Making Christmas ornaments isn’t only fun, but it can be a great way to save money. If you are looking to really save some cash, check out these great ornaments that you can make with everyday items found around your home.
Pine Cones
You can do so much with pine cones to make them look great for the season. Start with spreading glue over them and sprinkling white glitter on the glue to make the cones look like they are coated in snow. If you like the idea of more color on your tree, sprinkle colored glitter on the pine cones and stuff them into your Christmas tree branches or glue ribbon to them to hang them from branches. You can glue pine cones together and place jewels on them to make them have more of a presence.
Jar Lids
Take old jar lids and cut family photos or pretty pictures from magazines down to size to fit the jar lid. Glue the image on the lid and, using a hole punch or tin snips, cut a small hole in the top of the jar lid to run colorful ribbon through in order to hang your jar lid ornament. You can even use old fabrics, cheap pieces of felt, or scrap pieces you find lying around to decorate the lids. If you don’t have any old jar lids you can do something similar to these things by using tin cans. With tin cans, though, you can even decorate the whole inside to make small scenes that will capture the attention of anyone who may see them. Some jar lids are cute enough to use without decorating them, just glue a ribbon on for a hanger. 
Egg cartons and Cardboard
Instead of tossing out that old egg carton, try cutting out each individual egg well, turning it upside down, and painting it to look like a jingle bell. Run pretty ribbon through the top to really make it stand out. Out of ribbon? Use a spare rubber band.
If you don’t want to use egg cartons, those old paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls can make great scrap cardboard pieces to use for ornaments. Cut them into smaller round pieces and wrap them with ribbon, paint them, or bedazzle them with buttons, jewels, stickers, and anything else you may have just lying around. You can even do something similar with cardboard boxes. Just trace shapes on the box by using cookie cutters as a guide and then cut them out and decorate them. This is simple, fun, and a great way to recycle those old materials that you no longer need or want.
The key to making ornaments from items you have around your house is to get creative and see everything as having potential. Don’t rule out a box simply because it looks ratty- it could make a fantastic ornament! And one of the best parts of these types of ornaments is that if they get damaged- oh well! You can simply remake them next year and have fun reusing more materials you gather over the year.
What is your favorite household item to make ornaments out of?
