Love twinkling Christmas lights on your tree? Well, string lights can be way more than holiday decorations for you tree. Check out these awesome ways to use Christmas lights and make your home more festive than you ever thought possible. Perfect for DIY holiday decor, some of these cool ideas work well year round. Get creative and crafty with the cool projects that are easy, inexpensive and fun for all to make. From wall art to table decor to hanging fixtures, you are sure to find a few projects to add to your weekend “to do” list.
DIY String Light Ideas
1. Holiday Joy Light Canvas
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I have always decorated the house but have always neglected to make something fun for the mantle. This year I wanted to make a DIY light sign and have really been into the word “joy” so it sounded like a perfect match. I am in the process of painting my mantle black and it’s not quite ready yet but I just couldn’t wait to share my very own DIY marquis canvas. Here’s how I did it! Get ready, you are going to love this DIY light sign.
2. DIY String Light Christmas Tree
Living in a small apartment doesn’t allow me to partake in a tall Christmas tree with all the trimmings, but luckily I found this DIY tree on Pinterest that fits flat against the wall and looks amazing! Armed with one of the new Bosch IXO cordless screwdrivers I decided to combine a few of my favorite things so getting crafty I used, pine wood and fairy/string lights. The result was a minimalist light tree, perfectly 2D for those of you with space constraints, and with all the drama of an actual Christmas tree, but without the messy cleanup. So perfect for any tiny house or apartment.
3. Plastic Canvas Light Covers
Plain white string lights turn into something far more interesting when you slip a little plastic canvas star over every single bulb. You cut the stars from sheets of plastic canvas, which cost almost nothing in the craft aisle and turn up constantly at thrift stores, then work each one around a light with a small jewelry tool. There is no sewing and no wiring, so it is a genuinely beginner friendly project you can do while something else is going on. Amy walks through the cutting and the assembly over at DIY Candy.
3. Giant Light Up Snowflake
This is the kind of project that looks expensive from the street and costs almost nothing to build. The arms are white pine sprays and red berry stems from the dollar store, wired together into a six point snowflake. String lights wrapped through the branches make the whole shape glow. Greg and Handan used color changing lights so it can go warm white one night and full rainbow the next, but a plain warm strand is just as pretty. Build it entirely from dollar store supplies if you want to keep the budget tiny. The Navage Patch has the full step by step.
5. Holiday Light Globe Hack
I love the spherical globe at Christmas, they are always elegant looking, even if rustic and roughly made. Ok, I know you can buy just about any type of holiday lighted shape, object or animal these days, but what if you could do it simply, using things you may already have around the house? If you need a cheap Christmas light idea here is a beautiful one that is cheap and easy. This DIY holiday light globe hack with wire baskets from the garden shed, ($5 at Home Depot!) some floral wire, and white mini lights. Make sure if you’re putting this globe outdoors that you buy lights approved for outdoor use.
6. Wooden Christmas Tree With Lights
My husband is an expert carpenter so when I saw this DIY wooden Christmas tree idea I knew he’d be into helping me. I drew the trees out on the wood and he cut them for me. With green craft paint and fairy lights from Michaels, we created the most fabulous looking Christmas decor ever! Teamwork keeps hubs and I happy and thankful over our holiday season.
7. DIY Illuminated Canvas
I go CRAZY for Christmas lights. If we could have year-round Christmas light displays then I would be one happy camper. I know everyone loves Christmas lights so I guess I’ll get to have them all year. This DIY Christmas light decor idea is so amazing! I love to light up the inside of our home with Christmas lights is by making Lighted Christmas Wall Art. This tutorial will show you how to make a beautiful DIY Lighted Canvas for Christmas!
8. Pinecones With Christmas Lights
My favorite DIY Christmas decor projects are cheap and easy, this one is both those things and looks absolutely amazing! We always have an abundance of pinecones from our neighbor’s ranch so there is a never-ending supply of raw materials to make our holiday DIY dreams come true. Just put the pinecones in a basket and gently wrap white Christmas lights throughout. You know what would be even easier and prettier? Fairy lights around the pinecones! Click the picture to get some budget-friendly battery operated fairy lights. Amazing DIY Pinecone Christmas basket is the easiest most awesome thing you can whip up in 5 minutes!
