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Easy DIY Christmas Tree Decorations | Christmas Crafts for Kids
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Jun 18, 2024
In this video you will see how to make the cutest hanging Christmas tree decorations using milk carton tops. Great for kids and upcycling old rubbish. To get your free printable templates visit https://christines-crafts.com/easy-kids-crafts-christmas-tree-decorations/ Christmas is a great time to get the kids crafting and decorating the tree. Plus all grandparents love to receive crafts from grandchildren so give these a go today. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:27 - Snowman 06:32 - Father Christmas 11:50 - Rudolf If you enjoy crafting my blog is full of great ideas and tutorials. Plus if you subscribe you gain access to my free resource library, which includes a home crafts e-book, planners and much more, and get to hear about my latest projects first. Take a look at https://christines-crafts.com/ Enjoy watching and making your own cute Christmas tree decorations. Please leave me a 'thumbs up' if you enjoyed this video and subscribe so that you get to see all my videos as they are posted. You can also find me across social media. To see all my information and ideas find me at https://linktr.ee/Christines_Crafts. If you are thinking of opening an Etsy store then use this link and get off to a great start with 40 free listings https://etsy.me/32xoPdg
View Video Transcript
0:00
In this video I'm going to show you how to make three dangly Christmas tree
0:03
decorations and they're all made out of milk carton tops. You simply need three
0:08
of them for each one. So how about a Father Christmas, a snowman or Rudolph
0:13
Take your pick. I'm Christine of Christine's Crafts and this channel is
0:17
dedicated to crafting on a budget. So what are you going to need to make yours
0:21
Well you're going to need these templates. Now they're freely available on christinescrafts.com. The links below the video so you can simply go along
0:29
and download them and print them off for you to use. So once you've got those
0:35
what else will you need? You're going to need some milk carton tops. You only need
0:41
three for each one and it doesn't matter what color they are you can paint them. So just make sure you've got three for every single one you want to make. You're
0:50
going to need some scissors and some glue. I recommend a multi-purpose glue
0:55
You're going to need some ribbon to build them on and to hang them from
1:01
Pipe cleaners. So you're going to need a red one for Father Christmas if you're
1:05
building him and you're going to need a brown one for Rudolph if you're making a
1:09
Rudolph. And some optional extras. You might want to put some googly eyes on
1:14
You don't need them but if you like them you can do. And you might want to put some
1:19
pom-poms or buttons on for the snowman's buttons, for people's eyes, Rudolph's nose
1:24
But that's an optional extra. So I'm going to split this into three. I'm going
1:29
to make each one. So to start with we're going to make the snowman. So you need to
1:34
take your three carton tops and paint them. Now I used acrylic paint and
1:39
painted mine red, white and brown. So that's for all three. So if you're only
1:50
making the snowman you only need the white ones. If you're only making the
1:54
Father Christmas just the red and brown for Rudolph. So the snowman. You need to
2:03
cut out all the bits on the template. Now they are a little bit fiddly. They are
2:08
small so if you've got very young children making these you probably want
2:12
to cut them out for them. But older children will manage just fine. And
2:17
you're going to need a whole set of these for each one you make. So if you've
2:21
got a group of children be prepared. You're going to need one for every
2:25
single one. So once you've cut them all out you're ready to get making. So you're
2:30
going to need to decide on your ribbon. It doesn't matter how wide your ribbon
2:34
is. That's entirely up to you. I'm using a narrow one here. And you're going to
2:38
place your tops quite close together. So measure the ribbon so that it runs the
2:43
length of the three tops and there's enough to form a loop the size you want
2:48
it to go over your hook or your branch of your Christmas tree or wherever you're
2:53
hoping to put them. So be quite generous with your loop. You can always cut some
2:58
ribbon off later if you've been a bit over generous. So once you've decided on
3:03
the length cut your ribbon and we can start building your snowman. Now what you
3:09
will find is you'll get glue on your table so I recommend a piece of paper or
3:14
something similar to protect your work surface and you need to apply some glue
3:19
to the back of one of your milk carton tops just on the edge there and then
3:25
directly opposite it. This will be sufficient to hold it onto your ribbon
3:29
trust me. So the directly opposite and then you need to place that on the ribbon
3:36
near one end. So place your ribbon down and then place your milk carton top on
3:43
it. If you're not happy just have another go and get it so that you are
3:49
happy. Bit of a wriggle and press it firmly on and then you need to position
3:57
the next one, the middle one. So repeat the process for the glue and then place
4:05
it on the ribbon. Now I'm leaving a small gap between mine and it really is a
4:10
small gap you could push them up close together or you can leave a little bit
4:15
bigger gap it's up to you. And then once you've got all three on you'll find if
4:22
you move it too quickly they drop off so make sure they're on and they're firm
4:26
and then you can form the loop ready for hanging your decoration. So you want to
