in brown paper bags).

upcycled CD wish list ornament

Some parents don't like it when I bring this project to our ornament crafting party, but I think it's cool to remember what the kids wanted most each year.

painted popcorn garland

The look cute even when they're plain, but if you've got some teeny spritz bottles, you can make them really special.

beeswax ornaments

I think that these would look even cuter poured more thinly, so I'm going to have the kids try that this year.

gingerbread houses, steps one and two

I don't go through all this trouble every single year, but when I do, this makes the most EPIC gingerbread houses of all time. I'm going to do it this year.

ornament Advent calendar

Starting with a coloring book of ornaments made this a super-easy toddler/preschooler craft.

overhead projector Christmas tree

It's been a while since we've whipped out the overhead projector--we pretty much only use it now for tracing images that we want to be large--but there was a time that this puppy could save any dreary day for me!

collage window card

This required parental wielding of the x-acto knife when the kids were littler, but their random selection of collage papers, and their distribution, looked quite artistic.

coloring page Christmas ornaments

If you've got a scanner, so that you can shrink down regular coloring pages either before or after the kids have colored them, then you can use pretty much any image here.

painted wooden Christmas ornament

This is another easy one for littles. You start with those wooden die cuts that you can get most places, and they don't even have to be holiday-themed--we've got some pretty sweet dinosaur ornaments on the tree, thanks to this craft!

used sandwich bag ornaments

The first time that we did this, the kids weren't old enough to iron. They like this project even more now that they can!

record album cover ornaments

These are so fun for the kids, now that they have the hand strength to cut through cardboard.

felted sweater stockings

I made these, but the kids definitely have the sewing skills to do this now.

Whew! Honestly, I don't even think that these are the entirety of all the Christmas tutorials that the kids and I have done over the years, but I've got to go take a shower, then put the younger kid's hair up in her flat performance bun, then get the kids to gather up all the stuff that they'll need for the rest of the day and evening (ballet uniform, quiet activity, school work, water bottle, and packed dinner for the younger kid, and aerial silks uniform, fat check for her recital costume, library books to return, water bottle, and packed dinner for the older kid), then drive them to Girl Scouts Co-op, then come back home and work out real quick, then drive back and pick them up, then drive the younger kid over to Matt's office and drop her off, then take the older kid to aerial silks, then take her to the library for LEGO Club, then go home and make and mail an etsy order. 

And oh, hell, I just this second got an email from the ballet department saying that the kid's got to bring foundation to her dress rehearsal tonight. Whatever kind of make-up foundation is, that's what I'm going to be buying instead of working out this afternoon.