9. DIY Twinkle Light Christmas Canvas
I found this fabulous DIY Christmas decor idea on Pinterest and its so darling, cheap and easy. You just paint a canvas black and write your holiday message with a chalk pen. Then for the twinkle lights, you figure out how many you would like and where you would like to position them. Use an eyelet setter to punch out the hole and insert your lights. Then tape the cord of the lights down at the back of the canvas just so they would not tug on the canvas. Then I hung my canvas on a nail and it comes easily off and on the wall to turn on the twinkle lights. The battery pack just sits on the inside bottom edge of the canvas. So cute for a quick inexpensive project.
10. Christmas Light Up Marquee DIY
I saw this DIY light up marquee sign on Pinterest and went crazy. There are a lot of things to love about the holiday season (like time with family and friends or delicious food), but one of my favorite things about Christmas is the decor. I love the glittery silver and gold and the soft glow of candles and Christmas lights. So this year I was inspired by Pinterest to put all of my favorite decor aspects into a one-holiday project: a light up marquee sign! It reminds me of Elvis’ sign on his greatest hits record, and that is enough to make me go hog wild!
11. DIY Origami String Of Lights
DIY origami Christmas lights! YAY! I love them, and I would have them in our house all year round. Last week I was our looking for some Christmas inspiration for decorating the house in December when I came across some fairy lights with origami balls. I fell in love with them, but I thought the price was too high and I’m way too economically minded so I thought that it would be a fun DIY project and I could pull it off dirt cheap! So I sat down and designed the shape for my silhouette to cut and began making the string of lights. We have put it above the bed, and the soft lights are perfect for the dark mornings and the lights look so pretty every time I walk into the room. I don’t know what it is about fairy lights, but they give such a warm and cozy feeling. This DIY Christmas light project will not disappoint.
15. Twine Cone Christmas Trees
Here is a tree you can make for a few dollars that still looks like a designer bought it. You wrap twine soaked in watered down tacky glue around a cardstock cone, let the whole thing dry hard, then slide the paper cone back out so you are left with a stiff lacy shell. Tuck a strand of white LED lights inside and the gaps between the twine do all the work. Make a few at different heights and add pearl stickers if you want them a little fancier. One Little Project has the free cone template and the full how to.
16. Vintage Bulb Christmas Garland
Those oversized colored glass bulbs from the seventies are gorgeous and not remotely safe to plug in anymore, which is exactly what makes this such a smart use for them. You knot bakers twine around the base of each bulb, leave a couple of inches dangling, then tie them along a longer length of twine until the garland is as full as you want it. Nothing here gets warm or needs an outlet, so it can hang somewhere a working strand never should. The Heathered Nest shows the knotting and spacing in detail.
17. DIY Fairy Light Lantern
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27. Outdoor Light Up Wreath
This is a wreath and a porch light rolled into one, which makes it perfect for a covered patio or a screened porch where you want something glowing after dark. Angie builds it on a wreath form and works globe string lights all the way around until the ring is completely covered, so there is no greenery to dry out and nothing to swap next year. Photographed at night against a woodpile it looks incredible, and it honestly earns its keep well past December. The Country Chic Cottage has the supply list and the build.
30. Glass Jar Winter Scene
Think of this as a snow globe you can take apart, because nothing inside it is glued down. You layer fake snow or plain Epsom salt into a large glass storage jar, stand a few bottle brush trees in the drift, then wind thin wire fairy lights around them so the whole thing glows from the inside out. A clear glass lid shows the lights off much better than a metal one, and thrifted jars work beautifully. Come January it all comes apart and the jar goes back to holding flour. Dans le Lakehouse has the supply rundown.
31. Outdoor Lighted Christmas Balls
If you have ever driven past a yard with glowing orbs floating up in the bare branches and wondered how it was done, this is it. You bend chicken wire into a sphere and wrap a strand of lights around it, and that really is most of the job. Hang several at different heights in the trees out front and the whole place looks like a wonderland from the road. Tasha picked the idea up from a Greensboro neighborhood tradition and they cost very little to put together. Designer Trapped has the measurements and the hanging tips.
