Unique homemade Christmas tree decorating ideas are all about establishing a new holiday tradition at your home. Instead of the usual cheap glass ornaments mixed with the confusion of other trinkets collected through the years, make your own Christmas tree decorations this year and carry the theme from branch to branch for a unique and uniform style. Let the following 10 unique homemade Christmas tree decorating ideas inspire you. Some can be beautifully combined together, others go best when the entire tree is decorated with the same theme. Have a creative, happy Christmas!
#1. ORIGAMI CHRISTMAS FLOCK
This unique homemade Christmas tree decorating idea is cheap and easy to make, and yet the effect is enchanting.
Step 1:
You’ll need Christmas gift wrapping paper of high quality with a pattern that will look good even when broken up. Therefore, avoid images of actual things like people or snowmen, and instead choose a glittering pattern.
Step 2:
Roll 24 inches of paper out and fold the paper in half. This will create a 12 inch fold with beautiful paper on both sides. Cut out squares of 12×12 and use a little craft glue to stick the papers together so that your square will be beautiful both front and back.
Step 3:
Now, to turn this paper into a unique homemade Christmas tree decorating idea we’ll use the Origami stork folding technique. If you’ve never done it before, practice first on a piece of gift wrapping paper that isn’t doubled (it will be easier). Follow this video that will show you how to fold the Origami stork.
Step 4:
Hang these airy Christmas tree decorations with silk ribbons to suit the color of your Christmas gift wrapping paper. Your tree will look the most beautiful if you stick to a single paper instead of mixing and matching. However, do create a wide range of stork sizes and in this way fill your tree with a festive flock.
#2. LACE ANGLES
I once saw an 11 foot Christmas tree decorated entirely with homemade lace angle ornaments. The effect was a shabby chic wonder. Stylish, graceful and unique. Astonishingly, these unique homemade Christmas tree decorations are incredibly easy to make.
Step 1:
Begin with a square white cloth napkin (or you can cut a square from a sheet). Sew a lace trim around the napkin’s edge.
Step 2:
Place a small white foam ball at the center of the napkin and lift the napkin upward until you can wrap the ball and hold the scrunched napkin between your thumb and forefinger. Use a silk white ribbon to tie a bow that will keep the ball in place. This will give your unique homemade Christmas tree decoration a head.
Step 3:
To add wings to your angel, you’ll need craft wire, cloth glue and more lace. Shape the wire into a teardrop, leaving a long stem at the tip. Use the cloth glue to stick lace across the wire to fill in the angel wing. To attach the wing to the angel, slip the wire above the silk ribbon knot into the base of the foam ball. Create another wing to finish making the wings of this homemade Christmas tree decoration.
Step 4:
Finally (and this is my favorite bit), use the craft wire to form a small loop, with a straight line of wire extending from it. You can paint this craft wire halo in white or just leave it in silver. Stick the bottom of the stick into the head of the angel.
Step 5:
If you like, you can give this homemade Christmas tree decorating idea a personality by sewing eyes and a smile into the face of the angel.
Step 6:
Create as many Christmas angels as you like, using various sizes, napkin and lace colors, and fill your tree from top to bottom. This unique homemade Christmas tree decoration goes really well with white Christmas lights that you embed deep within the branches of the tree.
#3. APPLE GARLANDS & WREATHS
This unique homemade Christmas tree decorating idea is made from real apples that you treat and harden into nonperishable Christmas tree decorations. Despite no longer being fit for eating, the apples will retain their fresh autumn scent and will add to the aroma of Christmas in your home.
Step 1:
You’ll need green and red skinned apples, green and red silk ribbons, and craft wire. To prepare the apples for this unique homemade Christmas decoration first remove their core, then slice them widthwise, so each slice will look like a bagel (with a hole in the middle).
Step 2:
Soak the slices in lemon juice for 10 minutes as the acid in the lemon will prevent the apples from discoloring. Finally, spread the apples on a cookie sheet and sprinkle them with cinnamon, then bake at 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 6 hours.
