What not to love about the festive spirit that comes alive this time of year? The twinkling lights, cozy decor, and joyful energy all brims with warmth and inspiration for fuelling creative projects.
One such idea is to get crafty and give life to your sketchbook drawings by turning them into DIY holiday gifts and decorations. Be it with paper, paints, fabrics or yarns. Everything holds a special place when made with so much love.
Shared below is a video tutorial I made about easy Christmas-themed illustration ideas that can inspire you to create your version.
Now that we have some drawing ideas in our bag, let’s create magic with it! Here are few ideas that will be fun to engage with during the festivities.
Illustrations Turned into Gifts and Decorations
Festive Greeting Cards. A handmade card is a beautiful way to connect with friends and family during the holidays. Use your drawings here as a central motif combined with some hand-lettering. Wrap it up with your own heartfelt message and loads of love.
DIY Wrapping Paper. Make patterns of your Christmas drawings across a large sheet of kraft paper for handmade wrapping paper. Choose simple motifs with fewer details. The tiny doodle style works best for making patterns. It’s sustainable, stylish, and oh-so-fun to create!
Handmade Gift Wrapping and Tags. Create random repeat patterns of your illustrations on paper to make wrap your gifts. A doodle style with fewer details looks cute for this. Make interesting cutouts for the tags to add personality and fun.
Holiday-themed Home Goods. Paint and personalise your artwork on a blank mug, coaster, tea towel or tote for that lovely holiday gift. Also, if you love fabrics like me, get adventurous with making embroidery with your artwork on placemats, napkins, cushions, table runners, coasters and other such goods.
Festive Toys. Making toys and plushies is one of my favourite hobbies. Why not get inspired by those Christmas drawings to make a stuffed reindeer or star pillow? Sure to add a lot of warmth, isnt’it?
Paper-craft for the Holidays. Use your drawings as part of seasonal decor! You can turn your illustrations into paper garlands or make Origami ornaments for the tree. Think about those snow townhouses that you can recreate as a decoration for your home. Paper cut-outs of nativity scenes are also a great option to adore your home.
Holiday-themed Recipe Cards. Illustrate recipe cards with your family heritage holiday recipes. Cherish them for yourself or gift them, to keep friends and family in our memories, forever.
Journaling Page Spread. Best time to make Christmas-inspired bullet journal or planner pages. They’re perfect for decorating December spreads and adding a playful touch to your planning.
Drawing Based Fun Group Activities:
Kids’ Crafts and Activities. Your Christmas drawings are perfect for holiday crafts with kids! Let them colour, decorate, or turn the drawings into puzzles or fun games.
Host a Drawing Party. Give a twist to your usual holiday dinners this season. Gather your friends and family for a casual drawing session! Turning them into colouring pages too, will be a great way to bond, relax, and create something festive together.
Even if Christmas isn’t part of your tradition, it’s a time when creativity and togetherness take center stage. Let these Christmas drawings inspire you to add a festive touch to your life, your art, and your connections with others.
Happy holidays, and I hope you enjoy the tutorial and get inspired to create something magical for your heart, home and friends.
Love, Priyanka
