Free Printable Christmas Ornaments

I want to apologize for posting about Christmas before December. I hate Christmas advertisements, music, etc before December as much as the next person, but for those who plan to USE these printables time is of the essence. Some of these ornaments will take time to make and if you have a large tree it could take time to fill it--especially with all the commotion that comes with the holiday season.

Christmas ornaments are one of those sticky places between printables and paper crafts. Some of these projects will fall more on one side of the spectrum than the other because of the three dimensional nature of Christmas ornaments. I tried to bring you only those that you could realistically keep for more than one year since ornaments are usually cherished things. Paper can be preserved in a number of ways. I like to give my paper creations a couple coats of clear spray paint, but I've also heard of people using Modge Podge (not good on ink jet print outs but fine on laser) and dipping in wax.

I'm going to start with the printable Christmas ornaments that have the most traditional look and feel. HP has some beautiful printable Christmas ornaments that are simply stunning. They do require some heavy duty assembly though so you'll have to start early if you plan on decorating a whole tree with them. I know it seems like I've been a one woman advertising firm for HP lately, but they do provide an impressive range of printables in their activity center. Aside from the ornaments I already mentioned they also have some very cute gift box ornaments. If you like the circle ornaments but don't want to be ink wasteful then print out this ornament template with instructions for making the ornaments from recycled Christmas cards.

Next on the list are these click and print ornaments from Martha Stewart. These printable ornaments are charming in their subdued shades of green, pink, and blue. These ornaments can be customized with family photos. While your at it check out the printable pattern and tutorial for making vintage inspired glitter stars. This would be an awesome way to use up left over wrapping paper.

Paper dove ornaments from Design*Sponge require very little in the way of ink yet produce a wonderfully modern look. Use the printable templates on their site to create a flock of lovely peace birds to adorn your holiday tree. The templates are at the bottom of the post. The link isn't very noticeable so look hard.

Also on my list of interesting printable ornaments are these Victorian paper craft ornaments from Victorian Ornaments. Of course they require some extra embellishment to really shine, but I can't help but be entranced by the lovely illustrations. The base doll forms can be dressed up in a variety of ways for an infinite variety of combinations. While you are there read about how they make their ornaments because it might give you some ideas for making your own.

Visit How About Orange for printable ornament templates, tutorials, and ideas for 3D paper ornaments. There are some paper cut ornament and some origami ornament ideas. Remember that the specialty papers used to create a lot of these ornaments can be printed at home. Just search for "free digital scrapbook papers" or "printable scrapbook papers" and you will quickly find great designs to use in you ornaments. My favorite ornament in this link list collection is the one she featured on her own website. You can print the template onto colored card stock or any of the scrapbook papers you might have printed. How awesome does this ornament look in orange? Jessica Jones is giving me a whole new appreciation for the color orange.

Here's another dastardly simple ornament template from Lost Button Studio. What a timeless and simple design. I love it! Lost Button Studio's blog has a lot of fun ideas so if you get a few spare moments have a click through.

I like the design of these printable ornament boxes from Shala. For hearth-free households (oh the drudgery of apartment living!) finding a good place to hang a stocking is a bit of a chore. These ornament gift boxes won't alleviate that responsibility, but they can help make up for, in a small way, the lack of a proper fireplace. They'd also be great for a classroom or office Christmas tree. Each person could enjoy a small present from the tree. Scroll down the page to see the various designs available.

Speaking of classrooms, some teachers have a large paper tree that the children can decorate with paper ornaments. Scissor Craft and Lee Hanson printables both have some printable paper ornaments that would be appropriate for small children to cut out and past on a paper tree.

The last printable ornament template I want to share isn't exactly a paper craft. It's actually a felt sewing craft, but I am really amused by the resurgence of the 1970's owl motif. But, the template is awesome and would work great with patterned craft papers or printed scrapbook backgrounds.

Printable Karaoke Request Slips

My friend Stephanie was looking for printable karaoke song request slips.  I didn't find anything online worth using, so I made her some.

Come and get 'em!

Printable Karaoke Request Slips in Word.


