Boredom Buster! Fun DIY Winter Decor (with kids!)

I love Winter.

I love snow and hot cocoa and the crisp air. 

Sometimes, though, I have a hard time figuring out how to decorate my house after the holidays! I've packed up all the red and green, tucked away the ornaments and filed the holiday cards away until the next holiday season. I don't feel quite ready for the red and pink of Valentine's Day... So what do I use to decorate my house?

Check out some of the winter DIY decor I wrote about for Zulily!

One of my favorite DIY Winter decorations is a piece I actually made with my kiddos when they were little. I dipped their feet in black and white and made them into penguins on a canvas to commemorate that place in time (I'm in denial that my kiddos were ever actually that small!). It's a conversation piece every time someone walks through my door- "Oh my gosh, how cute is this little canvas? Is it really from 2014? Wow! I love it!" I plan to keep it for years!

Footprint Penguin:

1. Paint the outside of your kiddo's foot black, including toes. Paint the inside white. Press onto canvas.

2. Draw penguin's arms next to child's foot.

3. Decorate penguin's face with googly eyes, triangle nose and ribbon for a scarf.

4. Embellish any way you see fit!

Not all DIY Winter decor needs to be a keepsake at that level, but it is nice to create some unique pieces I won't find in stores (or, at least, version I borrow from stores and DIY myself!). I did a great article recently for Zulily's blog all about awesome DIY winter decor- check it out here!

I love that trees are now trendy decor well past the holidays. Pine trees covered in snow remind me of winters growing up in Illinois. I literally didn't ever think I would miss winter once I left Illinois. Eighteen of those rough winters plus four more in Missouri were plenty, thankyouverymuch. But isn't it funny how, the older you get, the more you long for the comforts of your youth? Now, tree decorations in January can be used to remind me of my northern Illinois winters right here in Texas- and these pompom trees are easy and fun for kids and adults to make! All you need is Styrofoam cones in different sizes, a hot glue gun and pompoms in whatever colors float your boat.

Styrofoam Trees

1. Take Styrofoam cone and stand it up on table.

2. Attach pompoms with hot glue to cone in any desired pattern.

3. Voila! Easy and gorgeous tabletop decor.

I've also got my sights on some fun Mason jar crafts for Winter. There are so many ideas floating around on Pinterest on how to make Mason jar snow globes and other fun winter crafts. My friend Julie at Julie Measures has so many tutorials I can't wait to try out once the rush of the holidays ends.

What crafts will you and your kiddos make this winter?