First up was this “Merry Christmas” garland, which costs $12.95 from LoN. I decided to make my own cheaper version by using four sheets of colorful cardstock. I cut each 12x12 sheet into four squares, drew each letter by hand (making sure to stick with a color pattern), & cut them out. Then, I used a hole punch to string yarn through the letters. I hung them using a few thumb tacks.
After seeing my colorful creation, the kids wanted in on the crafting action, so we spent some time twisting white & colored pipe cleaners together. After cutting them in half, I shaped them into candy canes, inspired by these ornaments.
While the kids were twisting away, I created a Christmas tree template by folding a sheet of paper in half & drawing on half a pine tree. Then I cut out my template, unfolded it, & traced it onto a piece of green felt. After cutting it out, I simply stuck it on one of my son’s fleece pillows. (The felt kind of clings to the fleece.)
After Zeke decorated his tree, I simply wrapped some leftover orange fleece around it to act as a tree skirt.
I pinned this adorable cardboard Rudolph from Good Housekeeping & knew it would be the perfect accessory above the floating shelf in Zeke’s room. If you click on the link above, you can print the directions & template out. Since I couldn’t print on a large piece of paper, I simply traced the template from my computer screen onto a piece of tissue paper. Then I cut the tissue paper template out & used it to trace the design onto an old box. After assembling it, I glued another piece of cardboard to the back & stuck thumb tacks through it to attach it to the wall.
Since I didn’t have any jingle bells for around Rudolph’s neck, I braided some red yarn & attached some small ornaments on it to mimic the look of bells!
After hanging Rudolph, I realized I needed to change up the accessories on the floating shelf too. I made some standing paper Christmas trees using this method. I did have to use some sticky tack to keep them standing upright.
At this point, my kids had lost interest in my crafting madness, & my son was not interested when I asked him to draw some Christmas-y pictures for his clip boards. After quickly drawing a snowman & Christmas tree, he talked his sister into coloring his work. She also lost interest, which is why the Christmas tree was scribbled green! Grrr!
Here’s the view of the desk area:
So, do you decorate your kids’ rooms for Christmas? Friday, I’ll share how I was inspired to decorate my daughter’s room from Restoration Hardware’s Christmas catalog!
