This year all of our Used.ca Christmas tree decorations are repurposed from other items. Nothing on our tree is new and we have saved many items from the trash can. We’ve upcycled old plastic pop bottles, 10 boxes of old books that were headed for the landfill, tin cans, old and damaged Christmas decor, corks and more.

Lightbulb penguins

Collect old lightbulbs and then paint them. It’s as simple as that! It doesn’t have to be penguins you make, Santa, the Grinch and puppies all look great too!

We used acrylic paint, covering the lightbulb in white first before allowing to dry and then using the black. We used opaque pigment marker for the eyes and nose. Chalkboard paint and spray paint are also great options.

Christmas decor from old books

There’s lots you can do with old books. Our favourite Christmas craft with old books is to use cut small pieces of paper to cover old or damaged baubles. Use Mod Podge to make the paper stick and give a glossy look. We also made pretty stars and snowflakes that are so tiny and cute it hurts. Again, use Mod Podge to give a lovely gloss and to stiffen the snowflakes so they are easier to hang.

We also made Christmas trees from semi-circles of paper and pretty snowflakes and a wreath to sit on top of the tree. All from old books.

Christmas wreaths from old books

Another really easy craft made from old books. This time you will require a glue gun, so be careful and don’t burn yourself.

You can use any size paper in order to create wreaths of different sizes.

Simply, roll the paper on an angle and use the glue gun to seal. Once you have several little rolls of paper, glue them together side by side. For our top of the tree wreath, we created three separate wreaths, two of which had a double layer – see our collage of images below. Then we glued them together with a hot glue gun.

The accordion flowers we placed at the centre of our wreath were created for a bridal exhibition we attended in spring. You can see the how-to video here: DIY wedding boutonnieres.

Because you can never have too many upcycled Christmas decorations, check out our how-to for plastic bottle icicles.

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