Looking to make your Christmas decor unique this year? Nothing says one-of-a-kind Christmas like homemade decorations for your tree and home.
Not only are DIY decorations fun to make (the whole family can get involved!) and gorgeous to behold, they're also a money-saving solution in the expensive run-up to the festive season. Choose the colours, fabrics and prints you love to create homemade baubles and ornaments for your tree that you'll never tire of and that will always be in style.
We spoke to crafts queen Rachel Henderson and got her step-by-step guides on how to make four eye-catching tree baubles: a needle-felted Christmas pudding, a felted and embellished pom-pom, a wet felted Christmas tree and a recycled penguin.
Recycled Penguin
Materials needed:
Cardboard
A jam jar lid
A small piece of black, white, red and orange felt
2 x paperclips
UHU glue
A pair of scissors
1. To make base cover the bottom rim of the jam jar lid with strong glue, place onto a piece of cardboard, leave to dry for a couple of minutes then cut around lid.
2. Using the photo as a guide cut out chest, eyes, wings, beak and bow tie shapes from felt.
3. Position all felt shapes (apart from the wings) onto the front of the jam jar lid and attach using fabric glue.
4. Turn lid over so the cardboard base is facing and using the photo as a guide position wings at sides and two paper clips at the bottom for the feet and attach using strong glue.
5. Cut out a 12cm x 5cm piece of felt and attach ends to top of cardboard base to form a loop for hanging.
Wet Felted Christmas Tree
Materials needed:
12cm of coloured ribbon
Wool tops – green and red (you can also use spun pure wool)
Hand soap
A towel
A plastic cup
A sewing needle and thread
A mix of 15 colourful buttons and rhinestones
A piece of green felt
Fabric glue
A pair of scissors
1. Make 1 red and 15 green felted bobbles - break off some tufts of wool tops and use a scissors to cut these into little pieces. Use your fingers to separate the tufts as much as possible then roll the small whispy pieces of wool in your hands to form rough ball shapes.
2. Using a pair of scissors grate some hand soap into a cup/container filled with hot water and stir to form a soapy solution. Dip your whispy pieces of wool into the container and then try and squeeze out all of the water.
3. One by one place the ball shapes into the palm of your hands and roll in a circular motion, keep drying your hands as this speeds up the felting process. Continue to roll and dry until there are no cracks left in your bobble, sometimes this can take a little while!
4. Use a towel to remove any excess liquid then leave to dry.
5. Cut out a triangle of felt for backing and cover with fabric glue.
6. Using the photo as a guide position bobbles together onto of the felt backing to form a Christmas tree shape.
7. Place a mix of rhinestones and buttons onto Christmas tree and attach using fabric glue.
8. Cut out a 12cm piece of ribbon and attach ends to top of Christmas tree using a needle and thread to form a loop for hanging.
Felted and Embellished Pom-Pom
Materials needed:
12cm of ribbon
An oddment of pure wool
3mm Rhinestones
Cardboard
A sewing needle and thread
Embroidery thread
Fabric glue
A pair of scissors
1. Make a large wool pom-pom – cut out 2 cardboard circles (10cm diameter) and cut out two small holes through the centre of each one. Place card circles together and start to wrap strands of wool through centre holes and around outer edges. Repeat until you have 4 - 5 layers of wool then cut loops lying in between card circles. Now tie a length of embroidery yarn around cut loops (middle of card circles), secure with a knot and remove pom-pom.
2. Place the wool pom-pom inside a pillow case and tie with an elastic band.
3. Select a 40 degree cycle on your washing machine and wash the pom-pom along with a few other pieces of clothing so that it has something for it to bash against.
4. Remove pom-pom from pillow case and leave to dry.
5. Position small rhinestones randomly across the felted pom-pom and attach using fabric glue.
6. Using a sewing needle and thread attach a 12cm piece of brown twine to the top of the Christmas pudding to form a loop for hanging.
Needle Felted Christmas Pudding
Materials needed:
12cm of brown twine (alternatively use ribbon or felt)
A polyester ball (8cm diameter)
A single felting needle
Wool tops – brown, white, red and black
A sewing needle and thread
A clover punch tool
Green felt
A pair of scissors
1. Unravel small tufts of brown wool tops to create loose whispy pieces. Place these on top of your polystyrene ball and using the clover tool punch the wool into it. Continue to add layers of whispy pieces of wool and punch in until the polystyrene ball has been completely covered.
2. For the icing, take long thin pieces of white wool tufts and twist these together. Using photo as a guide position around the polystyrene ball to create a dripping effect and stab with your single felting needle to secure in place. Fill the icing area with layers of larger whispy pieces of white wool and punch with the clover tool.
3. For the fruit, position small wispy pieces of black wool randomly around the bottom and sides and stab with your single felting needle to create little solid circles.