Printable Karaoke Request Slips in PDF

Printable Snowman Crafts and Activities

Today my son woke up to find a very light dusting of snow coating the tops of cars. The snow didn't have much staying power as there was none left on the ground, but to here my son's reaction you would have thought we were in the middle of a blizzard. He jumped up and down, begging to go outside to make a snowman. Of course, there wasn't enough snow for that and I had to break the unfortunate news to him.

So I went on the search for snowman crafts and activities for him to do instead of making a real snowman. I found a few things that I liked and I want to share them with you.

We played with this little Flash snowman from Cyke.com and after we were done rearranging the various snowman accessories we printed out our results.

We tried out this printable snowman maze from Print Activities and colored and cut this printable snowman from Danielle's Place. I used this snowman coloring page as the cover of a snowman notebook. I punched a hole in the top and tied all the pages together. I put a different winter related word on each page for him to trace and rewrite. We made the printable snowman craft by Original Kids Crafts and hung it on the door.

That's all we got to today. Tomorrow we might make these printable snowman puppets from Making Friends and do this printable winter hidden picture puzzle from Highlights for Kids. Then we'll write a letter to grandma on this printable snowman stationery from PinkWool.

I found some other great projects for me to enjoy. Flickr user allatseawithabucketandspade has created some awesome printable paper houses. This one is pink with a snowman. She has a whole collection. I think they would make and interesting nontraditional Christmas Village. If you use them make sure to drop her a line and thank her for the templates.

Organized Christmas had two really cute stocking stuffer ideas: Snowman Poop and Snowman Soup. Life in the Craft Lane with Mandy had a adorable snowman recipe card that I really liked. The download link is broken but clicking on picture will give you a usable image to print. PaperTree (from CrabTree Media) has a cute printable snowman paper toy ornament that I'm going to make later too.

Hope you enjoyed this printable snowman link list. :)

Free Printable Thanksgiving Decorations

Thanksgiving can be very stressful in terms of preparations.  There are endless dishes to cook and serve followed by endless dishes to wash and put away.  If you use traditional table linens you get the added bonus of preparing (oh the dreaded ironing!) and washing those as well.  This year, cut yourself a little slack, create a beautiful Thanksgiving table setting by using printables.  Then after the mean is done throw the mess away!  PackageTech has a nice fall theme printable place setting that will make your table look nice with little effort.  Even if you plan to use traditional linens, consider using the printable Thanksgiving placemats from HP for the kids.  With bright, colorful images and fun puzzles they are sure to keep the little ones entertained while they wait for their meals.

Nothing adds a little Thanksgiving ambience like some beautiful table decorations.  Hp has you covered there too with these editable menu votives.  They also have matching place cards and "Thankful for" book.  But, my favorite HP Thanksgiving printable (they sure had a lot of them!) was this printable Tree of Gratitude (you'll have to scroll down.)  I think it would make a perfect, not so cheesy, holiday center piece.

The Titan of Thanksgiving, Martha Stewart, also has some printable goodness for you to enjoy.  Her printable Thanksgiving favors feature adorable woodland squirrels, while her charming printable Thanksgiving candy bar wrappers make excellent place cards.  Speaking of place cards check out these great turkey place cards.  Her pie slice template is an awesome way to send home left over pie.  And if you still aren't nauseated by all of her domestic divatude then maybe you'll want check out these printable paper turkey center pieces.



FamilyFun is a family favorite when it comes to Thanksgiving printables.  They have a great collection of charming, well illustrated, printable Thanksgiving games, decorations, and crafts.  My favorite is this week before Thanksgiving planner, which is an awesome way to keep track of all the little chores that have to be done before the big feast.



I adore this printable paper turkey toy from SS42 almost as much as I like this scrapbook turkey template from SPtimes.  It would make a great family craft project.  Epson also delivers this Thanksgiving with all these wonderful printable scrapbook presentations.  Just plug in your images and go.  Scatter them around the house so that family can reminisce about former feasts.



Of course, it's not just your table or your home that needs to be decorated.  For millions of vegetarians out there Thanksgiving is is difficult enough to cope with without having to stare down the gullet of a boring Tofurky.  Don't worry!  Comic Product has your back mavens of meatlessness.  The Tofurky disguise kit can be used to dress up your Tofurky, or if you are the loan turkey eater in house of ham hounds, give you a little "gooble-gobble" to gooble.  Even better!  Dress up those mash potatoes, that cake, or that horrible Jell-O concoction that no one wants to eat.

