A Christmas Craft Exercise: Your Invitation To a Calm and Joyful Advent

A Christmas Craft Exercise: Your Invitation To a Calm and Joyful Advent

Try these easy creative, Christmas, crafts to help de-stress and connect with your creative side. It's amazing how just half an hour of doing something with your hands can really help you to get out of your head.

Advent Christmas Craft 

It’s widely known that engaging in a creative activity is good for you. Doing something creative, no matter how simple, promotes relaxation and mindfulness. 

But, it’s also incredibly hard to find time for, and even with good intentions, little niggly things like not having the right materials can thwart you.

To help carve out some mindful moments in the busy advent season, we’ve collated some very simple creative activities - using mostly things you’ll have to hand - to help root you in the now and find joy in the festive season.

Deliciously personalised place settings

The little boxes that house each day’s advent tealight can be easily recycled. But, better than that, they can be reused. 

Decorated and labelled with your guests’ names, these little boxes make for unique and intriguing place settings for your festive feasts. Flatten out the boxes, decorate and then reassemble. Maybe tie a little bow around the top of the box for a luxe finish. Or, even, stuff with a little treat - imagine the delight when your guests open the diminutive boxes up to find an indulgent chocolate truffle! 

Top tips: use a sharpie to clearly label each box with your guests names or initials. And, though you can get as arty as you like, a simple polka dot, stripe, or star doodle will look perfectly charming.

Hand stamped gift wrap

This age-old homespun craft activity is a classic for a reason. Potatoes make excellent, easy to find, and affordable stamps.

Take a good size spud, cut it in half and, using a fairly sharp kitchen knife, carefully carve a simple shape into the exposed flat surface. If you find your potato a little damp, use kitchen roll to soak up excess moisture. 

Then, with a good size puddle of paint (acrylic is great, poster paint will do nicely) on a plate, dip your spud gently in and stamp away! 

Top tips: use brown kraft paper, which can be found on the high street in the run up to Christmas - it’s quite affordable and makes for a nice, rustic look. And, keep it simple - a bold, all over print of a single shape - star / bell / tree - will always be striking.

Collage keepsake box

Wondering what to do with your advent calendar box when it comes to the 24th and you’ve opened all your tealights? How about turning it into a keepsake box to treasure your festive memories?

Collage is a very simple way to decorate things and an ideal way to use up scraps of whatever you might have lying around the house

So, with your Pritt Stick or PVA at the ready, rip or cut out your scraps of wrapping paper, pages from magazines, even wallpaper leftover from DIY projects, or lovely paper bags from little boutiques. Paste your scraps all over your box, inside and out, and you’ll have a beautiful, and totally unique, keepsake box.

Top tips:  If you do have PVA to hand, paste a layer over the top for a long-lasting, glossy finish.

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