20 DIY Christmas Decorations That Are Way Cooler Than The Ones You Made in 2nd Grade

When I was a kid, the best thing ever was decorating the Christmas tree.  We had a room with cathedral ceilings which meant we could get, like, a 12 foot Christmas tree.  My dad would buy the tree, bring it home, let it stand on the back porch for a few days to let the branches fall and then it would come inside the house.

Which was not an easy feat, it being a 12 foot tree and all.  I remember that feeling of being an impatient child and just dying to put the ornaments on, but my mother had a system.  First the lights.  String after string of colored lights.  Then the garland.  More silver and gold garland than I had ever seen before, or ever have since.  Then my mother would take a step back and give the tree a discerning look.  She’d tweak and fuss until those lights and that garland were perfectly distributed over that tree.

Finally, she’d give us the go ahead to start hanging the ornaments.

Ok, so I’ve set a scene of Christmas perfection, haven’t I?  Well, I have to tell you, perfect, it was not.  Once the ornaments started getting hung, it all kind of fell apart.

Sometimes it was a literal falling apart, as in the popsicle sled I made in 2nd grade fell apart and sometimes it was a figurative falling apart, as in, these ornaments are hideous and they are going to ruin Christmas.  We had every arts and crafts ornament that the three of us kids had ever made and I’m done lying to you.

They weren’t cute.  They weren’t precious.  They were ugly and there was no reason to be sentimental about them.  And it didn’t stop at the tree.  We made ugly Santa faces out of construction paper, snowflakes out of QTips…  It was not the sweet moment in the Hallmark movie when the family pulls out lovely little handmade trinkets.  These things were poorly made, half broken and fully ugly.

Well, no more, my friends.  If you know me, you know I love hand made anything.  But handmade can be totally beautiful AND sturdy enough to carry you through generations of Christmases.

And I have proof.  I found 20 DIY Christmas Decorations that are way better than the one’s we made in 2nd grade that my mother felt obligated to put on the tree.  Yes, I know now that it was only out of obligation that she used these ornaments because as soon as I had my own house and my own Christmas tree, she bestowed those ornaments to me and she whipped out the most beautiful gold and white Christmas tree you have ever seen the very same year.

20 DIY Christmas Decorations

Add some artwork to your tree in 10 minutes with these diy temporary tattoo ornaments!

DIY Temporary Tattoo Ornaments from The Crafted Life

I had a hard time deciding which of these DIY Christmas Decorations to start with.  I picked this DIY from The Crafted Life because I love the way it looks and I love that it uses a totally unique material: temporary tattoos.  That’s not something I would ever have thought of on my own and I think it’s genius.  Completely customizable to match whatever theme or color scheme you choose for Christmas.  And how easy is it to just pop a temporary tattoo on the ornament?

DIY Christmas decoration | Upcycled holiday decoration | Easy & budget friendly crafts | Whimsical Tabletop Christmas Trees | Repurposed & Upcycled #diy #Christmas #crafts | TheNavagePatch.com

Whimsical Table Top Trees from Navage Patch

Whimsy and Christmas should go hand in hand.  These trees from Navage Patch are completely adorable.  They remind a little of The Grinch and Whoville.  I think the white feather one is my favorite, but the mossy green one is really cool, too.  I’ve made something along the same lines of yarn.  Which just so happens to be next on my list!

DIY Yarn Christmas Tree

DIY Yarn Tree from Lifestyle for Real Life

This little tree is one of my all time favorite projects.  The materials are simple and I bought them all at the craft store, so nothing fancy to do here.  You can choose whatever yarn suits your decor, so go as colorful or traditional as you want.  I think these would be gorgeous with a thick white yarn and maybe a less textured bottom and maybe just some gold baubles added.  I think I know what my next project will be!

Photo Transfer Christmas Ornaments

Photo Transfer Ornaments from Landeelu

I absolutely love the idea of having pictures on your Christmas tree.  These photo transfer ornaments from Landeelu are the perfect way to display your loved ones on the tree.  I can see these done with all of your old Christmas card photos.  Because one thing I don’t like is plastering all of the Christmas cards we get on the wall.  Sorry, but I don’t.  It looks messy and chaotic and it makes me anxious.  There, I said it.  I’m not hanging your Christmas card this year!  Your kids are totally adorable, but they are not going on the wall.  Glad I got that off my chest.

DIY Marbled Christmas Ornaments from Lifestyle for Real Life

Here’s another great customizable ornament for your tree.  These cute little ornaments made by yours truly are just clear balls dipped in a mixture of nail polishes and warm water.  They are a smidge messy to make, but they are totally worth it. You can bang out a dozen of these in an hour. These would be really cute gift toppers, too!

DIY Wood Burned Ornaments from Lifestyle for Real Life

Okay, pardon all of the shameless self promotion, BUT, if you make one of these ornaments on this list, make it these DIY Wood Burned Ornaments.  You have to read the whole tutorial to understand why I loved making these so much.  They do require a wood burning tool, but you will find one million and one things to use the wood burning tool on after you’re done with this project.  I’ll give you a hint as to what makes these so appealing: burning wood smell in your kitchen.  It is the most relaxing thing ever.