How to reduce the cost of printing at home

Free printables aren't really free.  They do cost in terms of paper and ink.  For some printer types the cost of ink can be exorbitantly high, so much so that the savings generated by using free resources are eaten up by the cost of the supplies.  This is especially true with things like banners, which involve a lot of ink and paper and can often be had at a discount store for a dollar or two.

I print a lot.  I'm sure you an imagine how much I print.  I test almost all the printables I create for this site, plus a lot of the ones that I list and review.  I love to create paper toys and crafts in my spare time, and often print out my digital scrapbook pages.  I print a lot of full color, high quality, images on photo and brochure paper.  The cost of doing these types of projects can get pretty high if you aren't vigilant.

To reduce printing costs I use the following tips:

1. Buy paper in bulk.

I'm kind of a paper junkie.  I have tons of different weights and styles of office papers not to mention the scrapbook and craft papers that I've managed to accumulate.  When it comes to standard 20lb copy/inkjet printer paper buying in bulk is the best way to save money.  A ream (pack of around 500) of paper costs just under 5 bucks.  A carton (5 reams) cost around 15 bucks.  The last carton I purchased from Staples.com was $13 with free shipping.  That's 2500 sheets of paper for the price of 1500.  Don't rush when it comes to purchasing bulk paper, wait for sales and free shipping offers.  Check for coupon codes online.  Back to school season is a great time to buy bulk paper.

Photo paper, especially generic brands, is extremely cheap in bulk.  There are times that it can be had at almost the same price as card stock. Some of my best photo paper purchases have been from eBay.  Before spending the cash for name brands like Kodak, consider what the paper will be used for.  Archival quality paper is only necessary for those items you plan on keeping forever, like scrapbook pages.  Everything else can be printing on off-brand papers as long as the print outs are not exposed to excessive sunlight.  Sunlight will yellow paper.  My favorite photo paper was a store brand called Meritline.  It was thick, heavy, and super high gloss.  It was great for photo craft projects.

2. Refill your ink cartridges.

If your printer cartridges are refillable then refill them at home for massive ink savings.  I know a lot of people don't like to refill printer cartridges.  I've heard people complain that refilling cartridges is messy and does not provide substantial savings for the effort.  I can say from personal experience that this is not true.  Yes, refilling cartridges can be messy.  To avoid having ink stained hands and tables lay down a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper and wear gloves.  After you fill your first couple cartridges you will find that it's no more messy than changing out new and cartridges.  They real key to preventing mess and overspill is to refill the cartridges SLOWLY.  By slowly I mean excruciatingly slow. If you refill the cartridge slowly you will not flood the ink compartments.  Flooding the compartments with ink not only makes a mess, it ruins a perfectly good cartridge. After filling the cartridge it's a good idea to press the cartridge on a folded paper towel (like you would a stamp) until you see each color distinctly without blending.  Then use the printer's cartridge cleaning feature to clean the cartridge. 

Just like paper, ink is cheaper in bulk.  The trick to saving money by refilling cartridges is to purchase QUALITY ink in BULK.  Research the type of ink you printer uses and try to find the closest possible substitute.  My printer uses pigment based ink.  One of my first refill kits used dye based ink.  The results were less than impressive, the cartridge was quickly ruined and all my prints bleed and faded.   Knowing what type your printer takes is important. 

When I use to purchase ink cartridges I average one new color cartridge every two months and one new black cartridge every three months.  At 25$ per cartridge this added up to about $250 a year.  I purchased four 8 ounce bottles of ink for my printer from Alotofthings.com for about $18.  A year later I'm still using the same ink.  I've even refilled cartridges for others and used some of the ink for art projects.  The great thing about refilling ink cartridges is that when you run out of one color (yellow seems to be the first to go for me) you don't have to pitch a perfectly good cartridge.  Which is why I can use $18 worth of ink over the course of a year and save myself nearly $230.  Don't be fooled by the small refill kits you find in stores.  The real savings is in purchasing large bottles of ink.

