8 Easy DIY Ideas for #ChristmasDecor

I am a self-confessed festival buff  and Christmas is no exception! 
This year around I found myself looking up the carton labeled X-Mas decorations a tad earlier than my usual last minute scramble. The ornaments looked pretty sad and old to me. The market survey didn't yield anything fancy either. 
And so...Tada! Presenting my DIY Christmas Decor. Yep, the ones I created on my MIA days on social media. I can't tell you how chuffed I was putting on my creative cap and indulging myself with good ol' paints, glitter, glue et al! 
These are super-easy DIY's and I strongly recommend you do these activities with the kids, you'll have an amazing time creating your own Christmas Decor this year!
Did I tell you I am a junk queen? Ah, well, I like to collect and hoard junk. 
So most of my DIY here will be recycling junk.

1) Triangle Flag Banners/ Pennant Banners/Bunting:
Let's start of with this really simple triangle flag banners or pennant banners. 
They are super-quick to make and will brighten up any space.
I had only some plain red and white paper, so I cut some strips of red paper and punched some red and white dots to get some striped and polka effects. 
Just cut the papers into triangles and stick them onto a cord and your pennant banner is ready!

If you are planning to use the banner where it will be seen back and front, 
1. Cut the paper into diamond shapes and fold them at the center so you get a triangle.
2. Place the cord in the center of the diamond and glue the ends of the triangle together.

 

2) Recycled bottle decor:
I've used these thin tall plastic 'mukhwas' or mouth freshner containers. You could use any glass jar, the jam/pickle jars.

To make the first set, 
1. Fill a quarter of the bottle with sea-salt crystals - it really looks like snow!
2. Drop in the ready-made sparkly Christmas tree ornament into it. I didn't need to fix or glue it.

3. Dot on the outer surface, silver glitter glue from the top of the bottle upto the level where your 'snow' begins.
4. Cap the bottle and tie a ribbon bow.

For the second set,
1. Just roll some festive looking paper into a slim roll that is less than the diameter of the mouth of the bottle and slip it in.
2. On the outside, stick some lace, decorative adhesive tape like I've done.
3. Cap the bottle and tie a bow with ordinary cord.

How about some Christmas tree ornaments?

3) The Eureka Bulb Ornaments:
I had a few discarded small bulbs. They are the right size for ornaments but don't fret, the regular-sized bulbs will do fine too.
1. Paint the bulbs with two coats of acrylic pearl finish paints. They look pretty enough already! 
2. Tie a metal wire or knitted wool/cord  securely around the holder so that you can hang your ornament on the tree.
2. Try some of the ideas I've used to make a smiley yellow fruit, a pink and lavender ombre sequinned orb, a brown perky reindeer, a cosy white snowman.

4) Recycled Bottle ornaments:
Time again for some bottle art. I do have an awfully large hoard of these!
This time I picked some tiny jam jars. You could use baby food jars if you have them. They're the right size for hanging.
1. Punch two holes on the bottle-cap to pass your metal wire/cord and knot it on the inner side. If your caps are not pretty, paint them in shiny metallic silver or gold.
2. Fill the bottles with shiny sequins, shells, colorful confetti or just paint it and your tiny ornaments are ready!
   

5) DIY Snowflakes:
You could make them in different sizes and stick them on the wall next to your tree.

Here's an easy DIY tutorial to make snowflakes. I learned from it and it works great!
Just cut them out of simple white paper and cover with shiny silver glitter glue or make them from silver craft paper.



 

6) Recycled Laundry-Scoop Treat-Tree:
Egads! I can't believe how many of these I have - laundry scoops! My particular detergent has these generous heart-shaped scoops, you could use regular rectangular or oval shaped ones too!

1. Punch holes on the scoop handles and slide them onto a sturdy plastic tube (I used a plastic arrow from a discarded toy set). You could use a wooden or metal rod too, only ensure your hole isn't too wide or the scoops will just slide down.

2. Paint the tube in brown or cover it with brown craft paper.

3. Next, using sufficient amount of white M-seal fix the scoop tree onto a base. This is important so that your tree doesn't wobble. I used an old saucer as a base. Allow it to dry overnight with proper support so that you don't end up with a leaning tree.

4. For the tree top, you could make a tree like I did with corrugated paper strips.

5. Place the tree top onto your scoop tree, cover the tree base with sea-salt crystals and load your tree with treats!

I am still left over with a pair of spoons, so here you are:
7) Confetti snowman ornament and a flower cart.

8) DIY Christmas Tree:

This is a super easy way to have your own wall-hanging Christmas tree.
1. Gather some sturdy sticks, fallen branches in incremental length. If you can get hold of bamboo sticks, great! I picked up these sticks on my evening walk and they were not the best pick, not really as straight as I would have liked them to be!
 Arrange them with a central spine and the rest assembled length-wise.

2. You could then paint them with acrylic paint or any wall paint. I had purchased a 200ml golden wall paint sometime ago and I used that. You could have an all white painted tree with silver glitter on it!

3. Now tie the branches with some sturdy twine. I glued on some golden ribbon bows in the front to cover the twine.

4. Through the central spine pass another twine/metal wire by drilling a hole into the branch so that you can hang your tree.

5. There you are done, your tree is ready to hang with all your favorite ornaments!

6. Add a zig-zag string of fairy lights and you are all set to for the festive season!

Stay tuned to Relax-N-Rave's Home-N-Interiors Page for some more easy DIY's for the festive season! 
You could check out my Pinboard on Pinterest
And yes, my tree will be up soon!! 
Till later, 
Happy Decorating!
Stay blessed all you lovely folks!

Here I am, updating this post with my little tree and the gifts underneath!

Gifts have been wrapped in newspaper, brown paper wrappings, jute bags, paper bags etc.

­­Copyright © 2017 KALA RAVI