More green Christmas tips from the Global Cool community, from our Facebook and Twitter friend Kathy Marshall…
This is a wreath I made (above). For an outdoor wreath, it’s best to use mainly plant material – it will survive the elements better. You don’t have to use the traditionally Christmassy things like pine and holly, all sorts of evergreen foliage and berries look great.
Don’t steal holly from that nice big bush in the park or woods! It would go bald pretty soon if too many people did. If you’ve got a garden, there are lots of common garden plants that are great for making wreaths. If you’ve no garden ask a friend or see what’s in your work’s car park, etc. You could make a gorgeous wreath just from a branch you had to chop off your Christmas tree, a bit of overgrown ivy your friend was happy for you to prune for them and some Cotoneaster with red berries from a car park.
I usually use a frame from a florist supplies shop for making the wreath because I find it easier, and I can reuse it every year. But you can use an old coathanger made into a circle. Or you could use a hoop made from willow. You could even try small pieces of driftwood tied together. I attach the plant material using florists’ wire, although if you don’t have any you can try string, but it takes a little longer.
I usually don’t use pine; the sap is too annoying and sticky! To cover the frame I use some boring green conifer. Even the infamous Lleylandii will work! Yew is also good if you have some.
I next add some other evergreen foliage. You can use anything you have available – ivy is good, holly too of course, even herbs like rosemary. The advantage of getting holly from gardens rather than nabbing it from the local park is that many gardeners grow variegated holly rather than the plain green one, so it adds some extra colour.
Next add something with berries. Holly often gets berries in annoying places, or none at all if it’s male, so you might need another plant to provide some. Lots of really common shrubs have nice berries you can use – Skimmia, Pyracantha, Cotoneaster, Berberis, etc.
If you can’t find anything with berries, add some fake ones. If you have some old broken bead necklaces you can recycle them; attaching beads in small groups looks effective.
You can add things like seedheads too. Pinecones are very Christmassy! Or try things like teasels, poppies, love-in-a-mist (Nigella) or fluffy grass seedheads such as Miscanthus. Paint some gold if they need livening up! You can also add things like unused small Christmas baubles, etc.
Finish it with a bow. If you’re given a present tied with ribbon, it will probably be the perfect amount for making a bow for your wreath, so recycle it!
Another way to use a wreath is indoors as a table centrepiece; you can lay it on a plate and stand a candle in the middle. For indoor wreaths you can add more delicate things that wouldn’t survive on your front door: lots more ribbon, Christmas ornaments, paper things, etc. Another thing you can add is old cinnamon sticks, slices of dried fruit, etc.?
Making Christmas decorations
Big jewellery is in. But it goes out, or breaks, or you accidentally buy far more necklaces than you have necks. If you have costume jewellery you don’t wear, recycle it into Christmas decorations. Dangly earrings can be hung on the tree as they are, and several necklaces can be fastened together to drape around a small-ish tree. If you have bead jewellery you can unstring it to create lots of different things. Tie a knot in some string, thread on a large bead and some smaller beads and tie the end in a loop to create some nice simple decorations like these -
Thread beads onto pipe cleaners instead and you can bend them to create spiral or star shaped decorations. If you have very small beads and thin wire, you can make more intricate shapes, and maybe some butterflies and dragonflies.
If you have a selection of flat, oval and pear shaped beads, you could even make yourself some Christmas penguins! These are threaded and glued onto pipe cleaners, with googly eyes stuck on too.
You may notice that they are not on a Christmas tree, but a Christmas twig. A bunch of twigs in a vase is a great eco-friendly alternative to having mini Christmas trees. You can add glitter to the sticks if you want to liven them up even more, then cover them in the decorations.
Something else you can pick from the garden to make your own decorations are teasel seedheads. Make yourself a festive hedgehog!
Pick a seedhead, cut off all except about a centimetre of the stem, then trim all the bracts short apart from 2, which will be the ears. Add eyes and a nose using googly eyes, beads or pom poms – sparkly ones if you wish!
For a more traditionally Christmassy animal, make a reindeer from a cork.
Wrap string around the cork, then glue on a pom pom for a head. Add beads for eyes and a nose, and use pipe cleaners to make antlers, legs and a tail.
Merry Christmas!
What are your tips for a green Christmas? Tell us in the comments below…
This post is part of our Your Shout series. Would you like to share your green lifestyle tips and stories with us? Emailgetinvolved@globalcool.org … we’d love to hear from you.
