Free Holiday Craft Tutorials: Great Projects for Every Season and Celebration!

Holidays and the changing seasons are popular inspiration for crafting and decorating. Here is a collection of fun and festive craft and gift ideas, grouped by holiday and season. Included in this list are projects that can be designed and tailored for any occasion or season simply by changing the colors or the accessories used in the project.

These crafts use a variety of materials, including wood, fabric, paper, twine, and recycled items. You're bound to find a project that fits your crafting skill and style. Check back often as new tutorials are added!

Easy No-Sew Fall Banner - This colorful banner is a cheerful welcome to the changing season and to your guests. Great for decorating your mantle or entryway, this banner is easy to make, requires no sewing, and can be made over a weekend.

Stacked Pumpkin Decorations - These stacked pumpkin topiaries can add a colorful touch of autumn to your front yard, table setting, or mantle display. These decorations are easy to make, and you can use real or fake pumpkins. You can still decorate or carve your pumpkins if you wish, or leave them in their natural state.

Scrap Fabric Fall Leaves and Napkin Rings - These scrap fabric decorations are a fun and festive way to use up your scrap fabric. Stuffed and mounted on sticks, you can use these leaves as a table centerpiece, to add to a flower arrangement, or to decorate a mantle. You can even make these leaves smaller and use them to create your own holiday napkin rings. All the patterns and templates to make these leaves or napkin rings are included in this tutorial.

Turn An Old Sweater into a Felted Fall Pumpkin Decoration - Have an old sweater that you just can't bring yourself to throw out? Learn how to repurpose your favorite sweater into a festive pumpkin to decorate your home for the fall season!

Fall into the Holidays Wreath - I made this wreath specifically so that I could display it throughout the fall and into the winter holidays. Easy to make, this wreath features some sticks to represent the fall months. With more hints of red and berries, this wreath can be enjoyed from September to February!

Paper Patchwork Christmas Tree Collage - This colorful Christmas Tree is made from magazine photos, glue, and any trimmings you have on hand. Although I made this colorful Christmas collage to display on my mantle, you can use the same idea, technique, and materials to make Christmas cards or accessories for your home!

Paper Plate Angels - These charming angels are made from a simple paper plate, a lacy doily, and some basic art supplies. Easy and fun to make, this project is a great holiday activity for any age or group. Once completed, these colorful angels can be used to decorate a mantle, hang on your Christmas tree, or as a tree topper!

Easy Christmas Tree Ornaments Made with Oven Bake Clay - It's surprisingly easy to make beautiful Christmas tree decorations with oven bake clay and some basic household tools. These decorations are quick to make once you get your materials assembled, and this is a great project to do with kids. These decorations can be used as gift tags, or as a little present for neighbors or teachers too!

Decorating for the Christmas Holiday Using Basic Picture or Photo Frames - Picture frames (particularly cheap frames) are an easy way to display your holiday decorations, particularly if you have a limited amount of space for decorations (like people living in apartments), or if you only have a small collection of holiday ornaments. By recycling or repuposing old frames, you can highlight your trimmings and make a greater impact with the decorations you have.

How to Make Christmas Ornaments from Recycled Christmas Cards - This easy holiday ornament project is a great way to recycle, upcycle, or reuse your favorite seasonal greetings into decorations that you can enjoy for years to come!

How to Make a Reindeer Christmas Ornament with Needle Felting - Needle felting might not be a craft you're familiar with, but you might want to give it a try after seeing this cute reindeer Christmas Tree ornament. Watch this step-by-step tutorial to see how this deer decoration is sculpted using this unique craft.

Easy Handmade Christmas Ornaments Made with Yarn - Yarn might be a knitter's best friend, but it's also a great material for making Christmas ball decorations! Here are step-by-step directions to make four different Christmas decorations using yarn. Each of these tutorials makes a charming and colorful ornament for your holiday tree!

No-Sew Two-Sided Christmas Pillow - This easy pillow project is a fun way to add some holiday cheer to your seasonal decorating. This no-sew craft only requires two pieces of fabric, a pair of scissors, some paint, and a few more embellishments. Although I've designed this as a Christmas decoration, you can use this tutorial to make pillow covers for other holidays and seasons too!

Needle Felted Tree Decoration - This is not a quick or simple project, but I think the result is worth it. This handmade tree is a labor of love that uses a number of craft techniques: needle felting, simple stitching, and basic embroidery. Although this tree has a bit of a Christmas feel about it, this project could also be decorated in other ways using buttons, beads, basic patchwork, or more embroidery. Any of these techniques would make a beautiful and unique tree decoration for your home.

