I’ve tried to find Cricut craft projects that don’t require a big investment in more cartridges, though some do, of course. Several of them offer free template downloads or instructions on how to create the projects on your own. Also, some of these patterns are just as easily made on other paper cutting craft tools, such as the Gypsy and Cuttlebug.

Related Pages: Printable Box Templates, Printable Vintage Postcards, Printable Dragon Paper Craft

Cricut Paper Crafts

Cricut Paper Purse	Cricut Robot Papercraft	Pretty Cricut Cupcake Wrappers	Cricut Paper Flowers Craft

Halloween Cricut Crafts

Cricut Halloween Decorations	Cricut Paper Pumpkins	Decorated Halloween Candles	Halloween Door Hangers

Thanksgiving Cricut Crafts

Cricut Thanksgiving Turkey Craft	Cricut Thanksgiving Pie Favor Boxes	Cricut Thanksgiving Place Cards	Thanksgiving Paper Banners

Christmas Cricut Crafts

Paper Cutting Christmas Ornaments	Cricut Glitter Snowflakes	Christmas Mouse Candy Cane Holders	Cricut Paper Christmas Scene

Valentines Day Cricut Crafts

Cricut Valentine Treat Bag Toppers	Cricut Strawberry Valentine Treats	Cricut Valentine Cards	Cricut Valentines Day Banner

Easter Cricut Crafts

Cricut Spring Flower Easter Treats	Cricut Easter Bunny Basket	Cricut Easter Egg Holder	Cricut Easter Place Cards

Check out more paper cutting crafts while you are here, too!

Printable Merry Christmas Banner

This is my last *sniff* Christmas in July post this year! I won’t miss it too much – I’ve taken a break from Classroom Jr. for the summer. And now that August is right around the corner, I’m going to be crazy busy putting new back to school content up!

Related Pages: Coordinating Christmas Gift Tags, Printable Vintage Christmas Cards, Easy Christmas Finger Puppet Crafts

Printable Christmas Cupcake Decorations		Printable Christmas Cupcake Wrappers
Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 1	Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 2	Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 3
Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 4		Merry Christmas Paper Banner Page 5

Check out all of our Christmas Kids Activities from the Woo! Jr. Network!

Reindeer Paper Chains

I really love printable crafts! I’m a little late on my Christmas in July series, but here’s the next one up – printable Christmas paper chain templates! There’s a snowman, reindeer, angel and Christmas tree, along with easy directions on how to cut and fold the paper to make these paper chains. Tape several of them together to make cute paper garlands and decorate with glitter or paint!

Related Pages: Printable Santa Dolls, Printable Christmas Tags, Printable Christmas Bingo Game

Christmas Paper Chain Template

Be sure to check out all of the Woo! Jr. Network Christmas kids activities!

Related Posts: Printable Christmas Paper Toys, Printable Christmas Postcards, Christmas Pinecone Crafts

Printable Christmas Tags - Retro Characters

Printable Christmas Tags - Cute Characters

For more Christmas fun to print, check out our Christmas worksheets on Classroom Jr.!

Anyway, here’s the latest addition to the vintage printables category – free printable vintage Christmas postcards! These are awesome for holiday crafts – I’m thinking of ways to use them already.

Related Posts: Printable Christmas Lettering, Pinecone Crafts, Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipes

Vintage Christmas Postcard Printables	Vintage Snowman Printable Postcard	Christmas Pixie Vintage Postcard
Vintage Holiday Car Christmas Card	A Happy Christmas Vintage Postcard to Print	Father Christmas Vintage Card

Check out all of the Woo! Jr. Christmas kids activities right here!

Easy Christmas Kids Crafts - Finger Puppets

I’m kicking off my Christmas in July series this Friday with my infamous finger puppets! I actually made these last December, but got so busy during the Christmas season that I didn’t have time to post them. I admit I really don’t like seeing Christmas stuff in stores in the summer, but I actually saw a Christmas aisle in my local Hobby Lobby at the beginning of JUNE - so technically I’m kind of late, right?!

What’s even stranger is that I’m headed out to the pool when I’m done putting up this post – if you really think hard about Christmas in July, it kind of fries your brain!

