12 Upcycled Christmas Ornaments - Ideas for Christmas

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Creativity and recycling are not polar opposites, quite the opposite. Still, it is also true that both creativity and recycling attract powerfully. Daring to border on nonsense, however, is often the key to success. But what prevents us from creating without limits? The simple fact of asking ourselves this question gives us the opportunity to try to get out of that lack of imagination that is so little related to the Christmas season. In this way, we are going to put our minds to work to be able to get Christmas decorations with recycled materials.

In this Green Ecologist article, we show you recycled christmas decorations that can inspire you to decorate your home. Go ahead and make these ecological Christmas crafts to decorate your house at Christmas with yours!

Recyclable materials to make Christmas decorations

The Christmas Crafts to decorate the house they go beyond the tree or the nativity scene. We talk about the typical balls, garlands, pinecones, stars and tinsel, among others. For example, one way to decorate our Christmas tree in a creative and ecological way is with the following objects and materials that we surely have at home:

• Buttons: we will have to look for colored buttons to make it more striking and original.
• Fabrics: we can take those fabrics that are older and that we do not use to give them a second life.
• Nuts: we can create original Christmas decorations with pinecones, for example.
• Cans: we will have to choose soda cans that have a design that we like but, above all, we will have to be careful not to hurt ourselves.
• Magazine, cardboard and tape clippings:
• Recycled bottles: later we will explain a very simple way to create Christmas decorations with recycled materials.
• Sticks: of all possible sizes and shapes, the more the merrier. They are a wild card when it comes to filling empty spaces that we may have left.

Homemade Christmas wreaths

Starting at the front door, you can create a Christmas wreath that congratulates your neighbors and guests on the holidays, but using elements such as old fabrics. Although it may seem like one of the most complicated Christmas crafts, the steps are simple:

1. Choose fabrics you like but don't use different colors anymore.
2. Short the fabrics in strips.
3. Catch three wires and make a circle with each one of them so that they are from largest to smallest towards the center.
4. Around the wires braid the fabrics.
5. Add to it more accessories such as pineapples or plants. You see combining the accessories so that the crown is much more loaded and ostentatious.

In the event that you do not want to use wire, or do not have it on hand, you can cut out a cardboard circle as a base for the fabrics. Around the base you can intertwine the fabrics or, if not, you can make a thicker and wider base to wrinkle the fabrics and glue them little by little.

Another way that we propose is to create a Christmas wreath with pine cones. In the same way as before and with a cardboard base, all you have to do is combine the size of the pineapples while you are hooking them. You have to keep in mind that the size of the crown will depend on the amount of materials you use and the base you have created.

This is one of many pinecone Christmas decorations you can create. If you want to know more, visit this other post by Green Ecologist on How to make Christmas decorations with pinecones.

Christmas centerpiece

All those pinecones that we have not used to make the Christmas wreath at the entrance, we can use them to build a centerpiece or, as we will explain later, a pendant for the Christmas tree.

You will only need a base to place the pineapples, accessories and a good imagination. The pineapples can be painted from typical christmas colors: gold, silver, green, red or white. Once we have decorated them, we can add glitter or other details such as mistletoe, branches, tinsel or snow powder so that it has an even more Christmas air. Around it we can also place candles that help us create a more Christmas atmosphere.

You can take a look at this other Green Ecologist article to discover more ecological and easy-to-make Christmas Centers.

Snowman with glasses

An original Christmas ornament that will surely surprise all your visitors is the snowman with glasses. We recommend that you use disposable cups, since those of plastic are more harmful For the enviroment. In order to create this snowman you will have to follow the following steps:

1. Take glasses that are made of 20 cl for the body of the snowman and of 15 cl for the head. They can be of other sizes, but it must be taken into account that those of the body have to be larger than those of the head.
2. Join the glasses the same size with a stapler so that you create a round base.
3. Repeat the process until create a round body, with as many rows of glasses as you need.
4. Repeat the process to create the round head of the snowman.
5. Join the two spheres of glasses with glue or staples.
6. Catch cardboard: You will have to have cardboard of different colors (black and orange) to be able to create the nose and eyes of the future doll.

Original and recycled Christmas tree

The Christmas tree is another strong candidate to suffer our mischief, although the ideal would be to do without it, especially if it is natural, as a gesture in favor of the environment. In the event that we have an artificial one we can make the most of it possible and find out how to decorate the Christmas tree step by step. It may be that we do not have, or do not want, an artificial or natural tree at home. This does not mean that we should do without this traditional Christmas symbol, but that we can easily make a small Christmas tree ourselves.