Christmas Wall Hanging Using Vintage or Costume Jewelry - This wall decoration will add a festive sparkle to your holiday décor, using your own vintage or costume jewelry as ornaments for this easy Christmas project. And the best part is that you don't have to ruin your jewelry to make it! Your jewelry can be removed and go straight back into your jewelry box to wear and enjoy again.

How to Reuse and Repurpose Christmas Decorations in Your Everyday Decor - You spend a lot of money buying Christmas decorations, and you spend a lot of time putting them up. Then you spend even more time taking them down and packing them away. Why not enjoy them the rest of the year? Here are some great ideas for reusing your favorite holiday decorations throughout the year and incorporating them into your everyday decor!

Folded Ribbon Door Wreath - This colorful wreath features a special folded ribbon detail that makes this decoration both eyecatching and unique. This design is surprisingly easy and you can use any combination of ribbons to match your décor or the season. I like to call this my "After Christmas Wreath" but you can use this technique to make a lovely decoration for any time of the year.

Garden-Inspired Wreath with Birdhouse - This cheerful wreath will welcome both spring and your neighborhood birds! This project is fun to make and easy to personalize to your own taste, décor, and for any season. You can change the look of the wreath with your choice of flowers, colors, and details. Your finished wreath will be a beautiful decoration for either the inside your house or for the outside on your front door!

Valentine's Day Heart - This special valentine features a ruffled heart made of recycled map pieces and a heart-felt message of love: "Together Forever, Never Apart." Although I made my valentine as a framed piece of art, you could also use this same technique to make a larger heart wreath or a smaller heart for a Valentine's Day card.

Romantic Wall Art with Birds and Heart for Valentine's Day, a Wedding, or an Anniversary - This sweet and charming birds and heart image makes a lovely romantic piece of art for your own home or to give as a gift to that special couple. The intertwining ribbon that forms the heart is a sweet symbol of love, and this project is easily adaptable as a Valentine's Day gift, a wedding presentation, or for an anniversary celebration.

"Love Letter" Pendant or Key Chain - This sweet charm can be made either as a small pendant for a necklace or bracelet, or as a larger key chain. This is a quick and easy clay project and makes a "charm-ing" gift for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, an anniversary, or as a gift for a special friend or bridal party.

4th of July Patriotic Flag Door or Wall Decoration - This patriotic flag decoration is a cheerful welcome sign for the US Independence Day holiday or for any day. This sign is constructed with pieces of wood and can be hung inside or out. Although I decorated my sign like the US flag, you could use this same craft idea to make a variety of flag or welcome signs.

Vintage Inspired Handmade Tree with Flowers - Inspired by the vintage look of the home accessories available at Anthropologie and Pottery Barn, this charming tree is easy to make and fun to customize to your own decorating style. Using basic supplies, this colorful tree decoration could be a wonderful centerpiece for a wedding or bridal luncheon, a special baby shower, or for decorating your home!

Decorative Branch with Paper Flower Blossoms - This tutorial shows you how easy it is to make a lovely floral decoration for your home using a branch and adding paper leaves and tissue paper blossoms. These beautiful budding branches are the perfect way to accent a mantle or side table, or create a charming centerpiece for your dinner table. And you could easily change the color combination and a few details to make this flower craft into a holiday decoration for many different seasons.

No-Sew Scrap Fabric Welcome Wreath - One of my favorite diy projects, this wreath can be designed for any holiday or season, just by changing the fabric used and the flowers or decorative details added. This full tutorial includes ideas about how to use different materials to create a similar scrap fabric wreath for various occasions.

Crayon Covered Gift Jars - These colorful, decorative jars make wonderful teacher appreciation gifts, party favors, or table decorations for a variety of occasions and events. Easy to assembly, they are also a great way to repurpose and recycle old jars! This tutorial includes many ideas on how to make these jars and use them for gifts or decorations.

How to Make a Double Grapevine Wreath for Every Season - A double grapevine wreath is a charming and colorful sign to welcome people to your home. It's also a wonderful way to span seasons and holidays when decorating. With a double wreath, you can decorate one ring for a particular season or holiday, and the other wreath for the next season. By joining the two wreaths together with coordinating colors, you can create a wonderful wreath that will serve double time on your door!

All projects copyrighted © 2015 by Donna Herron. All rights reserved.