Some people put up their holiday decorations as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Some wait until Christmas Eve. Right now, the only thing in my whole apartment that would tip you off is a tiny little fake tree on the counter. I've been planning on decorating all month, but I have ...more
Christmas and the holiday season can generate quite a bit of trash on their own, so what do you do when you want to maintain your green lifestyle over the holidays? This tutorial gives you tips on how to recycle packing material, wrapping paper and even your Christmas tree.
Keep your Christmas green! Don't resort to environmentally unfriendly wrapping paper. You can put your gifts in cloth bags or use catalog and magazine pages as your wrapping paper. Or, just use plain brown paper bags and decorate them as your wrapping paper!
Homemade cookies are a terrific gift. With a simple bakery box and some ribbon, the package will be as pretty as the contents. You will need: a bakery box scissors a ruler a pen a hole punch four 16 inch long pieces of ribbon 2 sheets of tissue paper delicious homemade cookie ...more
All you need is some stiff paper, like craft paper or card stock. Then follow this video to fold two pieces (make sure they are roughly the same size) into a lovely and easy gift box. Then wrap it and stick it under the tree!
If you have a bunch of spare toilet paper tubes lying around, you're in luck this holiday season. With wrapping paper, a couple trinkets, and a pack of cracker snaps, you can make your very own Christmas crackers. Traditionally used in holiday celebrations in the United Kingd ...more
In this tutorial, we learn how to craft quilled Christmas decorations. First, you will need to take paper and cut it into thin strips that are all the same size. After you do this, you will need to take a think stick and wrap the paper around it all in the same place. Once fin ...more
Don't toss out those cardboard tubes just yet. Whenever you have one leftover from a roll of paper towels, toilet paper, or wrapping paper, hang on to it, because it's got some great DIY potential. Cardboard tubes of all sizes can be handy for a variety of uses, from storing ...more
With Christmas just around the corner, it's prime time to start thinking about what gifts you're going to get, as well as how to wrap them. Even a fancy schmancy iPad isn't going to look all that appealing if haphazardly wrapped in 5-year-old Rudolph wrapping paper, right? Gi ...more
At its core, Valentine's Day is about giving and getting sweet treats. While one could argue that the same idea applies for both Halloween and Christmas, on Valentine's Day these sweets are packaged in the most adoring, lovey dovey ribbons and wrappings. Check out this paper ...more
Although Christmas is a time to spend with family and be happy and full of joy, sometimes it's nice to pull a prank here and there, especially since many will not be expecting them. In this tutorial, I'm going to show you 10 simple pranks and booby traps you can set up on you ...more
The holiday season is here, and most people have already started counting down. Advent calendars are a very traditional way to keep track of how many days are left, but most of the ones you see are either boring, made for little kids, or just plain ugly. Want to make your cou ...more
Make a Christmas Gift Card Holder Materials • (Elegant Eggplant) craft paper, cut 4 ¼” by 11” • “Whisper White” paper cut 1” by 7 ½” for belly band; remainder for making decorations • Sticky strips • “Sparkle and Shine” jumbo wheel, stamp pad and “Elegant Eggplant” ink • Ch ...more
Learn how to make a beautiful Christmas tree bauble ornament. Step 1. Gather your materials. Step 2. Cut two sheets of tissue paper in half at an angle. Step 3. Cut a length of curling ribbon. Step 4. Wrap the ball. Step 5. Tie up the gatherered paper with your piece of curli ...more
This homemade cake mix can turn your least kitchen-savvy friend into a star baker. And you’ve done 90 percent of the work, which is the greatest gift of all. You will need: 2 cups of sifted cake flour 1 tbsp. espresso powder 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. salt a widemouthed 1- ...more
We realize Christmas is over, but there's no reason you shouldn't surprise a friend with a pretty gift for New Year's Eve! In many other cultures friends and family give each other presents to celebrate their new year, including during Chinese New Year. In this episode of Cra ...more
Add some fizzle and sizzle to bath time with a homemade bath bomb. Bath bombs make great holiday or birthday gifts. You will need: 1 c. baking soda 1/2 c. cornstarch 1/2 c. citric acid 2 1/2 tbsp. sweet almond oil 1/8 c. distilled water 6 drops of the essential oil of your ch ...more
"Easy gingerbread house" may sound like an oxymoron, but our step-by-step guide turns this daunting holiday project into a cakewalk. You will need: at least 3 days to prepare gingerbread cookie dough plastic wrap poster board or cardboard wax paper rolling pin flour 2 cookie ...more
This video shows you how to make your own home made Christmas reindeer decorations. You need some floral fabric, scissors, a few feathers, and some artificial eyes. Draw a reindeer template on some cardboard, using a cookie cutter if you wish, and cut it out. Paint some glue t ...more
Want to add a little holiday cheer to your living space without breaking the bank? Get a clear glass bowl, fill it with extra Christmas ornaments or clementines, and you have an instant holiday-themed centerpiece for your table. Ta-da! Illustrated below are 8 more DIY holiday ...more
