DIY Christmas Series – Cool Weekend Holiday Crafts, Pt 1
Filed Under: Do It Yourself on December 11, 2009
Alright, people, it’s the big time of year when everyone runs out and spends a lot of money they don’t have on stuff they don’t need so that they can have a Bing Crosby Christmas. Great for them. Now, the rest of us are going to have a fun holiday. Why? Because we spend our holidays breaking making stuff. That’s why!
So I’m going to do a series over the next few days featuring some of the coolest Instructables and other DIY things I’ve found. These will show you how to take all kinds of stuff that you’re either throwing away (or hiding from your wife so she won’t throw it away for you) and make that stuff into cool, festive decorations.
I was going to include a do-it-yourself on how to turn an old leather jacket into a Christmas tree skirt, but I just couldn’t bring myself to it. I mean, I got that jacket when I was 17, man. It’s been to both a GWAR and a Grateful Dead concert on the same weekend! How epic is that?! Nope, I had to put it back into hiding (see wife comment above).
Anyway, here’s the first installment of this series.
How to make Christmas ornaments from toys!
This one is just cool. It’s an Instructable on taking old toys from your rummage drawer, the stuff your kids no longer play with, or out of one of those $3 giant trash bags of toys at the Salvation Army and turning them into ornaments. Plus, we also have cats, so I totally understand his aversion to pricey and breakable ornaments.
Plus, it’s way better than the Rolling Rock and Killians bottles stuffed with Christmas lights we used when I was in college. Hey, at least they were green and (sort of) red. Right? Plus, Utah doesn’t have a glass deposit system, so we were saving them from the garbage and stuff. Really. At least for a while.
USB powered LED Christmas tree
What could possibly bring out the Yuletide spirit better than geek toys? Do-it-yourself geek toys, that’s what. Not since Lego Robotix came out has anything as killer as this appeared to brighten up your Christmas nerdiness. Seriously. Making one of these will totally make you the envy of the office as you walk into work, sit down, and plug in your Holiday Spirit for all to bask in. The other developers/programmers/engineers/whateveryougeekscallyourselvesnow will be totally jealous.
The closest I ever got to a DIY holiday decoration this cool was when I modified my Toyota Corolla to light up with chain-reaction Christmas light neon throughout the inside. The fire was totally on purpose too, to celebrate the Old Norse Yule ritual. I pride myself in being totally into diversity of religious views and stuff. The firefighter who put it out was Jewish, so there was some Hanukkah goin’ on too. Then I used some Swahili-sounding words on the insurance lady when she explained to me what “liability” means. Can you say Kwanza? Booya.
Tune in again as this series continues. I’ll have a lot more of these ultra-cool DIY holiday decorations!
