Hot Christmas Ideas Posts
How To: Make Your Own Photo Snow Globe
As the holidays draw closer and closer, stores are getting more and more crowded, and of course, many have put off their Christmas shopping until the very last minute. Why not avoid the mall rush this holiday season and make a personalized do-it-yourself snow globe to gift to those closest to you? This is also a perfect opportunity to put of those cell phone photos that you've been snapping to use! What You'll Need
How To: No More Tape? Use These Tapeless Gift-Wrap Hacks on Last-Minute Christmas Presents
Every year I wait until the last minute to wrap Christmas presents. I always tell myself I'm going to get it done ahead of time, but it never happens. And the worst thing that can happen when you put it off is running out of Scotch tape.
How To: Make a Christmas style wreath bow
In this tutorial, we learn how to make a Christmas style wreath bow. First, cut a piece of holiday ribbon and pin it into place. After this, make a bow out of the ribbon. Next, curl the ends of the ribbon and pin them into the wreath as well. Use your fingers to make curls and waves in the ribbon to make it look like it's moving in the wind. Pin these securely into place. Once you are finished, hang up your wreath and enjoy the decorations! This is a great project to do that will save you a l...
How To: Draw a Christmas tree on MS Paint
The first step in drawing a Christmas tree in Microsoft Paint is to open up the program and click on the line button on the left hand side of the toolbar. Start with where you want the top of your tree to be. Click and pull down the cursor about an inch and a half on a 45 degree angle. Click again. Now take the cursor and go to the right about an inch. Click again. Repeat three more times making each 45 degree angle line a little bit longer than the last. It should zigzag angling towards the ...
How To: Hang a Christmas Wreath Without Damaging Your Door
Whether you choose to hang an authentic or artificial pine Christmas wreath on your door — or an entirely different type, like ones made of paper waste or even food — chances are you've spent a year or two struggling with how to keep your decor hanging. With one easy to apply, quick to remove trick, you can skip the shiny wreath holder and any further damage to your front door.
How To: Easy DIY Sparkle Ball Decorations for the Holiday Season
With the new year just around the corner, it's a time we all reminisce about the year that was. In the midst of families fighting over white elephant presents and the financial stress that comes with holiday gifting, you may also be dealing with the stress of hosting parties and get-togethers as well as the decorating that goes with it.
How To: Turn a plain white tablecloth into a festive Christmas tablecloth
This is a great Christmas DIY tutorial that shows you how to take a plain white tablecloth and use a star stencil, gold gel pen, glitter paint, felt scraps and a hot glue gun to add a festive holiday border.
How To: Forget Hallmark—Save Money by Making These Awesome Popup Pixel Christmas Cards
Greeting cards. Everyone hates buying them, they're way overpriced, and the majority of them go right in the trash after they're opened. So why do we still buy them?
How To: Make a Deliciously Accurate Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo Holiday Snack
There are very few times (if any) the word poo and delicious belong in the same sentence, but any fan of South Park (or chocolate) will appreciate this awesome Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo treat, created by Degroof.
How To: 60+ Free Paper Snowflake Templates—Star Wars Style!
Everyone knows how to make paper snowflakes, but the kind you learned to cut in kindergarten can get a little boring. However, they are free DIY holiday decorations, and they don't have to be a generic snowflake design. They can be anything you want, from nerdy math kirigami to all the Star Wars characters you can think of!
How To: 5 Weird & Easy Ways to Water Your Christmas Tree
Christmas trees, once decorated and brightly lit, are the penultimate holiday decoration, but authentic pines lose their brilliance fast without any nourishment. Plus, they are major fire hazards without regular hydration. But watering one requires a lot of sliding around on the floor, and it can be hard to tell how much water is in the bowl beneath the dark, prickly branches. These five hacks can help!
How To: Build Star Wars Christmas Tree Ornaments Out of LEGOs
LEGOs are more than just a toy for young children— it's an emerging art form combining photography, stop-motion (i.e., brickfilms), and imitative models that portray today's pop culture as it is. It's something visual culture analysts are sure to be studying over the next decade, and Chris McVeigh, from Halifax, Nova Scotia, is sure to be studied for his LEGO mastery.
How To: Fill in Ugly Bare Spots on Your Christmas Tree
You've found the perfect tree — or so you think. As hard as we try to display an ideal tree each year, both plastic and pine can disappoint, especially when you're shopping on the cheap.