Step 3:
There’s no rules for how you put together this unique homemade Christmas tree decorating idea. You can string all the apples in a group, or you can separate them with green and red silk ribbon knots. You can also insert red glass beads between them or cranberries. I like to tie straw between the apples too for added character.
Step 4:
Create long Christmas garlands to string around your tree, then add small Christmas wreaths which you can hang as ornaments. This unique homemade Christmas tree decorating idea is more traditional, bearing resemblance to the kind of Christmas decorations you might have seen 100 years ago. (These unique homemade Christmas tree decorating ideas were inspired by Carole Vansickle on eHow.)
#4. CHRISTMAS MITTENS
This unique homemade Christmastree decorating idea was inspired by something I found on Better Homes and Gardens. It’s an idea full of the warm of winter and Christmas mingled together. If you can knit mittens, you’ll only need yarn and some holly to make these Christmas tree decorations. Otherwise, you’ll need to create fake mittens from an old sweater.
Step 1:
The mittens will be stuffed with holly and hung on silk ribbons all over your Christmas tree. If you’re knitting the mittens, make a range of sizes for extra fun.
Step 2:
If you’re making fake mittens for this unique Christmas tree decoration, begin by cutting the shape of a right and a left mitten out of cardboard. Next place the cardboard cutout on an old sweater and cut the sweater around the cardboard mitten, leaving a 1 inch margin. Immediately, glue the cut sweater over the cardboard (before it starts to unravel), and fold the 1 inch margin over the other side, once again glue it in place.
Step 3:
For the real mittens, stuff them with silk holly or leaves cut from a Christmas garland. For the fake mittens, use duct tape to secure the holly or leaves to the back of the mitten in a way that leaves them to stick out of the top. Finally glue felt over mess at the back of the mitten to make everything look pretty.
Step 4:
You can make these unique homemade Christmas decorating ideas in a range of colors from green to red, white to purple. Thread a silk ribbon through the sweater at the top of the mitten or tie it to the ivy branches to decorate your tree. (This unique Christmas decoration was inspired by Better Homes and Gardens.)
#5. CHRISTMAS POETRY-SCROLLS
This is one of my best loved unique homemade Christmas tree decorating ideas. It consists of create scrolls with Christmas poems on them. The scrolls are hung open on the Christmas tree to give it a literary, sophisticated appeal.
Step 1:
Begin by finding witty, rhyming Christmas-poems. Print your favorite ones on ordinary printer paper and be sure to choose a beautiful font, like Monotype Corsiva.
Step 2:
To age the paper and create the illusion of antique parchment for this unique Christmas tree decoration, boil some water and put a few tea bags in it to create a dark brew. Crunch your printed poem and press the ball of paper into the tea. Leave it for about 1 minute then gently squeeze out the tea.
Step 3:
Flatten the wet paper carefully and leave it to dry. You can burn the edges of the scroll a little by using a lighter over a sink. Then glue chop-sticks at the back of the top and bottom of scroll. Roll the end a bit for effect. Finally, tie a Christmas ribbon on the left and right of the top chop stick to hang this unique homemade Christmas tree decoration.
Step 4:
To add zest to this decorating idea, why not print Christmas-jokes-and-riddles in addition to poems?
#6. GLISTENING ORNAMENTS
Another unique homemade Christmas tree decorating idea that’s especially easy to make involves add a layer of glitter to ordinary Christmas ornaments.
Step 1:
Begin with buying cheap colored glass ornaments in a single color, such as 12 red round ornaments, 12 purple and 12 blue.
Step 2:
At a craft store buy a role of clear cellophane paper. Cut a large square to make each Unique Christmas tree decoration. Place one ornament inside and lift the cellophane around it to crunch at the top. Secure the cellophane paper with a Christmas ribbon, then snip scissors along the top of the jutting cellophane paper to give it a jagged finish.
Step 3:
Hang the ornament by the ribbon and create more wrapped ornaments to fill your tree.
Step 4:
This unique homemade Christmas tree decorating idea looks even better if you first wrap a string of Christmas lights around your tree. Hide the lights deep between the tree branches, to reflect in the cellophane coating the ornaments.
