Does anybody have creative simple Christmas craft ideas?

http://www.fluther.com/disc/29720/anyone-ever-made-a-pomander/

This is always a good one!

Those seem really nice, thanks!

You could make candles, they’re pretty fun and easy. You can put wicks in jars and then pour layers of different colored wax in to make ‘em pretty. You can even melt down and re-use old candle stubs this way.

Also, there’s the melt-and-pour method of soapmaking. Basically, you get some basic soap (like glycerin or castille) and grate it, melt it in a pan with a little water, add your own herbs or essential oils, and then pour it into pretty molds.

The neat thing about these two crafts is that you can make a whole big batch at a time and cover gifts for many people all at once. Plus, everyone thinks it took more time and trouble than it really did. ;)

You could buy some polar fleece and make simple throw pillows and blankets out of them. Very cozy, not much sewing involved at all (fleece doesn’t fray, so you don’t have to hem the edges), and useful! Here’s an idea for a “no-sew” fleece blanket, and another one for pillows. . I’m sure you could find other patterns if you looked.

For the women in your life:
Brown Sugar Body Scrub
Put light brown sugar in a small glass canister with a tight-fitting lid.
Put baby oil in a decorative bottle.
Make a tag with ‘Brown Sugar Body Scrub’ on one side, and the directions: ‘Mix only as much as you can use at once. Combine 3 parts brown sugar with 1 part oil. Apply to body or face.’ on the other side. Punch a hole in the top left corner of the tag and tie it to the canister with raffia. If you like, you can futher decorate the canister/bottle with a nice sticker, though I prefer not to. These are incredibly easy, cheap, and well loved! The scrub exfoliates dry skin, and leaves skin soft, smooth and moisturized.

Aug, you only have to do packaging? Insanely great.

I’ve been making the stuff for my own use (because I can’t fathom spending $10+ for prepackaged scrub) and just recently thought of it as a gift idea. My daughter has a December birthday, and just turned 11…a tricky time and age for party planning. We used this idea as an ‘activity’ at her party, a gift the girls could make for their mothers/teachers or keep for themselves. It was a piece of cake, even on a large scale! The girls all loved it, too – both the making and the using of the scrub.

I saw these sparkly snowballs in a parenting magazine…

You will need:
elmers glue
water
white yarn or string (it’s not real yarn… It’s tougher, I imagine you can use regular though… and whatever color you choose)
balloons
glitter

step one, blow up balloon.
step two, cover string/yarn with glue and wrap it around the balloon in no particular fashion.
step three, sprinkle glitter onto gluey-yarn, covered ball
step four, let ball dry. As soon as it is dry and stiff pop the balloon. The yarn should stay in place and you can tie some string to it and hang. :)

It’s a snow ball!! Yaaaaaaaay!

(looking for pictures to link)

@laureth: The soaps sound really fun, and i love how its a practical gift idea!
@hannah&Aug: Your ideas are also really practical and seem like they would turn out nice!
@krose: Those sound gorgeous! I might make some for myself, just to put around the house haha ;)

Thanks for all these really awesome ideas everyone!

Oh I forgot to mention to mix the glue with water, that’s why you need water. :) sorry.

You could make home-made christmas ornaments. There is an absolutely huge (basically infinite) variety of ways to do this, but I’ll just give a few really simple ones.

Glass Bulb Ornaments:
(several different ways)
this way
-Basically it just involves getting “plain” ornaments and writing or drawing on them with paint pens, and then putting glitter on it.

Then there’s this way (which I think is cooler). You just get clear glass ornaments and acrylic paint (go to Michael’s), drop some paint inside, and swirl it around. Super-fun!

Photo Ornaments:
This is a child (with help) to other parent or grandparents gift.

Either this way
(disclaimer: I’ve never tried this one myself)

or one of these

Have fun!

Thank you La Chica Gomela!
All of those ornaments are beautiful!
I especially like the paint ones :)

@Lachica: I really like those glass ones in your second link…so pretty!

The ones from the second link are my favorite too!
I’ve been toying with the idea of doing those as a family project this year, and because of this question, I ended up deciding to do it! Just now I bookmarked the page so I could write down everything I need from Michael’s.

(oh, and I meant to write “This is a GREATchild (with help) to other parent or grandparents gift” – I wasn’t trying to say you couldn’t give them to anyone else, of course.

Oh, my goodness. You are all going to be saving me money this year. Thanks!

A picture frame?

This is a little late for this christmas, but take 2 candy canes & turn them to face each other that they make a heart. Hot glue the two tips together, top & bottom. Take a starlight mint & glue it where the top of the heart meets. Take a narrow piece of red ribbon, make a loop & hot glue it to the back of the top of the heart. It’s the coolest ornament. They’re SO easy, you can have one made in less than 5 minutes. I made a whole batch of them. I’m going to give one out to each of our guests at New Year’s Eve. They’re just hanging on the tree right now. (Take all the cellophane papers off the candies)

Then there is the whole gingerbread sled with the candy canes on the bottom as the skis.