Look no further than the recycling bin for your next Christmas craft project–you can make any of these 26 upcycled Christmas crafts from recycling, stash, scraps, and even trash!
1. 3D bookpage star. Here’s your new tree topper!
2. 12 Days of Christmas Advent calendar. Seriously, who has time for a 25-day Advent calendar!?! In this tute, Scott solves the problem, and he upcycles old containers to do it!
3. cereal box ornaments. These ornaments, decorated with embossed aluminum foil, make a great kid craft.
4. Christmas tree T-shirt with vintage button ornaments. I love putting my kids into holiday clothes, but there’s no way that I’m going to buy them a T-shirt that they can’t even really wear after Christmas. This shirt, however, is made from a T-shirt already in your kid’s closet. And it’s adorable.
5. cookie cutter ornaments. Do you have any vintage cookie cutters that you’re afraid to use? You can give them a whole new life as ornaments!
6. crayon drip ornament. Stubs of crayon absolutely transform these clear glass ornaments.
7. giant cardboard Christmas tree. Don’t want an ordinary Christmas tree this year? This cardboard version is amazing!
8. glass bottle Santa Claus. Weather got you stuck indoors? Here’s a fun little Christmas craft to keep you occupied.
9. junk mail snowflakes. Junk mail is surprisingly beautiful in snowflake form.
10. kid-sized cardboard gingerbread house. You are just one giant box away from absolutely thrilling your kid.
11. leftover rice ornament. I promise that it doesn’t actually *look* like leftover rice.
12. light bulb ornament. A hollowed-out light bulb makes a surprisingly beautiful Christmas ornament.
13. melted crayon ornament. Recycled crayons aren’t just for drawing!
14. newspaper ornament. Who knew that decoupaged newspaper could make such a beautiful background for an ornament?
15. plastic bottle icicles. Nobody is ever going to guess that these icicles came from old plastic bottles.
16. recycled paper gift holder. This is a great way to package party treats, especially.
17. Scrabble tile ornament. Have an incomplete set of Scrabble letters? Not. A. Problem.
18. soda can stars. Be mindful of sharp edges, but these stars are worth it.
19. toilet paper tube poinsettia. You can do ANYTHING with a toilet paper tube.
20. toilet paper tube snowflakes. Rotational symmetry has never been so fun!
21. T-shirt tree skirt. Remember all those holiday-themed T-shirts that you somehow ended up with anyway? Make them into a tree skirt, and keep them forever.
upcycled CD ornament. Those CDs were scratched, anyway. Break them up and make these ornaments!
22. used sandwich bag ornament. It’s weird, I’ll give you that, but I guarantee that it works.
23. vintage brooch ornament. THIS is what you do with all those brooches that your grandmother left you!
24. vintage button sign. You can use up some of the thousands of vintage white buttons in your stash. Or am I the only one with thousands of vintage white buttons?
25. vintage wrapping paper Christmas trees. That beautiful paper that you’ve been hoarding forever? Put it on display, so that everyone can enjoy it!
26. woven star ornaments. Upcycle corrugated cardboard to make a sturdy base for these ornaments.
Awww! The Santa Coke bottle is so cute!!!