January is always an awkward time for home decor. The holidays are over, and your home feels so empty without all the festive decorations. Well, there’s an easy solution – fill those empty gaps with winter themed decor. Don’t worry, it’s super simple to make the transition. Here are ten of our favorite ideas.
.tasty-pins-banner-container{display:block;margin-bottom:20px;position:relative;width:-moz-fit-content;width:fit-content}.tasty-pins-banner-container a{cursor:pointer;display:flex;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:1px;line-height:1.8em;text-transform:uppercase}.tasty-pins-banner-container a:hover{opacity:1}.tasty-pins-banner-container .tasty-pins-banner{align-items:center;bottom:0;cursor:pointer;display:flex;justify-content:center;left:0;padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;position:absolute;right:0}.tasty-pins-banner-container .tasty-pins-banner svg{margin-right:4px;width:32px}.tasty-pins-banner-container .tasty-pins-banner span{margin-top:4px}.tasty-pins-banner-container a.tasty-pins-banner{text-decoration:none}.tasty-pins-banner-container a.tasty-pins-banner:hover{opacity:.8}.tasty-pins-banner-container a.tasty-pins-banner-image-link{flex-direction:column}.tasty-pins-banner-container a img{margin-bottom:0}.entry-content .wp-block-image .tasty-pins-banner-container img{margin-bottom:0;padding-bottom:0}#et-boc .et-l div .et_pb_image_wrap .tasty-pins-banner-container .tasty-pins-banner{padding-bottom:1em!important;padding-top:1em;text-decoration:none}#et-boc .et-l div .et_pb_image_wrap .tasty-pins-banner-container a.tasty-pins-banner{cursor:pointer;display:flex;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1.8em;text-transform:uppercase}#et-boc .et-l div .et_pb_image_wrap .tasty-pins-banner-container a.tasty-pins-banner span{letter-spacing:2px;margin-top:4px}.et-db #et-boc .et-l .et_pb_module .tasty-pins-banner-container a:not(.wc-forward){padding-bottom:0}
1. Combine greenery that you already have with pinecones, antlers, etc. to create a cozy forest sort of vibe. Learn how Kim did it here. [Photo: Savvy Southern Style]
2. Paint pinecones white and attach them to jars to create beautiful, wintery candle holders. Find out more here. [Photo: Nelly Vintage Home]
3. Take those fairy lights off the tree and stick them in a log and greenery filled wooden crate to make a faux fireplace. How cozy! Here are the details. [Photo: Blue Roof Cabin]
4. Erase your Christmas-themed saying on the chalkboard with a winter-themed one, such as “Baby it’s cold outside.” Found here. [Photo: A Thoughtul Place]
5. Make faux fur pillow covers for your holiday-themed pillows (then you can take them off next December to reveal the holiday pillow again). Here’s the tutorial. [Photo: Transient Expression]
6. Replace mantel decor with simple white or pale green bouquets with bare twig accents. Find lots of additional ideas here. [Photo: At The Picket Fence]
7. Adorn your front porch or stoop with pale colored decorations filled with pinecones and burlap. See more photos here. [Photo: Thistlewood Farms]
8. Grab some pinecones from your backyard and turn them into a snowflake shaped wreath. Check it out here. [Photo: Southern Living]
9. Spray paint an existing holiday wreath white to give it more of a winter sort of feel. Get the tutorial to make it from scratch here. [Photo: Thistlewood Farms]
10. Focus on warm whites in general… it may be as easy as swapping a red ribbon with a white one on your wreath. [Photo: This Is Glamorous]
We independently select these products—if you buy from one of our links, we may earn a commission. All prices were accurate at the time of publishing.
Studies suggest crafts are therapeutic, and can assist in coping with stress, anxiety, and depression. It’s worth crafting into your later life as well, because the risk of cognitive impairments tend to be reduced for people who draw, paint, color, journal, and craft. So if you’re looking for new ways to get creative no matter your skill level, here are five fun and easy projects worth giving a shot.
For more content like this follow
Do you find painting intimidating? Consider squeegee painting. It’s become super popular, and for good reason, because it’s such an easy and fun way to make abstract art. All you need is a squeegee, a canvas or paper, and some acrylic paint. Just drop the paint onto your canvas and use the squeegee to spread the paint. It’s considered “process art” which just means it’s all about the creation and experimentation — there’s no wrong way to do it.
What’s great about this project is how simple the process is considering how impressive the payoff looks. Essentially, all you have to do is tie some embroidery hoops together and hot glue the fringe to the hoops. There are some small steps in between to ensure it looks uniform, so it’s worth consulting the video, but this project really shows you the power of some fringe and a hot glue gun. Plus, what’s not to love about making something you can use?
String painting is another fun and easy way to make abstract paintings. This method might be a bit messier so you’ll want to give yourself room to work. Some people press their paint-covered string between pages of a sketchbook, and then pull out the string while the book is closed to see what patterns it creates. Others will lay a bunch of paint-soaked string along a canvas and drag the strings across in one direction — but like the squeegee painting, there’s no real wrong way to make these.