Related Pages: Advent Calendar Crafts, Printable Santa Craft, Snowflake Crafts

Christmas Finger Puppets Craft Materials List

I’ve placed a photograph next to each finger puppet with the exact materials needed for each Christmas critter. All of them require a very easy to find set of stuff:

Pipe Cleaners (Rudolf also needs the special varied width pipe cleaners for his legs – see photo below)

Pom Poms

Googly Eyes

Glue (Hot glue gun works best, but I’ve since discovered that even regular glue will suffice, it just takes longer to dry)

Wire Cutters (So you don’t ruin your scissors cutting the pipe cleaners)

The snowman finger puppet also needs dimensional fabric paint.

How to Make These Christmas Finger Puppet Crafts

Please refer to the original Easter finger puppets post for general assembly instructions.

It explains the general instructions on how to wind the pipe cleaners around your finger and how to attach the pom poms accurately.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Finger Puppet

Reindeer Finger Puppet

You will actually need six of those 1.5 inch pieces of gold pipe cleaners!

Wind the finger puppet base.

Twist two sections of gold pipe cleaner around one piece to make each antler. Glue them into the top of the brown pom pom head.

Glue the red mini pom pom and googly eyes onto the face. Gluing the nose first will make gluing those tiny googly eyes a little easier, as they will have something to rest on.

Glue Rudolph’s head onto the puppet body base.

Cut the varied width brown pipe cleaner in half – you will only need one section per set of two legs.

Slide each pair of legs between the body coils.

Christmas Santa Finger Puppet

Santa Craft Finger Puppet

OOPS - materials missing in the photo – a large red glitter pom pom!

Wind the puppet base.

Twist a 5 inch (approx) piece of red pipe cleaner into a cone shape for Santa’s hat. Use a pencil tip like the one in this 4th of July Statue of Liberty finger puppet. Twist two 2.5 inch pieces of white and silver pipe cleaner together, then into a circle for the brim of Santa’s hat. Glue the silver pom pom onto the cone top, and the brim onto the cone bottom, then glue the hat onto the tan pom pom.

Glue his red nose on first, then his googly eyes, and then glue his head onto the red glitter pom pom body. Cut a white pom pom in half for Santa’s beard, and glue it on after the head has been attached, because you need to glue it to both his face and body.

Glue the two tiny back pom poms onto Santa’s ‘coat’.

Glue Santa to the finger puppet base.

Mr. Penguin Finger Puppet

Penguin Finger Puppet

Wind the puppet body base.

To make Mr. Penguin’s top hat, wind a black pipe cleaner around a pencil as shown. Do the first three rows next to each other, then the next three rows on top of each other:

Pipe Cleaner Top Hats

To make his wings, bend an 8 inch piece of pipe cleaner into kind of a U shape as shown in the picture above.

To make his bow tie, bend a 2.5 inch piece of pipe cleaner into kind of a connected X shape as shown in the picture above.

To make his beak, simply bend a 3/4 inch piece of orange pipe cleaner in half.

Glue the beak onto his pom pom face, then glue on the googly eyes. Next, glue his top hat on.

Glue his head onto the puppet base, then glue his bow tie underneath his head and beak.

Slide his wings in between the body coils and then glue the two medium orange glitter pom poms on the bottom front for his feet.

Frosty the Snowman Christmas Finger Puppet

Christmas Snowman Finger Puppet

Wind the puppet base.

Make the black top hat as shown above on the Mr. Penguin finger puppet craft.

Cut a 1/4 inch piece of orange pipe cleaner for Frosty’s nose.

Glue the three white glitter pom poms together, large, medium then small on top.

Glue the nose onto his face, then his googly eyes. Since the top pom pom is pretty small, you may want to make his eyes with the black fabric paint instead.

Paint three small buttons onto his body (even the mini pom poms are too big for this).

Glue Frosty onto the puppet base.

Christmas Elf Finger Puppet

Christmas Elf Finger Puppet

OOPS - you will also need a 3 inch piece of green pipe cleaner for his arms!

Wind the puppet body base. When using glitter pipe cleaners you MUST use two of them for the body base – they are too thin!