How To: Make the Best "Ugly Christmas Sweater" Ever, Complete with Animated Burning Fireplace
Christmas sweaters are one of those anomalies that everyone complains about, yet so many are sold every year that someone has to like them (kind of like fruitcake). Whether you're keeping tradition for tradition's sake, or secretly you actually enjoy ugly sweaters (we won't tell anyone), why not at least make this year one to remember?
How To: Craft an intricate lacy paper snowflake decoration for Christmas
Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree...how beautiful would a Christmas tree be, though, without any ornaments? If you've finally hit the tree lot and picked out the perfect grand fir, make sure it shines bright by decorating it with several of these intricate lacy snowflake decorations.
How To: Draw and color a beautiful Christmas tree
Here's a neat little demonstration video on how to draw a Christmas tree using a pencil, an eraser and pen. This tree will be drawn with a more realistic looking drawing style, compared to the simplified abstract stack of triangles that people normally draw Christmas trees with. British children's author Shoo Rayner, writer and illustrator of over 200 books, shows you how.
How To: Fix Broken Christmas Lights Faster with a Lighter
The most annoying thing about Christmas lights is when one bulb blows, the whole string stops working. There's no easy way to tell which one is out when it's a huge strand, so it can take forever to fix.
How To: Don't Like Traditional Christmas Trees? Try Out One of These 7 Festive DIY Alternatives
The concept and structure of Christmas hasn't changed much since its inception. In its infancy, Christians recruited Roman pagans by associating Christmas with the Saturnalia, an ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn (also held in December). The pagans had long worshiped trees (as did other historical cultures) and would bring them into their homes and decorate them, something that influenced our modern holiday decorations. While certain things such as gifts and ornaments have b...
How To: Geek Up Your Holidays with These 10 Nerdy DIY Christmas Tree Ornaments
One of the more enjoyable parts of Christmas (other than opening gifts of course) is going out to find the perfect tree, struggle bringing it into the house, and decorating it. As the years went by, I realized that our tree looked exactly like every other tree in the neighborhood: the same lights, the same angel at the top, and the same red, green and white ornaments.
How To: Dress up a poinsettia plant with gold foil for Christmas
What's the easiest way to turn a plain old poinsettia plant you can get for cheap at the grocery store into a dazzling centerpiece that any hostess would appreciate as a gift? Add a beautiful gold foil wrap to the pot.
How To: Make a Spinning Optical Illusion Decoration for Christmas
The holiday season wouldn't be the same without decorations. Ornaments and fancy lighting brightens up a neighborhood and helps spread the holiday cheer. While decorations and Christmas lights are fantastic, why not get a little more creative and some fun in the process?
How To: 10 Last-Minute DIY Christmas Decorations for the Cheap & Lazy
Some people put up their holiday decorations as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Some wait until Christmas Eve. Right now, the only thing in my whole apartment that would tip you off is a tiny little fake tree on the counter. I've been planning on decorating all month, but I haven't quite gotten around to it yet.
How To: 5 Awesome DIY Christmas Gift Ideas for Beer Lovers
There's nothing better than gulping down an ice cold beer to calm the senses and ease the mind. The holiday season can be very stressful as people scramble around trying to find the best gifts for friends and family. And we all know that gifts can be very hit or miss, but it's pretty hard to go wrong giving someone a nice bottle of whiskey or a nice selection of beers.
How To: Don't Throw Out Your Broken Bulbs—Turn Them into Better Christmas Tree Ornaments!
One of the most annoying things about the holiday season is that it's almost impossible to make it through without at least one ornament falling off the tree and shattering. Even if you give the cat its own "special room" for the whole month, something is bound to happen. Rather than throwing out broken ornaments, Steve Hoefer figured out a way to turn them into new ones using plain, clear glass ornaments and Modge Podge craft glue. And personally, I'd say the results look way better than the...
How To: Fold a simple origami Santa Claus for Christmas
Whether you want to admit it or not, children tend to derive the most joy from the holidays during their Christmas present opening feeding frenzy. But if you want to engage them in something other than, well, greed, this holiday season, teach them the joy of crafting by making this origami Santa Claus.
How To: Create Polish Star Christmas Ornaments Out of Paper
To be honest, these Christmas ornaments look more like sea urchins than stars to us. Either way, these festive ornaments are beautiful and cheap alternatives to purchasing standard ornaments at the store. Give each ornament character by using a different color or pattern paper.