Who doesn’t love a good upcycling project? It’s extra satisfying knowing that not only did you make something cool, but you made it from stuff lying around the house. You only need a few things for this project: shirts, scissors, and a hula hoop or piece of cardboard. The tutorial explains how to make your T-shirts into R-shirt yarn and your hula hoop or cardboard into a loom. Bonus: If you’re feeling ambitious you can also make pompoms from T-shirt yarn for your rugs.
We all love fresh flowers, but always keeping them around can be a bit high maintenance. These adorable coffee filter peonies are as fun to make as they are pretty. You’ll need coffee filters, food coloring, a glue gun, floral wire, and floral tape. Display them in vases, use them as ornaments, or as party decorations — there’s no end to what you could do with these floral creations.
Ever since I built a mantel a couple of years ago, I’m always on the hunt for fun new ways to decorate it. So as I browsed the paper aisle at my local craft store, it hit me – a folded paper tree forest! I’m a big fan of non-traditional colors, so I bought a few of my favorites and got to work. Click through to check out the full tutorial.
Begin by drawing tall triangles on the back of a piece of cardstock. They should be about 4 inches wide at the bottom, so if you have an 8 1/2 x 11 inch piece of cardstock, then you should make a mark at the 4 inch point along the bottom edge, and at the 8 inch point. Along the top edge, make a mark at the 2 inch point and the 6 inch point. Connect the dots from top to bottom and then cut out the triangles.
Each piece of 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper should make 3 triangles. Fold them each accordion style as shown above, making sure that each fold is about 1/2 an inch wide. Repeat this process on all of your triangles.
Make a mark inside the lowest hole and then punch through that spot to make sure that all of the holes are centered. Repeat this until you have made holes through the entire tree.
Alternate method: If you’re impatient like me, you may want to use your drill to make the holes instead. They do come out slightly ragged this way, however, whereas the hole punch method cuts very crisp holes. But it also takes much longer. You decide.
Fold a paper tree back up and slip the skewer through the holes. Spread out the accordion folds so that everything looks even. Set it aside and repeat the process as many times as you like, depending on how big you want your forest to be.
The end result is super unique and festive, thanks to the glitter paper and bold colors. I love non-traditional colors, but if you’re more of a traditionalist, you might want to experiment with greens and reds.
Or if you like more of a neutral look, you might consider all white and beige papers with different textures. You could use them throughout the winter if you opt for less of a holiday color scheme.
They look quite impressive lined up all together, but you could also scatter them around the house where ever you need a bit of extra holiday cheer. Happy crafting friends!
Autumn brings to mind some of the best memories for me, like the crunch of leaves underfoot, the crisp, fresh air and the trees ablaze in brilliant shades of red and yellow.
It’s only natural to want to bring some of those elements indoors, and one easy way to do this is by making a fall leaf garland to show off those fantastic fall colors.
This is a nice, quick project for an afternoon indoors, so grab a hot chocolate and a pair of scissors and let’s get crafting!
Download the fall leaf template, print it out onto white card and cut out the leaf shapes.
Trace around the leaf template shapes onto the back of your colored paper. Trace as many leaves as you’ll need to fill the length of your fall leaf garland.
Step
Cut out the leaves you traced with a pair of scissors.
Step
Punch two holes in each leaf with a small hole punch. You’ll use these holes to attach the leaves to your garland.
Angle your holes in various ways to make your leaves hang in different directions:
Two holes straight across will make your leaf point straight down.
Having one hole higher on the left will make your leaf point to the right.
Having one hole higher on the right will make your leaf point to the left.
Step
Cut a long length of twine and tie a knot in one end.
Step
Get the opposite (unknotted) end of the twine and start threading your leaves onto it. Alternate between leaves of different colors, shapes and directions.
Step
Once all your leaves have been threaded on, tie a knot at the end to secure them in place.
It’s easy to tweak this fall leaf garland to suit your fall decorating – just use alternative colors and maybe other types of leaves for a completely different look!
Drinking wine and crafting are two of my favorite pastimes, and today I’m combining them into one fun, super simple DIY project. I’m sharing an easy no-sew felt wine coaster project that functions as both a coaster and a wine marker so you don’t drink someone else’s wine by mistake. Win win! Keep reading to check out the full tutorial… it’s surprisingly easy!
Begin by tracing around the bowl with a Sharpie. Be careful not to get marker on the bowl… if you do, wash it right away with soap and water. Trace a second circle next to the first one.
Measure the radius of the circle (from the middle of the circle to the edge). To create the opening for the wine glass, fold one felt circle in half and cut a slit that is the same length as the radius of that you just measured. Unfold it and fold it in half the other way and repeat the same cut so that you end up with an X shape.
Place the paper circle in the center of the other felt circle and put a line of hot glue around the perimeter as shown above. Remove the paper circle and place the cut felt circle on top.
Draw a pattern around the outside of the circle (place the paper circle in the middle and make sure you don’t cut inside of it) and then cut the excess off. Make sure to cut just inside the marker line so there’s no marker showing on the final piece.
And your first felt wine glass coaster is finished! I did a number of different edge patterns… the easiest one was the zig zag, followed closely by the octagon.
I love that these do double duty – they act as coasters and drink markers so you don’t accidentally drink someone else’s wine. Plus, they add some color and character to your table!
You can also experiment with different color combinations… perhaps you might use two different colors on one coaster, or you might even consider embellishing them with pom poms or other lightweight accents. Have fun with it!
