6 Easy-to-Make Holiday Crafts

Thanksgiving Thankful Turkey

What you need
Skin-Safe, Washable Paint
Paper
Pen

This one is a classic. Simply choose your paint colors (5 colors, including brown for the turkey’s body) then pick a hand. Paint your palm and thumb brown and the rest of your fingers any color of your choice. Then, press your hand down on your paper of choice to create your turkey. Once dry, you can leave your turkey blank or paint the beak, giblet, eyes, and maybe a funky little hat. On or above each feather, write what you’re thankful for this year.

Thanksgiving Clothespin Turkeys
What you need:
Wooden Spring Clothespins
Fake Assorted Leaves
Googly Eyes
Washable Markers – Brown, Red, Orange, and Yellow
Brown Acrylic Craft Paint
Red and Yellow Craft Foam
Paintbrush
Scissors

Who knew clothespins could have such a fun purpose other than keeping chips fresh? To do this craft, paint your clothespin brown and allow it to dry. On the clamp end, arrange your fake leaves in a feather-spread pattern. Let the clamp keep them there or glue them in the right position. Glue your googly eyes to the upper front portion of the clothespin. Using your craft foam, cut out a yellow triangle beak and a red giblet then glue them to the clothespin. Once everything is set and dry, you’ll have an impressive little turkey.

Turkey Finger Puppet
What you need:
Brown Construction Paper
Fake Assorted Leaves
Red and Orange Craft Foam
Googly Eyes
Glue
Scissors

Here is another turkey that doubles as a finger puppet toy. What’s fun about this one is that you can make a turkey of your own design that’s big, small, plump, or thin. To start, cut out one large circle and another slightly smaller circle. At the bottom of the larger circle, cut out two holes big enough to slip two fingers through (these will be the legs). Then, glue the smaller circle to the larger circle to create a head and body. Fan at least three leaves out and glue them to the back of the body to serve as the feathers. Glue googly eyes to the face and cut out a triangle nose and giblet. Glue the nose and giblet beneath the eyes. Now you have a cute finger puppet turkey to play together with. Inspo: artsymomma.com

Resse’s Miniatures Snowman Candy Jars
What you need:
4-Inch Smooth Styrofoam Balls
1 Quart Smooth Mason Jars (regular mouth opening)
Glue Gun and Hot Glue
REESE’S Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures (1-11 oz. bag)
Paint Brush
Black Buttons
Orange and Red Felt
Scissors
Fluff Stuffing
Glitter (optional)

Fill your jar with Reese’s along with some stuffing to serve as snow. On the lid of your jar, hot glue the styrofoam ball, then cut out red felt ribbons and a circle or two. This will be your scarf and earmuffs. Around the head, glue the band and circle of felt on top of the band. On top of the circle and on the left and right sides of the head, glue Reese’s candies to become earmuffs and a little hat. To form the face, glue two black buttons to be eyes, and create a button smile. For the nose, fold the orange felt in half. Once the glue is set, reassemble your jar. To form the scarf, glue a folded smaller ribbon of red felt around your longest ribbon. Glue it all around the styrofoam ball and to the jar. Glue Reese’s to the front to be the buttons. Inspo: bakerella.com

Snowflake Sticks
What you need:
Popsicle Sticks
Blue Paint or Markers
Glue Gun and Hot Glue
Clear, Regular Glue
Glitter (blue and white)
Pom Poms (white)

This is another classic craft that you can have lots of creative liberties with. To begin, paint or marker your popsicle sticks blue. Once dry, apply a thin layer of glue to the face of each stick and cover them with glitter. When the glue and glitter are set, using four popsicle sticks, position them to form a “snowflake.” Think of the arms of a clock and have popsicle sticks in each direction, then glue them together. In the middle of the snowflake where each stick intersects and at each stick’s end, glue your pom poms. In the end, you should have a gorgeous, glittery snowflake decoration.

Paintbrush Christmas Ornaments:
What you need:
3 Paint Brushes (2-inch head)
Small Paint Brushes
Acrylic Craft Paints
Pom Poms
Felt Fabric
Snowflake Stickers
White Pipe Cleaners
Christmas Ribbons for hanging
Googly Eyes
Glue
Scissors

These paintbrush Christmas ornaments offer lots of creative liberty. We created Santa Claus, the Grinch, and a snowman. 

For Santa:
First, paint the handle of the paint brush red and set it to dry. Then, paint Santa’s snowy white hair and his face with skin-tone colored paint. Once all the paint is dry, glue pom poms on the handle for decoration, a white pipe cleaner to serve as the brim of Santa’s hat at the bottom of the handle, and create his face with googly eyes. On the left of the pipe cleaner, glue a fabric star on top and place a snowflake sticker on the star. Once finished, cut out and tie a Christmas ribbon so you can hang the ornament on a Christmas tree.

For the Grinch:
First, paint the handle of the brush red to serve as a hat and the bottom portion of the brush, including the bristles, green to be the Grinch’s face and beard. Once the paint is dry, paint yellow eyes, black eyebrows, and a mouth on the bottom part. Glue a row of pipe cleaners horizontally above the eyes to form the brim of a Christmas hat and a row of pom poms above the pipe cleaners for decoration. For the final touch, attach your Christmas ribbon and hang your devious-looking ornament anywhere you would like.

For the Snowman:
To get started, paint the handle green and the face of the brush white. You can leave the bristles as-is. Once the paint is dry, paint your coal eyes and mouth with dots of black paint or black marker and a carrot nose. Use black pom poms to create a tophat above the face and dot a few tiny pom poms on the bristles to make coal buttons. We recommend using hot glue for this portion. Tie your ribbon through the brush hole and now you have a totally adorable Frosty the Snowman. Inspo: alwaystheholidays.com

By Sarah Batrous and Sarah Miller