4:32
turn everything over and glue the end of the ribbon down to form that loop. So
4:42
simply apply some glue along the length of the ribbon on the back and position
4:52
your ribbon and glue it in place. So when you turn that over it's starting to look
4:58
like it's ready to form a snowman but if you're anything like me you'll find
5:02
you've got a little bit of excess ribbon at the bottom and you can just trim that
5:07
off. You could have glued right to the bottom or you can just trim the excess
5:12
bit off now. I prefer to just trim it off then I know I have glued it in properly
5:17
at the bottom. So it's time to add all his features. So to glue his hat on I
5:24
would add the glue to the milk carton top because his hat sticks out a long
5:30
way over the edge of the carton top. But the other elements I would apply the
5:39
glue to those and then position them. So if you're thinking of using any pom-poms
5:46
or buttons here now's the time to use those instead of the template. But
5:51
assuming you're using the template they're going to go on and they're going to start to build up and form his face just like this one. So if you're enjoying
6:01
this video could you remember to like it for me please so we can share it with more people on YouTube and more people can make their funky snowman. And once
6:12
you've got all those buttons in place you've got a snowman. Well done and
6:21
here's another one that I made but with a wider ribbon and a red ribbon so you
6:26
can see how they look a little bit different depending on the ribbon. So if
6:31
you're carrying on with me it's time for Father Christmas. So again you're going
6:36
to need your three tops but this time you've painted them red and you're going
6:42
to need your template and you're going to have to cut all the elements out
6:47
ready to make your Father Christmas. Once you've got them all we're going to
6:53
need your red pipe cleaner. Mine's about 12 inches and that's allowing me to make
7:00
this Santa Claus out of one pipe cleaner. So fold it in half and cut it in half
7:07
and that's going to be one half for the arms and one half for the legs. So the
7:13
legs fold your pipe cleaner in half again and you're going to form a V and
7:19
you can see that's going to make a pair of legs and then the other one for his
7:23
arms. So let's get his actual body ready. Again you're going to need a ribbon make
7:31
sure it's the right length and that you've got plenty to form a loop so that
7:37
you can hang your Father Christmas from the tree and cut your ribbon to length
7:43
If you're watching this whole video you're going to see things repeated but
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it is split into chapters so people are jumping in and out and just doing the
7:52
snowman just doing Father Christmas or just doing Rudolph so that's why the
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repeatable bits are repeated. So you're going to apply some glue to the bottom
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of the bottom carton top and you're just going to do it on either side and
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then stick that to one end of the ribbon and I recommend not going right to the
8:14
end of the ribbon so that you're sure it sticks on on both sides securely. Stick
8:23
that on just like that and then once you've got that one on give it a good
8:30
make sure it's secure you're going to repeat for the middle one exactly the
8:35
same process and just leaving a small gap between them and then repeat again
8:40
again leaving a small gap and then form that loop and glue the end of the ribbon
8:51
down so that it's nice and secure and your glue is hidden behind his head
9:03
So just make sure you get it secure and it can be worth letting this dry as you're
9:09
going along or you can just keep going using a multi-purpose glue it'll probably
9:13
just hold anyway and then the little bit you've left at the bottom just trim it
9:18
off we don't need that it was only to make sure we got it nice and secure so
9:23
you can start building your Father Christmas you've got his head and you've
9:27
got his body now he can add all his detail so the first thing you're going
9:32
to think about is his legs so we're going to make them and then glue them on
9:38
so you've already made a V for his legs and you're simply going to glue a boot
9:44
onto the end of either leg just make sure you get the boots both on one side
9:54
of this pair of this pipe cleaner because you don't want one to be facing
10:00
you and one the other way and you want to make sure the boots are facing
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outwards from Father Christmas so they actually look right and he doesn't look
10:08
like his toes are pointing inwards once you build him so there you go this
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should look like that and then we can glue that to the bottom of his body so
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it's just going to rest under there like that so you can adjust his legs and make
10:25
him how you want him to look so simply apply some glue to that bottom edge and
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then glue the pipe cleaner legs in place so you can place them on now make
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sure the way you want them turn the whole thing over and then you can press
10:45
it down and make sure it's secure and that his legs look how you want and he's
10:49
not all wonky and once you're happy with his legs you can do his arms so again
10:56
we're going to glue on the detail so this time we've got a mitten to go on
11:01
