As soon as Thanksgiving is over, many homeowners begin the task of decorating for the holidays. This probably means dragging boxes and bags from the attic, basement, or garage only to find that the lights don’t work or Santa’s head is slung at an odd angle from a year’s worth of rest. It can be expensive to invest in completely new holiday decorations, especially when you’re responsible for providing gifts for everyone on the Nice list this year. That’s why we love the idea of crafting some of your own holiday decorations! Not only will you stand out from the crowd, but you’ll avoid them as well, and that’s enough to make us break out glue gun any day! Here, we’ve rounded up some of favorite projects to inspire your holiday crafting spirit.

Tomato Cage Christmas Trees

Lit topiaries flaking your door are beautiful with a coast of freshly fallen snow, but they can also be a little pricey. Instead, consider making your own out of a tomato cage, a pot, and pre-lit garland. This is also a great way to use resources from your summer garden. All you need to do is simply flip the tomato cage upside down and tie the three spokes together to create a cone. If you need to, clip off the excess with wire clippers. Next, simply wrap the garland around the cage, taking care to adjust as you go to cover up blank spaces. We also found a great online tutorial here.

Pine Cone Wreath

Another DIY holiday option is taking something natural and repurposing it into something decorative. Look to the environment around you. If you live in an area with an abundance of pine trees, gather branches of pine and pine cones. You can super glue the pine cones to a wreath form and then stick the green pine sprigs in between the cones with maybe an addition of real or fake holly. This helps create natural, rustic looking holiday décor, but if you prefer your holiday decorations to have a pop, consider this tutorial for colorful pine cones!

Christmas Tags

Are you tired of peeling off gift tag stickers from all your holiday bags? Make your own that can be tied on and have a bit of a personal twist. Here’s a tutorial that shows you how to take an old photo and convert it to regular paper. Simply add the text of your choice and you may find that people keep the tags instead of the bags!

When it comes to crafting for the holiday season, the possibilities are endless. Embellish brown kraft paper to create unique wrapping paper or simply drape ornaments around lamps and mirrors for an added glitz to your regular décor. Many resources can even be found at the dollar store! With a little bit of ingenuity and some elbow grease, putting holiday décor in every room of your house is much easier than you think. Now all you’ll need to do is convince someone to help you take it down…