Recycled Holiday Crafts
- Recycled materials are ideal for holiday crafts.recycling icon aqua button image by onlinebewerbung.de from Fotolia.com
Recycling is the process of taking a product at the end of its useful life and repurposing it to make another product. Through recycling, you can help preserve natural resources and create new, beautiful and useful products. Recycled materials are ideal for holiday craft projects because most recipients appreciate a gift that is both thoughtful and helps keep the environment clean. - Old clothespins serve as bodies for your angels.dorothy"s clothespins image by Hilma Anderson from Fotolia.com
Angels make elegant gifts and festive decor. For the body of your angel, you can use anything from an old clothespin, an empty toilet paper roll or a large pine cone. Use hot glue or craft glue to attach a ribbon to the back of the body to hang from a Christmas tree. If the body of your angel does not have a built-in head, like an old-style clothespin, you can easily use an old doll's head or buy a blank one at your local craft store and paint a face onto it. Decorate your angel with leftover pieces of ribbon or lace, or if you choose, cut up an old tablecloth or curtain. You can add wings in the form of a pretty Christmas bow attached to the angel's back. Yarn makes an ideal hair choice, but you can be creative and use ribbons, straw or curled pipe cleaners. Pipe cleaners can also make halos, and glitter added to the angel's wings and hair enhance the beauty of your final piece. - Old puzzle pieces make useful craft supplies.Puzzle image by Ewe Degiampietro from Fotolia.com
You can repurpose old puzzle pieces into recycled craft items. Paint the puzzle pieces or leave them with their original design. Paint the pieces green and glue them together into a circle, then glue red beads on for a festive holiday wreath. You can also turn puzzle pieces into tree ornaments and jewelry pins. Combine puzzle pieces of different shapes and sizes with beads, lace, ribbons, paint stencils, clay or glitter to make your gift layered and colorful. Glue a ribbon, magnet or pin to the back of your creation to make it easy to hang or wear. - Find a new way to display your holiday cards.christmas cards image by david hughes from Fotolia.com
A homemade reindeer card holder is a useful and creative way to display holiday cards. Paint two paper plates brown. Fold one in half to create the body of your deer and the pocket to hold cards. Fold the other paper plate in half, and cut the folded piece in half to create a triangle-shaped head. Use hot glue or craft glue to attach the pieces together. Use the remaining paper plate or brown construction paper and cut four small legs, two ears and a tail for your reindeer. Attach them with the glue.
Take four clean, recycled plastic forks and break them in half. Attach them, prong up, to the inside pocket of your reindeer's head to represent antlers. Add a red pompom for a nose and old beads or buttons for the eyes. You can also paint or draw the features on yourself. Attach a strong ribbon or magnet to the back and fill with your favorite holiday cards.