 Finished rustic felt trees

DIY Rustic Felt Christmas Tree from Little House of Four

What do you know?  More whimsical Christmas trees!  These are from Little House of Four.  I think this year’s Christmas theme will be “A Very Whimsical Christmas”.  Are you in?  Can you just see it coming together in your mind?  Lots of pinks and pretty greens, cute Christmas music, not sappy depressing carols.  Dr. Seuss and Elf and A Christmas Story.  That’s my 2017 Christmas.

forlorn little tree

Woebegone Pines from Ann Wood Handmade

I know this is like 3 or more cutesy Christmas trees, but I could not leave these precious trees off the list.  They are so perfectly hand made. Precious is something that should be doted upon and that is what I feel when I look at these trees.  I want to place them on a shelf in December and carefully dust them every week and then gently wrap them in packing paper at the end of the holiday season only to reopen them and smile the following year.  SEE?  This is the way to do handmade.  You want all of those feels.

6 beautifully simple Scandinavian DIY Christmas decorations

Sadly I can’t find a source for these beautiful ornaments, but I wanted to share them because they are so perfectly simple.  These are Christmas chic.  These look crazy expensive, but you could make them for pennies.  Ok, dollars, but still.  I might have to switch the 2017 Christmas theme from Whimsical to Chic Scandinavian.

DIY Christmas ornaments – 10 printable coloring templates to make your own Christmas ornaments from paper | Find more Christmas printable activities and coloring pages at www.sarahrenaeclark.com/christmas

Printable Paper Ornaments from Sarah Renae Clark 

Ok, I love to include a printable in posts because, let’s face it, you don’t always want to pull out the glue gun.  These printable ornaments are extra special because they are also adult coloring pages!  So, you get a customizable ornament that you can spend a few minutes (hours) relaxing with while you color.  You’re welcome.

Christmas tree DIY with felt. Scandinavian christmas from stoffogstil.no / @stoffstil

DIY Felt Christmas Trees 

More chic Scandinavian.  I love working with felt.  It’s so inexpensive and it has such a great texture to it. I love the idea of using gray to tone down what can be slightly garish green and red.

DSC_1342 1

Sculpey Clay Gift Tags from Garden Mama

I love these sculpey gift tags and I have plans to replicate these only larger for the tree.  Sculpey clay is another one of my favorite crafting mediums.  It’s so simple and fairly inexpensive because a little goes a long way.  These are totally something the kids help out with, or if you wanted to do a ladies craft night, it would work for that, too.

FUR LETTERS-10

DIY Fur Letters from Place Of My Taste

These fur letters are so totally fluffy and cozy looking.  Christmas can be very shiny and metallic and a little bit of faux fur goes such a long way in creating a softness to a room.

Easy Poinsettia Christmas Wreath | anightowlblog.com

Poinsetta Christmas Wreath from A Night Owl Blog

This wreath says, I’m grown up.  I can have white stuff and not get it dirty.  It’s also super Christmas-y, obviously.  I love the way white stands out on the front door, too.  I have a basically white paper wreath that I use at Christmas and it really jumps out at you when you look at the house from the street.

These popsicle stick Christmas trees are so much FUN! They're so easy to make and you can decorate them however you want!

Popsicle Stick Christmas Tree Ornaments from One Little Project

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. This looks a little like the ornaments I was describing in the first couple of paragraphs that I hated.  But here’s what’s different about these.  They are fairly minimalist.  Also, they were clearly made with a glue GUN as opposed to a glue stick.  Why is this important?  Because with the glue gun, you stand a chance of keeping all three sides of your tree intact from year to year. Not like the two sided trees we used to hang on our tree.

Have I got you in the Christmas spirit?  Are you thinking to yourself that it’s way to early to make DIY Christmas Decorations.  It’s never too early!  Have you walked into a Michael’s in the past two months?  This is it.  It’s go time.  Making stuff can be the best part of your holiday. It’s definitely not going to be shopping, but I think you’ll find that if you take a few minutes every week to sit down and make something that you love, you’ll find that crafting IS your favorite part of the holidays.  I say it often and I mean it, there is nothing like having someone walk into your house and say, I love that adorable, whimsical, colorful, chic Christmas tree.  And then you get to say, Oh, why, thank you!  Thank you so much!  And then your friend says, Where did you get it?  Homegoods?  And then you get to say, oh, no, I actually made it!  Perhaps I am shamelessly arrogant, but that, my friends, is one of my favorite conversations in the world.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I need your help!  I want to know, seriously, which one should I make?  Do I go with the chic Scandi ornaments or the whimsical trees?  Should I do a different theme and color scheme for every room in the house?  Is that going over board?  Is it even possible to go overboard with Christmas decorations?  Is overboard one word or two?  I need you people!  Please leave me a comment and let me know which one is your favorite that you’d like to see me make and I swear, I will do it.  If you leave a comment.  I PROMISE you I will make the DIY Christmas decoration that you have requested.  I mean, I’m not going to send it to you in the mail or anything, but I will write a post about it and maybe I’ll even mention your name in that post and won’t that spread all sorts of Christmas cheer?  So, don’t be a Grinch!  TELL ME WHICH ONE TO MAKE.  The Christmas Spirit rests in your hands, people.  Do with it what you will.

If you liked it then you shoulda put a pin in it!

 

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