4. To make three berries, wrap small tufts of red wool tops around your index finger to create loose little ball shapes. Position these onto the centre top of the bauble and using your single felting needle repeatedly stab one at a time moulding them into solid ball shapes.
5. Using the photo as a guide, cut out two holly leaf shapes from green felt, position at either side of the berries and attach by stabbing at the bottom edge with your single felting needle.
6. Using a sewing needle and thread, attach a 12cm piece of brown twine to the top of the Christmas pudding to form a loop for hanging.
"The key to ensuring homemade decorations are as chic as possible is to keep your displays simple. Don't mix too many different things together, use just a couple of ingredients rather than jumbling up lots of elements and repeat the look in pairs or groups for the most striking effect," says Kay Maguire, plantswoman and editor for Wyevale Garden Centres, who gives her tips on how to make decorated dry orange baubles, cinnamon bundles and pine cone-embellished wreaths and ornaments.
Decorated Dry Oranges
"Bring your garden indoors this Christmas by adding decorated dry oranges to your tree. Oranges give off the most amazing scent, but take a long time to dry, so start these early."
1. The simplest way is to cut thick slices and leave them on cooling racks to dry in the airing cupboard. If time is short you can speed things up by leaving them in a warm oven, once it is finished with and turned off, overnight.
2. Then thread a colourful ribbon through the edge of the slices and these look stunning hung in front of a window or Christmas lights, where the segments shine like miniature stain glass windows. Whole dried oranges can also be studded with cloves to make a fragrant pomander, or slit evenly around and then strung with ribbon. Use them as scented decorations on the dining table or hang them from the tree.
Cinnamon bundles
"Cinnamon is also a classic Christmas scent and little bundles bound in ribbon take us back to a more innocent, less commercial time."
1. Pile sticks together and wrap with an elastic band to hold them, before winding round some festive ribbon. They can then be hung on the Christmas tree, added to wreaths or attached to presents for a glamorous touch.
Pine cone wreaths/ornaments
"Help your Christmas tree look a little different this year by adorning it with pine cones. They are easy to gather throughout the year and the opportunities with them are endless."
1. Spray them with "snow" and attach a ribbon and a bead to its base - simply take a length of florist wire and wind it invisibly through the cone and then twist together until the wire is secure. The ribbon can then be threaded through the wire.
2. To attach a bead, thread it through another length of wire and twist this round the base of the cone.
Finally, get crafty with everything from your Christmas stockings to your wreaths with these three fabulous ideas from Hobbycraft: a linen stocking, colourful pom-pom wreath and fillable baubles.
Fillable baubles
Allow: 45 minutes to fill 4 baubles
You will need:
Fillable baubles
Selection of fillings – such as Gold bells, Raffia, glitter and pine cones
1. Open up your fillable bauble and insert the contents into one half.
2. Place the remaining half of the bauble over the first and push both together until they are secure. Make sure that the hole used to thread the twine through is at the top of the bauble and aligned on both halves.
3. Thread the twine string through the hole and make a loop, securing at the end with a knot.
4. It's then ready to be hung on your Christmas tree.
Pom-pom wreath
Allow: 3-4 hours
You will need:
Clover pom pom makers (35, 45, 65 + 85mm)
Polystyrene wreath 350mm
Read- made pom garlands x3
Mini glue gun
Scissors
Wool /Yarn in a variety of colours
1. Choose the colour combination of pom poms you would like to cover your wreath. I have used a mixture of brightly coloured wools and yarns of varying thickness and composition.
2. Start to make your poms using the Clover pom-pom maker. Use all four of the makers to give the wreath a variety of different sized poms and mix the colours of wool used in single poms to create unique colour combinations.
3. Using the mini glue gun stick the poms firmly to the polystyrene wreath.Try sticking the largest poms down first and arranging the smaller poms around them.
4. To fill in the smaller gaps on the wreath detach the pre-made poms and multi coloured poms by cutting the string and sliding them off.
Linen initial pom-pom stocking
Allow: 2 hours
You will need:
Linen stocking
Embroidery thread
Embroidery needle
Selection of wool/yarn
Gold bells
Fabric ribbon
Scissors
Clover pom pom makers (35, 45, 65, + 85mm)
Twine
Pencil
Needle and thread
Fabric glue (optional)
1. Start by drawing on your chosen initial/name with a pencil, and then embroider using a chain stitch.
2. Make a selection of different sized poms using your chosen yarns/wool (odd numbers work best). Make sure to leave a long tail thread when making up your pom poms, approximately 60 centimetres in length.
3. Once you have made all of the poms gather them all together and plait the loose ends together, forming a multi-coloured plait.
4. Plait lengths of twine approximately 60cms in length, securing with a knot at both ends, make sure to leave around 10 centimetres of twine un-plaited at one end after the knot so that you can attach the bells.
5. Thread the bells onto the twine and secure with a knot at the end of the twine.
Feeling festive?