It's a wonderful time of year to be creatively inspired by nature as we're out on our wintery walks. Whilst the trees have lost their leaves and much of the greenery dies back for another season, there's still a lot to see on the ground that can fuel some simple craft projects.

There's nothing quite like a crisp and clear walk followed by a cosy crafternoon with a hot drink, so here's some Christmas Crafting with Nature ideas for you!

Foraged Winter Wreath

Whilst we make our felted wreaths for our inside wall or door, foraging in nature can provide lots of materials for our outside door winter wreaths.

Keep your eyes open as you go for a walk to find branches, leaves, and berries that can be used for your winter wreath. Remember to bring along your pruners so you can make any clean cuts on a holly or fir tree, or a snowberry shrub. You can read more tips on responsible foraging on the Woodland Trust website here.

The best part is coming home with all of your foraged finds and arranging them on your wreath - if you don't have a woven wreath base, try using a wire coat hanger and bend it into a circle. Using twine or raffia, create your wreath by fastening your foraged finds to your base.

Painted Pine Cone Garland

Gather some pine cones and simply paint the tips with white paint for a snow dipped effect or, if you prefer, leave them bare and natural.

Tie your pine cones into a string or wire using the ridges in the cone and hang them across your fireplace, wall or Christmas tree for a lovely wintry and rustic garland!

Twig Ornaments

All you need for this one is twigs, glue and some raffia or string!

You can create lovely tree ornaments with these basic materials by arranging the twigs into simple star, snowflake and tree shapes. Glue the twig ends together once arranged and hang with some rustic string or coloured raffia - these ornaments can make for a lovely natural and creative tree decoration.

Block Printing for Wrapping Paper

Put a handmade touch on your wrapping paper this year with some found object block printing. Simply coat your gathered foliage with some acrylic or block printing paint (we recommend fern leaves with dark green paint) and press onto some brown parcel paper - the result is pretty and festive. This is a great activity to do with little ones too.

Photo credits: Annie Spratt (wreath and pine cones) and Zailin Liu (twigs)

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