Don't have a lot of time to spend with your kids making Christmas crafts? Not to worry, because the online world is a great source of free images that can be used to make easy Christmas craft projects. As an example, crafts made from vintage Christmas greeting cards or vintage scrapbook embellishments found online make projects simple, due to the fact that vintage images are both versatile and very effective at conveying a traditional holiday feel. Because of their age, vintage images can also be downloaded and used without fear of copyright infringement. That's a terrific bonus, because you don't have to worry about using other people's art illegally.

Doing a fast online search for “vintage Christmas” will net you a large selection of free images from which many fun crafts projects can be made. And if you're not a fan of vintage, contemporary Christmas clip art can also be used to produce beautiful projects.

Here are some examples of simple holiday projects virtually anyone can make by using free electronic images:

Christmas Gift Tags
You can actually find free Christmas gift tags on the Internet but you might find it more fun to make your own. Simply download the the image or images you like and paste them into a table in your word processing program. Make the table two columns by six or eight rows, depending on how tall you want the cards to be. Place your chosen art into every cell (or every other cell if you want to fold them), leaving room to write people's names. Then, print onto heavy card stock, cut them out using a paper cutter or a ruler and craft knife. You can also make holes for string or ribbon in the corners by using a hole punch.

Handmade Holiday Greeting Cards
Once you've gone online and downloaded the holiday image you would like to use, paste it into a word processing or PowerPoint document. You can size the card by adjusting the software's settings. Position the image on one half of the card, so it can be folded in half once it's printed. Print the card on sturdy stock, fold it and and apply just a little glitter glue to make it sparkle. You might also want to make your own envelopes or just buy two-for-a-dollar card and envelope sets at the dollar store and then throw away the cards.

Family Love Christmas Wreath
Making a Christmas wreath is simple and can even be made when your family gets together for Christmas dinner. Here are the supplies you'll need:

  • 1 plain Styrofoam wreath ring (you choose the size)
  • Green construction paper, cut in the shape of holly leaves approximately four inches long
  • Christmas images or vintage cards of your choice (between two and four inches long), printed and cut along the outlines
  • Scissors
  • A box of short straight pins

Ask everyone to write Christmas messages and the date on the holly-shaped paper leaves. Then, position them in a balanced way around the Styrofoam wreath and affix them with the straight pins. Be prepared to adjust the positioning of the leaves a bit to get them to look balanced. The straight pins will make it easy to reposition the elements. (Just make sure to watch the little ones around the striaght pins!) When the leaves are all in position on the wreath, pin clip art among the leaves. The resulting wreath will be a treasure that commemorates your family's love for a long time to come.

I hope you have a great time making these Christmas craft projects and that you have a joyful Christmas!