If you just can't afford the shiny glass balls and the sparkly plastic tinsel and garland or if you want to make your tree a one of a kind work of art, here are some great ornament ideas.
Christmas ornaments
Some cheap/free ideas for homemade ornaments that can look very nice.
There are many ways to add sparkle and color to your Christmas without spending a bundle.
1.Use a heavy aluminum foil pan trace out stars and other shapes. color with permanent markers and punch a hole and hang.
2.Create stars from small "tin" cans. Cut off the upper rim and cut the sides into 1/4 inch strips down to the bottom rim. Cut some similar strips off another can, they should be about 1 inch long and 1/4 inch wide. twist and bundle the strips on the first can in groups of three, fours or fives depending on the number of strips and how tall you can was. wrap a free strip around the bundle about 1/2 an inch from the lowest end. crimp it tight. use pliers to curl the ends of the bundled strips. do this for the whole can. Use spray paint to add color. Be careful the cut metal can be sharp. The end effect can be very ornate. Try cutting cans of different sizes and stacking the stars to make a wall decoration. I use a tomato paste can or small juice can for my small stars.
3.Cut the 1/4 inch strips off a large can and punch a hole in one end. Twist them slightly and hang as icicles from the tree.
4.Use small scraps of wrapping paper to make origami ornaments. There are tons of directions on the internet.
5.Make large size beads out of magazines, newspapers, bread dough clay, or salt dough. String them into a garland. Find instructions at your library or on the internet.
6.Use ribbon as streamers and bows on the tree.
7.Cut the top and bottoms off of aluminum cans and use a craft punch to make shapes from the light gage metal. Use markers, finger nail polish or spray paint to color.
8.Use small scraps (6 inches or so) of heavy gage copper wire. bend these into coils, spirals, zigzags. Use baking soda to clean them. paint them if you want or leave coppery. string an few beads onto the hanging loop for extra color.
Many of these ornaments look nice enough that I have actually made and sold them at craft fairs and people could not buy them fast enough.