Make the elf hat as instructed for Santa’s hat above, using the colors shown here.

Glue the mini pom pom nose and googly eyes onto his pom pom face, then glue on the hat.

Glue his head onto the body base.

Bend the 3 inch piece of green pipe cleaner into arms as shown, and slip them in between the body coils.

Glue the two pink mini pom poms onto his body for buttons.

Winter Cardinal Finger Puppet

Winter Cardinal Finger Puppet

Wind the puppet body base.

Glue the red V shaped feather onto the top of the cardinal’s head, then glue the yellow V shaped beak onto his face.

Glue the googly eyes on top of the beak.

Bend the wings out of a 6 inch piece of red pipe cleaner as shown.

Glue the head onto the body base, and then slide the wings in between the body coils.

Be sure to check out all of our Christmas kids crafts and Christmas kids activities while you are here, too!

Reindeer Reindeer Ornament Craft	Tree Painting Christmas Tree Handprint Painting	Pointsettia Pointsettia Christmas Craft	Santa Ornament Santa Printable Ornament
Snowmen Ornament Snowmen Family Ornament	Angel Handprint Angel Craft	Christmas Tree Handprint Christmas Tree Craft	Santa Handprint Santa Card Craft

Check out all of our handprint crafts and the rest of our Christmas crafts and activities, too!

I silently said to myself, “Seriously? Nesting paper dolls? I’m drawing nested paper dolls?!”.

I thought I would want to draw pretty farm scenes, or cute illustrations trying to be a Helen Dardik wannabe. Nope, I drew out paper dolls, put my markers away, and haven’t felt like drawing since. I don’t think I’ll ever have myself figured out.

So today I broke out my ancient copy of Adobe Illustrator and put these Santa nesting dolls together. I thought they were cute in the drawing, but I have to say I think they are pretty dang adorable once you put them together!

Christmas Paper Craft Santas

How to Make These Christmas Paper Craft Santas

These couldn’t be easier to make – print out one of each of the following 4 nesting dolls, then cut out each of them.

Santa Nesting Doll - X Large	Santa Nesting Doll - Large
Santa Nesting Doll - Medium	Santa Nesting Doll - Small

Nesting Santa Doll Tower

Then I’m going to recommend a step that you will probably be inclined to skip. Trust me on this, don’t skip the following step – it makes it SO MUCH EASIER to assemble them. So what is this mystery step?

Score your folds

You don’t need a fancy bone folder, I just used a pen with no ink and a small ruler (though I’ve decided I’m sticking this bone folder into my own Christmas stocking this year!). When you score these folds, your fold lines are effortlessly crisp and exact. I never thought the extra step was worth it, until I tried it. Now I never fold paper crafts without scoring first! And actually, it makes the folding easier and faster, so it doesn’t really seem like an ‘extra step’ at all.

Next, make all of your folds before you add any glue. And using a glue stick is the best route for this project – instant stickiness with no mess. Then when you go back to add glue to the white glue tabs, the whole nesting doll almost naturally assembles itself.

Do this to all of the dolls and get playing with them!

More Printable Christmas Crafts

You might also want to check out these printable Christmas pinwheels or these Christmas mandala coloring pages (print them on Shrinky Dink ink jet plastic!).

Christmas Bubble Letter Set

More Christmas Printables

Christmas math worksheets

Christmas coloring pages (plus Christmas animal coloring pages)

Gift box templates

Christmas word puzzles

Paper Snowflakes

Paper Snowflake Craft	Paper Snowflake Tutorial	Snowflake Mobile	10 Printable Snowflake Templates

Snowflake Crafts for Kids

String Snowflake Craft	Beaded Snowflake Bracelet	Polymer Clay Snowflake Ornaments	Pretty Snowflake Decorations
Pipe Cleaner Snowflakes	Easy Q-Tip Snowflake Craft	Preschool Snowflake Painting	Cute Button Snowflake Ornament

More Winter Crafts

You might also like my paper plate penguin craft, printable snowflake pinwheels or these easy Christmas handprint crafts, too. I also have a lot of Christmas coloring pages over on Animal Jr.!

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