Debra Hardy provides detailed instructions on how to make darling decorative Santa soy votive candles in this video. She first cuts the red felt into 6 3/4 inch by 2 inch strips for the Santa suit, wraps it around and adheres it to the bottom of the glass votive. Next, she sec ...more
Holidays can be challenging, especially around Christmastime—but not if you invoke your inner MacGyver spirit. In my latest "life hacks" guide, I show you 10 amazing tips and tricks that'll hopefully make your holiday season a little more merry. Video: . If you're in need of s ...more
Broken glass Christmas ornaments? Evergreen wreath falling apart? Before you throw away or donate Christmas decorations you no longer need, see if you can reuse or recycle them for better use year-round or for next year's holiday season. Christmas ball ornaments can be used t ...more
Christmas is almost over— all of the presents are unwrapped, all of the prime ribs have been eaten, the whole family's drunk off eggnog— and soon it will be time to forget about Christmas until next year. Once the party's over, you're stuck with cleaning up all the shredded w ...more
The relationship between developers and publishers in the video game industry has always been awkward. Many great game developers such as Bizzare Creations, Clover Studio, and Bullfrog Productions have been disbanded due to corporate shenanigans involving their publishers and ...more
No, not Charlton Heston. The only pudding he ever made was steak and kidney. I'm talking about Heston Blumenthal, world famous chef and pudding lover, and the man behind the "Heston"— a plum pudding with an orange hidden within, brought to you by Waitrose (see video below). V ...more
We totally get it if you're a present wrapping procrastinator. Thinking about what presents to get your friends and family is hard enough, and then actually going to the store and shopping around for them for hours on end is exhausting. By the time you have everything in front ...more
Start with a basic cardboard box. You will also need some paper (wrapping paper or desginer paper works best), some Mod Podge, scissors, a length of ribbon and some card stock to form stencils. Then, decorate as you wish! Add embellishments like buttons or appliques as well.
The Origami Spiked Pentakis Dodecahedron is an excellent Paper Christmas Decoration Star made out of 15 paper squares. In spite of the large paper size I was defeated by the last module after nearly 2 hours (!) of trying to lock the last unit in place each time another one dis ...more
These instructional animated slides teach you how to easily fold a paper Christmas stocking Japanese style. Learn how to use the Japanese art of origami to make your own paper Christmas stocking. Use the start, stop, forward and back buttons to easily follow along. You can als ...more
These instructional animated slides teach you how to easily fold a paper Christmas tree Japanese style. Learn how to use the Japanese art of origami to make your own paper Christmas tree. Use the start, stop, forward and back buttons to easily follow along. You can also speed ...more
In this video, we learn how to wrap a gift so it comes out perfect every time. Start off by unrolling the wrapping paper out on a flat surface and cutting out a large square. After this, place the box upside down onto the wrapping paper. After this, meet the two ends to the mi ...more
Forget about spending too much money at a retail store for a new bookbag when you can make your own! Go back to school in style - your own personalized style - by making your very own purse to carry your books in. Use fabrics & accessories to customize your book bag to fit you ...more
Learn to decoupage mirrors in Rosie O'Donnell's craft corner. Add a personal decorative touch to mirrors with wrapping paper and polymer. Decoupage mirrors with Rosie O'Donnell. Click through to watch this video on blip.tv
In this tutorial, we learn how to wrap a gift the easy way. To begin, lay the wrapping paper down on a flat surface. Next, lay your gift down upside down on the middle of the paper. Next, fold the paper over half the gift, then tape it. After this, measure the other side to me ...more
In this tutorial, we learn how to wrap a present. First, lay the wrapping paper on a flat surface and cut it so it's wide enough to fit the gift. After this, place the present in the middle of the paper and fold one side out to the edge, then make a crease and tape it. Now, ta ...more
Shiho Masuda Teaches you to make 3-D origami star using recycled materials. The materials required are leftover wrapping paper, ribbons, two 3. 25" cardboard squares, ruler, scissors, glue, double sided tape and an X-acto knife. She cuts out 8 6"x6" squares from paper and glue ...more
You've got a great gift for your sweetheart on Valentine's Day. Awesome. Now, how are you going to present that lovely gift of yours? Wrapping paper? Cardboard box? Decorative bag? If any of those things are your answer—you're not trying hard enough. If you've got a small gif ...more
Tom Goddu gives some great instructions on how to fold an origami rose. - Cut a 6 inch by 6 inch piece of wrapping paper. - Fold the paper diagonally with the white side up. - Unfold the paper. - Fold the paper on the other diagonal with the white side up. - Unfold the paper. ...more
Christmas decorations aren't cheap. From outdoor lighting to fir trees, decorating for the holidays can break the bank. That's where ingenuity comes into play, like hacking battery-operated Christmas lights, modifying lighting patterns and building Christmas tree ornaments fro ...more
