Make Free Handmade Christmas Ornaments from Recycled Materials

Recycled handmade Christmas ornaments are incredibly easy to make for free. Chances are you already have all the materials you need at home to complete these easy homemade recycled Christmas ornament craft projects. You can make sure that these Christmas ornaments are really free by salvaging glue, glitter, paint, photos and paper that otherwise would be thrown away. You can also recycle old pieces of jewelry and Christmas ornaments and use their pieces to make new homemade ornaments. By making your own handmade ornaments, you can also ensure that your Christmas ornaments will be unique.

Recycled Paper Ornaments

Get some recycled Christmas cards or postcards. Cut out attractive holiday pictures from the front, leaving a small semicircle of paper above the picture. Use a hole punch to make a hole in the semicircle. Then pass a ribbon or golden thread through the hole and tie it. You can also cut out holiday pictures from old magazines and attach them to thin pieces of cardboard or wood. Brush on glue and glitter, attach beads, sequins, tinsel or other recycled decorations to breathe some life into your handmade recycled paper ornaments.

Recycled Glass Ornaments

Get a burnt out light bulb. Paint it with any designs you like in acrylic craft paint to create a homemade glass ball Christmas ornament. For example, you can paint a snowman and attach a black hat made from recycled paper at the metal part of the bulb. Or you could paint a Santa Claus and give him a red Santa hat made from recycled felt and cotton. Or you could make a reindeer design on the light bulb and add antlers made from twigs from your yard. You could also paint abstract designs on the light bulb in dimensional paint and brush on glitter glue once the paint has dried. Also try covering the light bulb in glue, then attaching beads or sequins in a decorative pattern.

Recycled Plastic Ornaments

One of the best ways to make handmade recycled plastic ornaments is to adorn a defunct CD. Find CDs that have become too scratched to play, or CD-R disks that failed to burn properly or that contain data you no longer need. Attach some paper to each side of the CD with glue, then after the glue has dried, trim the paper down to the size and shape of the disk. Then decorate the paper any way you like with Christmas designs such as Christmas trees, Christmas gifts, holly berries, snowmen, Santas, reindeer, snowflakes or stars. You can also place a picture of your friends and family on the CD to create a personalized Christmas ornament. Another idea is to leave the shiny part of the CD uncovered and apply decorations directly to it. In this instance, cover only the printed surface of the CD with paper and decorate it.

Recycled Cardboard Ornaments

Both corrugated cardboard and chipboard are good for making homemade recycled Christmas ornaments. You can also use cardboard egg cartons to make ornaments. Cut the cardboard into holiday shapes like Christmas trees, Santas, snowmen, reindeer, stars, icicles, snowflakes, angels, gingerbread men, wreaths and candy canes. Paint them and use glue to embellish them with glitter and recycled decorations such as beads, sequins, yarn, ribbons, bows, construction paper, buttons, fabric scraps and popsicle sticks. You can also create circular or ovular cardboard ornaments to attach photos of your loved ones.

Recycled Styrofoam Ornaments

Styrofoam packaging, cups, food trays and egg cartons are also excellent materials for making Christmas ornaments such as snowmen, Christmas balls and snowflakes. Use a waxed serrated knife or craft blade to cut the Styrofoam, depending on the size, thickness and type of Styrofoam you're using. Then apply recycled decorations such as fabric, fabric trim, sequins, beads, glue and glitter, yarn, pom poms, buttons or bottle caps. If you're working with a Styrofoam ball, you can use pins to secure the decorations in place, if they have a small hole at the center. Otherwise use craft glue or low temperature hot glue to attach the decorations to your homemade Christmas ornaments.

For more ideas on this topic, read Pine Cone Tree Ornament Craft Project and Cardboard Candy Cane Ornament Craft.