3. Print in draft when it isn't important or better yet, don't print at all.  Wait!  No! Print something!

If I don't plan on keeping something I printed for the long term I use the draft quality setting on my printer.  I don't use my printer to print confirmations, receipts, or copies of documents sent to me for keeping (like tax returns).  Instead of printing them with my printer I print them to One Note or print them as a PDF and save the file incase I need it later. Virtual printing can save you lot on ink and paper costs and there are plenty of free, open source virtual printing softwares out there.

There is one more mistake that people make in terms of printing.  Many people, in an attempt to save money on ink costs, don't print at all.  They may purchase a new cartridge, use it once, then not print for months.  When they finally do attempt to print again they find that their cartridge is dried up and won't work, then they have to buy a new one.  There is nothing more irritating than having a "new" ink cartridge that won't print.  If you are someone who rarely prints you have two options: you can print something weekly to make sure the ink isn't dried out or you can take the print cartridges out of the printer and store them in plastic bags till they are needed again.  If you have a cartridge that is dried out you can try putting damp (not wet!) paper towel in plastic bag with the cartridge and leaving it overnight.  There's no guarantee it will work, but it's worth a try.  The same trick works with dried out modeling clay.

These are all common sense techniques for lowering home printing costs. There are other methods for reducing costs, like continuous ink systems and programs for reducing printing costs, but at the very least these three tips will save you a bundle on printing costs.

Free Printable Pilgrim Activities

Oh yes, Printable Pilgrim Activities... You want them, I got them. Not many of them mind you, but I got 'em.

HubburdsCupboard has a link list of printable pilgrim activities plus some great Thanksgiving links. There is some great information that can be used to create a pilgrim lesson plan and quite a few crafts. This isn't a site devoted just printables but it is a nice resource.

If you are looking for printable craft activities AllFreeCrafts has another great link list of printable pilgrim craft projects. My only qualm with this site is that some of the links are out of date, but then again, no one is perfect.

I like this printable worksheet of pilgrim names from Scholastic. I find the practice of naming children after virtues interesting as it seems to wax and wane from one generation to the next. This printable pilgrim hat math worksheet from TeacherVision is nicely illustrated and these pilgrim ABC cards from KidsCrafts (Suite 101) are pretty too.

I really love how comprehensive Enchanted Learning's printable offers are. They have a great Thanksgiving printables selection, but they do charge a 20$ yearly fee. That's not much, and I'm still mulling over wether or not I should subscribe. The only problem would be that I couldn't post any of the materials here without my readers having to subscribe. :( And that kind of defeats the purpose of FREE Printable Fun. If I ever do subscribe I'll make sure to give you folks review of their website.

I know I've mentioned Making Friends paper dolls before, but incase you haven't seen their site, they have a lot of cute printable paper dolls including these great pilgrim paper dolls, Thanksgiving paper dolls, and Native American paper dolls. Make sure you check out their Friends Across America program which is an interesting (and ADORABLE) twist on the traditional pen pal idea. This will make an awesome winter-long project for everyone in your household and Thanksgiving is an awesome time to start.

There are a ba-zillion Thanksgiving coloring pages out there. You don't need my help finding them. However, I do want to point out this little set from Funschool because I think they are extra special. I especially love the Mayflower and hand turkey. What does that have to do with pilgrims? Nothing!

That's enough about pilgrims. Pilgrims weren't the first people to settle in the US, they were just the most popular. Jamestown has an interesting settlement history too. There aren't many Jamestown printables about, but there are some good printable books from HistoryIsFun about the Jamestown settlers and the conditions in which they lived. You can find a some more information (though no printables) at Jamestown400 which I found by downloading this minesweeper style game about Jamestown called Dig The Fort.

Free Printable Turkey Cut-Outs, Folder Games, and Activities

With Thanksgiving fast approaching many parents and teachers will be putting together lesson plans revolving around turkeys, pilgrims, cornucopias, etc. I wanted to put together something nice that would function as a craft, folder game, and decoration. Right Click and Save the images then print them from your graphics program.

Blank turkey cut outs with and without colored feathers. Good for crafts, folder games, or decorations.