Julie Auclair introduces authors of a book called "Celebrate Green." This book shows you how to throw a baby shower the "green" way. Guests do not realize that some of the gifts they give can be harmful, toxic, or not recyclable. You start with the three "R's", reduce, reuse a ...more
You Will Need an artificial flower a coffee straw (preferably green) a squirt bottle from a liquid candy or a medicine dropper Hack The Flower Disassemble the flower, remove everything such as the stem and the pedals. When you're left with only the center of the flower, ta ...more
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to gift wrap using recycled material. The materials need for this project are: a potato, large paper bag, tape, ribbon and paint. Begin by cutting the potato in half and draw a simple shape onto the sliced surface of the potato. Then c ...more
Don't spend all your hard-earned money on store-bought Christmas decorations this year. Spend it on cheap paper and make your own Christmas decorations, like this origami snowflake. This isn't simply cutting out a cute snowflake design with scissors— this is folding paper, or ...more
Jennifer Fesco teach you how to fold a beautiful Japanese cube from six pieces of paper. The cube can be used as a Christmas ornament or a gift box. You will need 6 pieces of origami paper, a pencil, a ruler, a paper knife, a protective surface to cut on. A glue stick is optio ...more
These festive Christmas crackers serve as both party favors to hand out to guests and name plates on your dinner table. In vibrant colors of green and red, they simply scream out Christmas. Check out this crafting video to learn how to make these cute paper crackers. Learn h ...more
You will need pliers, scissors, fake flowers, stem wrap tape, and some pretty ribbon! Start by separating all of the flowers. Try and create a set of flowers that look nicely together. Match pretty colors with pretty colors. Make sure it is balanced on all sides and not too mu ...more
If you're an avid paper crafter, then you have probably been frustrated more than once when you're in love with a particular stamp but you only want to use one part of the stamp image and omit the other part. Rather than getting frustrated and simply stamping down everything a ...more
You've got the basic recipe. Now learn all the different ways you can decorate those holiday sugar cookies like a pro. You will need: specialty decorating items sugar cookie dough cookie cutters cookie sheets currants, chopped nuts, assorted candy eggs food coloring liquid an ...more
If you've run out of time to shop, or just want to avoid the crowds at the malls, you can make your own delicious Christmas chocolate at home. You will need a baking sheet, wax paper, chocolate melts, sweet sherry and cherries. Make delicious homemade chocolates as holiday gif ...more
Christmas is just a few days away, which means everyone is out shopping for last minute gifts. But wait— you still need some Christmas cards! The stores are going to be packed and Hallmark's going to have huge lines— so now what? Luckily, WonderHowTo has some great videos to ...more
This is a great craft project that you can use to make cute and festive Christmas ornaments out of polymer clay. You will also need cookie cutters, sanding paper, rubber stamps, a wavy blade, a straight blade, some makeup powders and acrylic paints.
Choosing the right gift for your friend or girlfriend is obviously the most important part of gifting, but you can make your gift extra special by wrapping it in a lovely package. Watch this tutorial for a demonstration of how to make a paper gift box. This tiny origami-like ...more
For this trick you need a glass, a coin and a large piece of paper. 1. Sit at the table. 2. Put a coin on the table surface. 3. Cover the coin with a glass. 4. Wrap the glass with a paper. 5. Pick up the glass with a wrapping and uncover the coin. 6. While uncovering move both ...more
A Christmas present is not the only thing you can get crafty with. Why not put that mix tape into a homemade origami box for a truly personal touch? This tutorial shows you how to origami a six-pointed star box. The shape is perfect for both Hannakuh celebrations and Christma ...more
Now that Thanksgiving is less than a week away, the holiday season is in full swing. And that means you're probably busier than ever, what with all the decorating, cookie baking, and present buying and wrapping. Take a breath and pencil in an hour or two to yourself - or with ...more
Remember baby Maggie from "The Simpsons" and the adorable Christmas tree-shaped star bodysuit to Lisa's sax recital? Babies look cute in almost anything but somehow wrapping them up in star-shaped blankets/costumes puts them at their cutest. Watch this video to learn how to c ...more
This origami video tutorial shows how to make a box with a lid out of two sheets of paper. This fold makes a great gift box for small presents. This is relevant with the upcoming holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah and Valentine's Day all around us. It's also a good idea for add ...more
This video guide will help you to fold your own hanging origami crane ornaments to hang on a Christmas tree or in your windows. Perfect for beginners. For more information, including a step-by-step overview of the folding process, as well as to get started making your own fold ...more
This origami video shows how to make a simple dove-like bird. I then go on to show you how to turn it into a hanging decoration. This would be great as a Christmas tree ornament or some other holiday decoration to represent peace. This simple project is a great holiday craft. ...more