Last-minute Christmas decorating and craft ideas

Last-minute makes you'll use time and time again!

these very merry decorating and craft ideas will get you through the festive season without missing a beat. There’s the contemporary and space-saving wood-grained MDF tree laden with keepsakes in boxes, the clever table-setting idea, the framed baubles or the sparkling door hanger. Which will you make?

1 Minimal, modern and merry! Craft this gorgeous calendar using MDF, paint and a window squeegee to create the wood-grain effect on the tree. It’s quick, it’s easy and it features a gift-wrapped pressie for each of the 12 days leading up to Christmas.

2 Create a spectacular three-tier centrepiece with clear glassware you have at home or from charity shop finds. Working from the base up, and using an epoxy adhesive to glue all the pieces together, start with an ovenproof flan dish, then attach a small jam jar in the centre. Place a glass side plate on top of the jar and, onto this, attach a footed dessert bowl, followed by a clear saucer for the final tier. And now for the fun bit, the decorating. Arrange a berry LED garland, wreath-like, around the bottom tier of the table decoration. Place assorted sizes and finishes of soft pink and silver baubles throughout the centrepiece and you’re done!

3 A few twigs and pretty baubles are all you need for a charming wall display. Break four twigs to suit the shape and size of your desired frame. Arrange as a rectangle or square, crossing twigs at each corner. Use twine to bind the twigs together at the corners, then suspend coordinated baubles within the frame and mount on the wall. Simple!

4 Make festive place cards for the entertaining season. Leaving a long tail, secure the end of a piece of beading wire around the neck of a bauble. Wrap the wire tail around a marker pen or a pencil several times to create a spiral. Apply a drop or two of hot glue to the centre of a small branch offcut and immediately place bauble onto it. Using a tag punch and card, punch out a tag, then punch a small hole at the curved end. Write your guest’s name on the tag before feeding it onto the bauble’s spiral wire.

5 Do something different this year

and think beyond a wreath for your front door. To make a similar door hanger, cut several lengths of artificial foliage. With all stem ends even, wind jute string around the top and secure. Wrap fairy lights around the foliage, concealing the battery pack within the greenery (which you can glue in place). Wire a few clusters of three baubles or so together and, working your way from the top down, attach to the foliage.

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