Upcycled Christmas part 2 - handmade decorations

As a follow on to my last post, today I'm going to focus on Christmas decorations made out of reclaimed materials.

To start the ball rolling, here is a Christmas wreath made out of a pool noodle, hessian, ribbon and various other bits and pieces I had to hand - mostly saved from centrepieces from previous Christmases. There's even a pair of earrings in there somewhere. Can you spot them?

Christmas wreath from reclaimed materials

This weekend coming (25-26 November), our village church is holding a Christmas tree festival. My entry is called (as you might expect) Upcycled Christmas. The trees and everything on them will be made from reclaimed materials.

I already touched on the madonna-and-child models I made with the local craft-and-coffee group, using reclaimed materials and polyfilla. My own madonna will be part of my display at the festival. As will this little choir, and their conductor. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what went into making them!

Totally rubbish singing

Obviously, I don't want to reveal all my secrets in advance, but here are some of the trees I have made out of reclaimed materials in the past:

A mooring rope...as you do

Wall-hanging tree for small spaces

This pair was a commission

Table top tree

 And of course, there are the decorations to hang on them! This is where discarded curtain rings, disposable coffee cups, previous years' ribbons and wrappings, broken jewellery, scraps from the craft cupboard, etc. come into their own. Even a piece of an old bathmat has been pressed into service in one of these photos (see if you can spot it). The chains from a few hanging baskets will also be putting in an appearance, but you'll have to wait until after next weekend to see them!

Tree topper

Broken jewellery and a wedding garter are included here

Lots of curtain rings and glitter glue

The point of all of this is that so many of our decorations are made of plastic, and wind up being thrown away after Christmas. Only there's no such place as 'away'. It's all going somewhere. And, with a little thought, they could all be pressed into service for another go-round in a different guise. You could even make a family activity out of it - it will help build the excitement. And children love to see their own handiwork hanging in pride of place on the tree. Just make sure any hot glue and/or superglue is kept at a safe distance from little fingers. And make sure to use solvent-free options where possible when involving the little people.

I'd love to see your own handmade Christmas decorations!