I am such a lover of the holidays. I especially love the decorating part the best. Yeah, spending time with the family and cooking is high on the list, but nothing beats a well decorated home that makes everyone feel welcomed. Since I too am on the eco-friendly trend, I decide to find new decorating tips with an eco-twist. There are a lot out there to choose from. These are my top favorites. Most of them are kitchen ideas since the kitchen is my sanctuary. I decorate it; you enjoy it. No ifs, ands or but if you find something that I can repurpose for the holidays, please let me know.
Here are my favorite eco-friendly crafting ideas.
Dry Flowers: Save those flowers. After a week, hang them upside down in a dark place to dry them out. It normally takes 7-10 days. They are beautiful. The flowers have an antique look to them perfect for the fall. Get flowers with lots of orange, yellow, and red tones. You can us clunky flowers for your holiday wreathes.
Put a Cork on it: Re-use those corks from your wine bottles. With a sharp cutter make a semi-deep indent on the cork. You can use them for place cards at dinner parties. You can also use them to make mini turkeys with the kids. Glue some feathers, eyes, and a beak to the cork. Use them to decorate the kitchen too.
Bottles Galore: Save those wine bottles. The color of the bottle is perfect for the fall/winter season. Use them as a vase for your sunflowers (my fave for November). You can also use eco-friendly decorative ribbons to spruce them up a bit. If the labels are hard to get off then soak them in warm water with a teaspoon of vinegar for ten minutes. The label should peel right off. Use rubbing alcohol to get rid of any excess.
Fruit Scrap Ornaments: I bake a lot of pies during the holiday season. Sometimes I even make my own apple butter. That leaves me with a lot of apple peels. You can either use them in the compost or do what I do: make ornaments for the mini-tree in the kitchen (yes I have one…tell me you do too). All you need to do is preheat your oven to 200F for ten minutes. On parchment paper, lay out the peels evenly. Bake until they are dried out. This normally takes 7-8 minutes. Get some cinnamon sticks and wrap them around a bunch of dried apple peels. They smell so good. Use them as ornaments or as napkin holders. You can also add orange slices to the mix.
Cereal Box Placemats: Reuse your cereal boxes. Cut the front and back of the box into equal rectangle shapes with rounded edges. Use some eco-friendly paint in any fall color you want for one side, and any winter color for the other side. Put two layers of Mod Podge to thicken the cardboard. By doing this, you can use them for November and December.
These are simple eco-friendly holiday kitchen decorations that everyone can do. Enjoy the holidays with your new kitchen full of handmade decorations made from recycled materials.