How To: Make a Christmas tree from sheets of rolled newspaper
This video demonstrates how to make a christmas tree out of newspaper. The author suggests that you start with 3 full sheets of newspaper and have scissors and scotch tape ready to use. Begin the tree making process by rolling the newspaper tightly and then using the scissors to create multiple cuts on one end of the roll. After doing so the newspaper roll should achieve a frayed look on one end. Pull on the frayed side to elongate the other newspaper that was rolled inside previously and the...
How To: Booby Trap a Christmas Gift
Although Christmas is not a time for pranks and booby traps, but rather quality time with the family, why not have a little fun at the expense of your loved ones? Here's a simple yet effective way to booby trap a Christmas gift. You'll need the help of a balloon, but the end result will be hilarious. Just wait until Christmas morning and everyone is eager to open their presents. That's when the fun begins. Merry Christmas!!!!
How To: Make Christmas Presents Look Better with These Cheap & Easy Gift Wrap Hacks
For as long as I can remember, I've always sucked at wrapping presents. No matter how careful I am, my gift-wrapping usually ends up looking like a toddler did it, so I'm always looking for easy ways to spruce up my packages.
How To: Regift Unwanted Christmas Presents: The 10 Rules to Regifting
It's been done for ages, but for most of us, "regift" entered our vocabulary after the 98th episode of Seinfeld—"The Label Maker." In this episode, Elaine calls Dr. Whatley (played by Bryan Cranston) a "regifter" after he gives Jerry a label maker—the same label maker that Elaine gave Whatley.
How To: Craft a simple folded paper flower ornament for Christmas
Have your Christmas tree up finally but have very little time to adorn it? Not a problem. Instead of resorting to those cheap shatterproof ornaments you can get at any drugstore, put a more homespun - and beautiful - touch on your tree this year by crafting your own ornaments. Check out this video to learn how to make paper flower ornaments.
How To: Replicate the Famous Hidden Orange Christmas Pudding by Heston
No, not Charlton Heston. The only pudding he ever made was steak and kidney. I'm talking about Heston Blumenthal, world famous chef and pudding lover, and the man behind the "Heston"— a plum pudding with an orange hidden within, brought to you by Waitrose (see video below).
How To: Make a cotton ball Christmas Santa with your kids
This is a great activity for children to develop some fine motor skills. The blueprints of the Santa can be found on the website. Just print it out and depending on how young the children are they can cut out the Santa or you can cut out the Santa. With the Santa cut out glue him on a piece of construction paper so there is a border. Use some glue and place little dots all round the beard of Santa. Have the children separate the cottons balls from each other. Now the kids should place one cot...
How To: Origami a dove & turn it into a Christmas ornament
This origami video shows how to make a simple dove-like bird. I then go on to show you how to turn it into a hanging decoration. This would be great as a Christmas tree ornament or some other holiday decoration to represent peace. This simple project is a great holiday craft. All you need is paper, your hands, and origami skills! Voila! A custom holiday decoration.
How To: Wire your Christmas lights to flash in time to music
Want to replicate that cool effect when you can watch Christmas lights flash in time to music? It's easy! You'll need a set of speakers, an outlet adapter, excess power cord, a solid state relay and, of course, Christmas lights! Once you've gotten all your project pieces assembled, follow this tutorial so you can wire them up to your music.
Christmas Treat: How to Make a Rice Krispies House
This was my little cooking project for the holidays, I hope you like it! For this recipe you will need:
How To: Make Your Decorated Christmas Tree Mathematically Perfect
Christmas is just a few weeks away and the decorating has already begun. The centerpiece for most home during the holiday is, of course, the Christmas tree. But let's face it—that tree can be a big pain in the ass to decorate. You'll run out of tinsel, your lights will be too short, and a missing bulb with throw the whole thing off balance.
How To: Fold detailed origami snowflakes for creative Christmas decorations
Don't spend all your hard-earned money on store-bought Christmas decorations this year. Spend it on cheap paper and make your own Christmas decorations, like this origami snowflake.
How To: Use the Christmas Delight iPhone app to decorate your own Christmas tree
It's the most eco-friendly way to decorate a tree this holiday season - an e-tree! The iPhone or iPod Touch app Christmas Delight lets you pick out your tree and then decorate it however you want. When you're done, turn it into an e-card for friends and family!
How To: Make Christmas ornaments from soda cans
Diet Coke can be festive! After you drink all the Diet Coke, you can turn the empty cans into Christmas tree ornaments. Make sure you rinse all the cans and take the tabs off, and you'll also need a very sharp knife. Make soda cans into something cool!