either end and make sure you put each mitten on the right end and that we've
11:05
got his thumbs pointing up so that he looks great when he's finished and
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you're just going to put a little curve in it's not a big V like the other one
11:15
but a curve so that it goes nicely over that middle carton top and then once
11:22
you're happy glue it in place turn it over make sure you are happy and then
11:28
you can add his belt which sits between the lower two carton tops just glue that
11:34
on and then all you've got left to do is apply his face and his beard and hat all
11:39
in one go so you're going to glue that in place and you've got a Father
11:43
Christmas well done and there's the other Santa Claus I made with a slightly
11:48
wider ribbon so good luck with yours so if you're still with me or you're just
11:54
joining me we're moving on to Rudolph so you need to have three painted tops that
11:59
are all brown and you need to cut out all the elements from the template for
12:04
Rudolph and then you need to think about your pipe cleaner which is about 12
12:09
inches long and if you've got a shorter one you're just going to need more than one cut it in half and that's going to form both pairs of legs so once you've
12:23
got all those elements it's time to build Rudolph using the ribbon you've
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chosen you can use a nice brown ribbon but I'm going for a gold one you could
12:32
use a very wide ribbon I've gone for a really narrow one it's all up to you
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just make sure it's long enough to go behind all three carton tops and form a
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big loop so you can hang Rudolph on your Christmas tree so the first thing you're
12:47
going to do is glue one of your carton tops to the bottom of the ribbon so just
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put some glue on the back on the edge and directly opposite that edge so that
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it sticks at the top and the bottom and then place that on the ribbon quite near
13:07
the bottom I don't think you should try and get it right at the bottom because
13:11
you might just miss the bottom of the ribbon and we will trim the extra off
13:15
and then once you've got one in place leave a small space and glue the next
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one and a small space and glue the next one and then it's time to form your loop
13:29
by just wrapping your ribbon around the back and gluing it in place now if like
13:34
me you've got a long piece of ribbon you can just trim it up now that's okay and
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then glue it to the back of the ribbon that's already on the carton tops and
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then all that glue work will be hidden and it'll be securely in place and then
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all you've got left to do is to cut the ribbon off the bottom the extra bit
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because you don't want that in the way and then it's time to build Rudolph
14:09
onto his body so we start with the bottom set of legs where you're going to
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take one of your pipe cleaners fold it in half to form a V and then glue a pair
14:21
of the hooves to the bottom so simply take your multi-purpose glue and glue
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them in place so if you're enjoying this video and enjoy making your dangly
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Christmas tree decorations please give me a thumbs up and if you want any more ideas check out my youtube channel and subscribe so you can see all my videos
14:46
as they arrive and as you carry on with Rudolph we're now going to glue those
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legs right on the bottom of his body so just turn it over and put some glue on
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that bottom edge and onto that ribbon and then you can press the legs onto the
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body nice and firmly turn the whole lot over and you'll be able to press it in
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place and make sure you're happy with the location of the legs and the way that they look and then to form the other pair of legs you're not going to
15:25
bend it quite so hard but you are going to put a curve in it glue a hoof on
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either end and then this time you're going to glue it onto the top of the
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middle carton top so apply the glue on the back there right at the top and then
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glue those legs in place and turn it over and you can see Rudolph's got all
15:51
four legs now so he's going to need his face so he's going to want his antlers
15:56
and his ears and then his nose his eyes and his mouth so you can use the template
16:03
exactly as is or you could consider putting a pom-pom or a button on for his
16:08
nose to make him a little bit more 3d so you can see I've got two here and look
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you could put a pom-pom on one and if you like that effect go for it so good
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luck with your Rudolph and I hope you've enjoyed making your snowman your Father
16:24
Christmas and your Rudolph please give me a thumbs up if you have and join me
16:29
on my channel
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