Brighten up your home with easy-to-craft décor

Home is where the heart is – and the place where many of us are spending an increasing amount of our time. As the weather gets colder and the nights start to draw in, thoughts turn to creating a cosy sanctuary filled with personal touches. You could head to the shops to buy quirky ornaments or unusual decorations to put a personal stamp on your home décor – but why not have a go at crafting your own?

Thanks to the huge range of templates available in the Creative Park app and on the Creative Park website, and the clever technology in Canon's wireless PIXMA printer range, it's possible to craft your own budget-friendly home accessories. For this tutorial, we've used the Canon PIXMA G6040 printer. It's a popular choice for the home office, but it can also be used as a printing hub for the whole family and is ideal for producing high-quality templates for papercraft projects.

The Creative Park app and the website feature a range of practical and eye-catching decorations for every room in the house. Why not print and fold your own photo frame, or build a vase or trinket box for an empty shelf or windowsill? You could brighten up your kid's bedroom with a 3D unicorn head, a colourful dinosaur mobile, or print out an animal growth chart to track their height – there are lots of fun options for you to showcase your creativity.

You will need:

• A compatible* Canon PIXMA printer, for example the Canon PIXMA G6040.
• The Creative Park app.
• Canon printer paper – Matte Photo Paper is high quality, strong and flexible.
• Your favourite design templates. For our home décor shoot we used a range of templates including the dinosaur mobile, gift box and unicorn wall sculpture.
• Scissors or a Stanley knife/blade and cutting mat.
• Paper glue.

Creative Park is filled with home décor ideas, or you can download the easy-to-use Creative Park app from the App Store or Google Play. All you need is a Canon ID and a supported Canon printer.

The templates on the app have been sorted into categories and the instinctive design makes it easy to navigate to the section you're looking for. The 'Room décor' option under 'Category' includes plants, string decorations, wall stickers, banners and mobiles. On the Creative Park website, there is a 'Home and Living' section with categories including 'Plants', 'Ornaments/Accessories' and 'Hanging decoration'. You can also try using the 'Search' tool to find what you're looking for.

Once you have found a template you like, you can either click on the star to file it under your 'Favourites' menu, or click on the 'Edit' tab to download it. During the download process you will also be asked to select the paper size. 'Save' your projects as you go along (saved items will go into 'Your Items' menu).

Each template comes with a clear set of instructions, which can either be followed on screen or printed onto a sheet of plain paper.

High quality and sturdy Matte Photo Paper or Double-sided Matte Paper is ideal for craft projects. Often templates require more than one sheet – especially for the more intricate designs. A variety of craft media can be fed from the rear paper tray of the Canon PIXMA G6040.

Check out the 'Recommendations by paper type' option under the 'Category' tab in the Creative Park app to see what's on offer.

If you're using your printer for the first time you need to make sure it has ink. Canon's MegaTank system, which features in all PIXMA G Series printers, has been designed to deliver an impressively high yield, with a low cost per page, which means you can be as creative as you like without having to worry about running out of ink. The front-facing integrated ink tank makes it easy to see if ink is running low. To refill the tank, simply open the flap on the front of the printer, and insert the corresponding ink bottle into the slot – it will stop automatically when full. You can top up the tanks as soon as you can see the ink levels dropping.

For other types of Canon PIXMA Inkjet printers, insert the correct ink cartridges during the setup process.

To connect the Creative Park app to a compatible Canon PIXMA printer, go to the 'Main Menu' and select 'Add Printer' from the 'Settings' option. When you've checked the ink levels and loaded the correct paper you're ready to press 'Print'.

For this part you will need a steady hand and some patience – particularly for the more involved templates. A sharp pair of scissors should be adequate for simple designs but a cutting mat and Stanley knife are recommended for intricate pieces. Refer to the template instructions to ensure you're folding and bending the paper in the right direction.

If your decoration is one that needs to be glued rather than just folded, you will need strong paper glue. Before applying the adhesive, fold and crease the edges to get a neater result. Paper clips can be useful for securing the tabs in place while you wait for the glue to dry.

Now you're ready to hang your decoration or place it in a prime position in your home. You could use pins to hang decorations from the ceiling or secure lighter wall hangings with reusable adhesive. To ensure the colours stay bright and crisp, position away from bright sunlight.

Inspired by this project? The home décor opportunities don't end here. From cards and calendars to prints and posters, the fun and intuitive Easy-PhotoPrint Editor app enables you to get super creative with your favourite photos.

The Canon PIXMA G6040 is a low cost and efficient printing option. It features Canon's MegaTank printing system – refillable ink tanks that are easy to top up and low cost to run. When printing at a photo print quality the colour tank in the PIXMA G6040 is capable of producing up to 2,200** high quality photos. The Canon PIXMA G6040 is compatible with a host of creative Canon apps including Creative Park, the Canon PRINT app and the Canon Easy-PhotoPrint Editor app. You can also use PIXMA Cloud Link to print images from your cloud accounts such as Google Photos, Facebook and Instagram.

Written by Claire Gillo and Andrea Ball