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Color matching folder game.

Number sorting folder game.

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Site word matching folder game.
Assemble turkeys with white feathers, let child correspond colored feathers to white feathers.





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Word family turkeys. Words ending in AD, IN, and IT Word family turkeys. Words ending in AT, AN, and AP

















Word family turkeys. Words ending in OG, OP, words.






Zip File of all Images

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Don't worry, I won't leave you hanging without a link list of terrific turkey resources!

If you are a parent or educator looking for Thanksgiving themed lesson plan and resources you have to visit this awesome collection of Thanksgiving activities from ABCTeach. I really enjoy the lesson plans that they make available for free. For home school families their website is an invaluable resource.

You can't say Turkey without the letter T. I love this First-School collection of preschool printables featuring the letter T and our favorite holiday bird.

I like this "Turkey Facts" page from Kidzone. There's not a lot in the way of printables, but I do enjoy the bite size, easily digested turkey facts for kids.

Free Printable About Me Book

An "About Me" book is an excellent way to encourage a child to write and read. You can approach making a book in two ways. You can create a book that talks about where the child lives, what they like to do, what their favorite colors are, etc. Or you can create a photo book with captions that the child can read. I chose to create a book that captioned photos of daily activities. I did this to help my son practice the phrase "I am" and to practice words ending in "ing." Pictures of him doing familiar things help to reinforce his everyday language use. I happened to have photos of all these mundane daily tasks, but it would have been fun to take pictures with the boy and put them in the book or to have him choose the correct picture that goes with the sentence. So I created an about me book template to use later. It stresses "I am" and words ending in "-ing" and discusses activities that most small children do.

Printable About Me Book Word
Printable About Me Book PDF









There are some great About Me Books online too.

This Printable About Me Book from KidPrintables encourages writing, reading, and coloring skills. The illustrations are cute and children can discuss subject like their home, their pets, and friends in their book.


Alphabet Soup has a great I am Special book that would be excellent in a classroom setting. Children can write about their address, phone numbers, birth date and other biographical data that they need to learn.

DLTK has a cool interactive page for creating a Printable About Me Book online. You can select different variables to create the book like the type of pet they own or home they live in. This would be a great activity to do with a child to help them make a correlation between online and desk learning.

My son really enjoys reading his book. He likes discussing what is happening in the photos and the fact that he can sound out the words with the help of the picture cues. To assemble it I cut out the pages leaving some extra space on the left hand side. I made a cover out of cardboard from a cereal box wrapped in craft paper, but I've include a title page in the template. I punched two holes in the left hand border and tied the book together with a piece of lacy ribbon.

With Christmas around the corner a book like this would be a great gift from the child to their grandparent or an awesome keepsake for mom and dad.

Free Printable Furious White Boy Note Card

Here I am... violating international copy write laws again.... I can't help myself. You see... I had this dream. I was running through a field and I was being chased by an angry anglo male. He was screaming and shaking his fist in rage. Where had I seen that fist before? Who was this furious white boy? Why was he so ANGRY? Then I remembered... it was Aaron Humphrey! He was unleashing the force of his unbridled wrath upon the world! I huddled in fear of his furor. Then I awoke...

I had a vision. The anger of Aaron Humphrey could be controlled. Like a laser beam it could be focused and condensed. It could be used for good. I could harness his tremendous ire to do the bidding of the people. I could create Furious White Boy Notecards. Just think of it... how powerful would a letter be if it was written on the back of a Furious White Boy's face? You could lobby congress for national health care, demand equal pay for equal work, force social change upon the country. You could tell people where to get off at and mean it! It would be glorious!!!

So I give to you... the ultimate in letter writing power. Use it sparingly. Use it wisely.

(My printer still isn't up so I haven't gotten to test these. Let me know if there are issues. I'm not responsible for printer explosions caused by unleashing the fury. Right click and save the choler that is Aaron Humphrey. If you are Aaron Humphrey and you are furious about this post, let me know. I would rather take it down than incur your almighty wrath. )

Do Follow

Barring my mis-interpreting the instructions for removing the "NoFollow" command from my blog, I should be giving out the link love now.  :)