Our award-winning tree is decorated with upcycled Christmas decorations this year. Not one piece is new! We rescued plastic bottles from the trash, vintage books from the landfill and gave old scrappy decor a brand new look.

Check out our other blogs pieces which include upcycled Christmas crafts from old books blog post and lightbulb penguins!

Plastic bottle icicles

Stop! Don’t recycle your plastic pop and water bottles yet, save them for these pretty little icicle ornaments.

Directions

1. Slice both ends off your bottle, but don’t throw that bottom part away, that too can make a upcycled Christmas craft. That’s right, we let nothing go to waste!
2. You should be left with the middle part of the bottle. Reach your hand in and carefully slice the bottle so that you can spread it out into one flat piece of plastic
3. Using scissors, cut the plastic into half inch strips, slightly tapering it, so one end is narrower
4. Using a small flame, a tealight works well, hold one strip over the flame until it is soft enough that you can manipulate it
5. Lightly twist the plastic but not holding the melted part – that is HOT HOT HOT, instead keep your hands nearer to the ends
6. Move the strip so that eventually all of it is beautifully twisted
7. Snip the tapered end into a point
8. Using a drillbit, drill a hole into the non-tapered end of the strip, through which you can thread a ribbon to hang

Tips – read these!

1. Do not touch the plastic as it is melting, it stays hot for a long time (like a marshmallow, it will catch fire, so take care)
2. Tapering the plastic strips and snipping the end to a point lends more of a icicle shape
3. As the plastic melts it will naturally start to twist, go with this twist, do not try and bend the plastic out of the twist
4. In our experience, your first attempt will be a fail, but don’t worry, it happens to us all. Once you get in the groove, you will be addicted!

Bottom of the bottles

Paint them with glitter glue and hot glue with a ribbon! More great upcycled Christmas tree decor!

For more Christmas crafts made only from repurposed items, head to our blog; Upcycled Christmas tree decor.

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