How to make holiday crafts with your printer

Does the thought of having the kids home with you for a week or two through the holiday season instill fear in you? No need to be afraid! Coming up with some fun and creative holiday crafts can alleviate boredom and keep everyone entertained, out of trouble, and from engaging in endless scraps. While the thought of finger-painting, glitter glue, and sharp needles threaded through dried cranberries is enough to drive some parents into a meltdown, the truth is, if you have a printer, you’ve got Christmas crafts!

Christmas Craft ideas

I recently had a chance to test out and review (read it here!) the new HP Tango Printer. This versatile, smart colour printer can be your gateway to all kinds of holiday fun and entertainment. Check out these ideas for how to use your printer to entertain the whole family.

Holiday printer crafts: Simple Snowflakes & Activity pages for kids

HP’s Smart app has holiday fun pre-loaded. Use the app to download and print activity sheets, puzzles and even snowflake templates you can cut out and use to decorate the house.

I printed some out on decorative scrapbooking paper for some extra glitz and glitter. The HP holiday tile on the HP Smart app also has templates to print out Christmas cards so you can save a few bucks on packaged ones.

How to make Starwars Snowflakes

If basic snowflakes aren’t your thing, check out these Star Wars Snowflake templates. You can find these free templates that create the COOLEST Star Wars style snowflakes. These are the snowflakes you’re looking for!

Make printable ornaments & 3D trees

There are all kinds of printable ornaments to be found online. Look for free ones or download the files for small fees from places like Etsy. Print them on paper or cardstock, or even decorative craft or scrapbooking paper. I also created some 3D evergreen trees using this tree template, and used them for our Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer diorama! Print out the simple tree stencil and cut out the shapes, then fold the tree sides together and glue for crisp 3D evergreen trees that stand up on their own.

Cute decorative elements: Paper Poinsettia

I’m making a wide paper poinsettia garland using this template I found online. You print the stencil out on red or green cardstock and glue them together, then you can string them up anywhere.

Get stencils for cookie and cake decorating

HP’s website also has some cute stencil templates you can print and then cut out to use as decorating templates for dusting cookies or cakes with icing sugar.

Create decorative mod paper medallions

These simple to make ornaments are actually really beautiful. Print them out on simple coloured paper or lighter weight cardstock (to be able to handle the folding needed) and then cut them out and trim the holes. They get folded into discs and hung up with string. You could also glue these onto gift bags or plain boxes for a custom look.

Keep the kids busy with colouring sheets

I found all kinds of colouring pages you can print out for the holidays. Search for free options on Google, or use the HP Holiday kit inside the free HP Smart app.

Modernist paper ‘onion’ ornaments

Even if you don’t have a printer, if you’ve got scissors, you can make these midcentury-style mod ornaments. I saw these made using felt strips, but if you just cut them from paper, you get a similar and pretty effect. These ‘onion’ shaped ornaments can be made from coloured cardstock and metal gromets or eyelets can be added to hold the strips together and create an opening for string to hang them. Five strips of paper are cut into three different sizes; the two on the outside are cut longest, the two in the middle are a  bit shorter and the middle piece is the shortest. Rivet or staple the ends together and when they are hung up, the ornaments rotate on their own.

Got ideas for how you use your printer to keep the kids busy? Share it in comments below! And check out the HP Tango and all the other printer options this season at Best Buy.