Christmas tree made of books

Perhaps it is one of the Christmas crafts that takes us more precision. Therefore, we are going to dictate step by step how to make an original Christmas tree with books:

1. Think the exact site wherever you want to place your tree and remove everything around it to have enough space.
2. make a idea sketch that you want or have in mind: in this way we will be more precise and demanding with what we want.
3. Search by house all the books you can and collect them: depending on the number of books you choose, the tree will be bigger or smaller
4. Order the books depending on their thickness: this is a very important step, since if we do it wrong our tree can destabilize and fall.
5. Create the base: with thicker books you will have to form polygons. The type of polygon will depend on the number of books you have for the base that, once created, you will have to fill with other books.
6. Build the tree: in an orderly manner, you will have to stack the books in different rows. As you get closer to the end, you will have to reduce the number of books.
7. Decorate the tree: through Christmas decorations with recycled materials you can give more color and life to your tree.

The same idea of books is applicable with other objects, such as empty rolls of toilet paper. Another option is to create Christmas tree silhouettes with corks. In this other post from Ecologist Verde you will see more ecological Christmas trees: with leaves from magazines and newspapers.

Christmas tree with cardboard

If you are not very crafty, you can create a tree from recycled carton just cut out the shape and size you want. It won't work for outdoors, but it will look great indoors. If you want a more ecological and sustainable option, we propose the trees of polyethylene, a much more beneficial and less polluting material. You can buy the tree yourself or, if not, create it with cardboard, for example. Then you can fill it with green cotton and customize it.

Recycled Christmas balls and decorations for the tree

There are endless options when it comes to creating Christmas decorations with recycled materials for the Christmas tree and, all of them, very simple. The common element that we will need for all these recycled ornaments is the rope. Next, we are going to detail these ideas:

• With sticks: to create this Christmas ornament we will have to collect all those sticks that we find on the outside we can create a mini tree to hang. It will only be necessary for us to choose clubs of different sizes and order them in a descending-ascending horizontally. Once we have it, we put a stick upright that serves as the structure and base of all the other clubs. Finally, we put a rope to hang it.
• With recycled bottles: the only thing we will have to do is cut about 10 centimeters below the neck of the bottle. In this way we can tie the cord around where the plug goes and hang it wherever we want. You can paint and decorate it as you like.
• With magazine clippings, cans, cardboard and tape: what we can do is cut a cardboard base with the design or shape that we want. Now, on top, we will add the cutout from the magazine or the can (being careful not to hurt yourself) to and cut the excess part. To give it more color, you can make bows with the ribbons and distribute them wherever you like.
• With buttons or bottle caps: we will only need three of them and, once we have them painted white and with the face design done, we join them and glue them on top of a stick.

Original Christmas nativity scenes

Getting to create original Christmas nativity scenes has become a new challenge before the end of the year. It is a creative and playful process where we are going to provide our nativity scene with Christmas decorations with recycled materials. Designing and creating recyclable Christmas decorations is as easy as our imagination dictates, but if we want to bet on the craziest Christmas ideas, we are going to look for a setting that is not the usual one.

An example of this could be use a round fish tank as a base and fill it with sand, rice, sugar or salt. From here, all we have to do is set up the nativity scene inside. An original way to place the Christmas figures inside the nativity scene is to glue them to the walls to defy gravity.

Figures of Bethlehem

Another way to make Christmas figures for the Nativity Scene is through clay (or plasticine), toilet paper rolls or wine bottle corks. With these materials we can create the sustainable Bethlehem figures that we are longing for. You can design all the characters in the Portal de Belén painting their clothes and their faces with paint. In the case that we use clay, the final result will depend on the art we have to make crafts, while if we use used toilet paper rolls or corks, we already have the figure created and we only need to customize it.

Christmas decoration for the kitchen

When we talk about recyclable Christmas decorations for the kitchen, the idea is none other than to convert the decoration in food Or, on the contrary, make the culinary delights of these days part of the decoration. In this way, we can save the decoration or, at least, a part of it. There are endless ideas for Christmas that you can prepare in the kitchen, but the best known is to make christmas cookies with typical or atypical shapes that we can use as decoration on the table, as food or, if not, as pendants for the tree. Also, eating them can be a lot of fun!

Another very interesting idea is the oranges with cloves. We can hang oranges and prick them with this peculiar spice. You will see how your house smells like Christmas while you are decorating it with bright colors.

Repurposed LED lights for Christmas

A simple Christmas decoration can be to put some led lights. These lights help save energy at Christmas and, combined with candles, will create a wonderful atmosphere accompanied by a good dinner. In this way, both decoration and dishes will create a spectacular atmosphere that will make everyone enjoy the room. In addition to saving and caring for the planet, we get a personalized decoration, since we can arrange them to our liking throughout the home.

LED candles

To give a dim and magical look at home, you can also buy LED light candles. They are also made of wax and the great advantage is that they are reusable. In addition, they do not have a flame, so you will avoid unexpected burns of children or pets. They also do not release smoke, so the environment of your home will be much cleaner. If this option still does not convince you, try making your own natural candles with materials that are not harmful to the environment and dress up your house for Christmas.

If you want to know more, do not hesitate to read this other article on How to save energy at Christmas.

If you want to read more articles similar to Recycled Christmas decorations, we recommend that you enter our category of Crafts with recycled material.