Annies - In a Weekend: 50 Festive & Fabulous Holiday Projects

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To download templates for easy printing, view the download instructions at the end of this book or click the Templates chapter in the Table of Contents.

Table of Contents

Spell out holiday wishes with this simple greeting. Decorate a small grapevine wreath by wrapping ribbon around the grapevine and tying it into a bow on top. Then hang Christmas ball ornaments from the bow. Glue the wreath and wooden letters to a plank or board to spell out your message.

A bit of glue, a holiday button and a scrap of burlap is all it takes to make a festive napkin ring! Simply fold the burlap strip into a loop and glue the edges together to make a circle. Adhere a decorative holiday button to the front. Easy to do and oh-so clever!

A visit to your local paint store is the start to a clever handmade Christmas tree greeting! Turn several wide gradated paint-color sample cards into tree-shaped triangles by placing a dot at the middle of the top edge of each card, and then using a ruler to draw a line from the dot down to each bottom corner and cut. Decorate the tree shapes by gluing on pieces of ribbon or buttons, and create a trunk by gluing a craft stick to the back side of the tree. Glue the decorated trees to blank card stock.

Add a warm welcome to a frosty season using two sizes of grapevine wreaths to make a snowman. Spray-paint the wreaths white for a whitewashed effect. Using twine, tie the wreaths together with the smaller one on top. Attach several Christmas balls to a piece of twine and tie around the neck of the snowman. Add a premade scarf or make your own using a strip of fabric. Top off with a purchased hat cut in half so that Mr. Snowman can fit snugly up against a wall or door.

Transform clear glass ornaments into miniature holiday vases. Remove the metal top from large glass ball ornaments and fill the orbs partially with water. Nestle them into drifts of artificial snow on a white tray or dish. Insert a few sprigs of greenery and lacy white flowers.

Assemble a whimsical cookie-cutter wreath to sweeten your holiday decorating. First, arrange your cutters in a wreath shape and determine which will be backed with scrapbook papers. Trace around the cutters, and cut out the scrapbook paper shapes. Fit the papers snugly inside the cutters, adhering with glue, if necessary. Attach the cutters to each other with hot glue, and finish with a colorful bow.

This forest of whimsical, graphic scrapbook paper trees is easy and inexpensive to create. Simply print and cut out our templates (). For each tree, fold four pieces of scrapbook paper and the template in half. Place the folded edge of the template against the folded edge of a piece of scrapbook paper and trace the design onto it. Repeat this step on the remaining three pieces of paper. Cut out the trees and fold them lengthwise with the printed sides inward. For visual variety, intermingle two different scrapbook paper designs on some of the trees.

With a glue stick, apply glue to the back, left-hand half of one tree section and to the back, right-hand half of another tree section. Line up the edges and press the two glued sections together to form one half of a tree. Repeat these steps with the remaining two cutouts to fashion the other half of the tree. Apply glue to the backs of the two sections and press together to create one tree. Trim the trees edges to clean up any uneven lines. Arrange several trees on a wide windowsill or a side table, and then surround the grouping with a few handfuls of faux snow, cotton batting or white gift paper shreds.

Cut oval shapes from contrasting scrapbook papers, making one set of the patterned ovals slightly larger than the other set. Use specialty scissors to create a decorative edge to the back papers. Glue the two papers together then adhere them to the centers of opaque bottles. Add lettered stickers to spell out a seasonal word.

This mini village glows with the magic of holidays past. The colorful cottages are built from old Christmas cards, using yellow tissue paper for windows, and lit from the inside with small battery-powered lights. Follow these step-by-step instructions to make your own:

For each house, cut two straight walls and two peaked walls from cards. Be sure the straight walls are the same height as the straight edge of your peaked walls. Cut two rectangular roof sections, or cut one piece and fold it in half lengthwise to form the roof. The roof should be at least a " wider than the walls to allow for overhang.

Using an artist knife, cut out window openings in the walls. For doors, cut the top and one side only, and then fold the paper forward to create an open door.

Cut a piece of yellow tissue paper to cover all window and door openings on one wall. Using a glue stick, adhere the tissue paper on the back of the wall, being sure to cover the window openings. Do the same for the other walls.

Lay one straight wall next to one peaked wall, aligning the sides, and tape the pieces together from the inside. Attach the second peaked wall to the other side of the first straight wall in the same manner. Attach the second straight wall to the second peaked wall. You should now have all four walls attached to each other. Match the two open sides together, and reaching into the house, tape them together from the inside.

Tape the two roof pieces together along the long edge to create the roof, or fold your larger piece in half. Place the roof atop your house, and reach inside to tape it in place.

Spray the roof and bottom half of the house with adhesive and then dust with mica snow. Spray the house lightly with matte sealer to protect the paper and secure the snow. Set a flameless tealight inside your finished house to set it aglow.