Upcycled lid Christmas tree ornaments

Christmas ornaments in January? Who wants to see that? Yeah, I know, I know. But if you're like me, you're filing these sorts of ideas away all year. And this one takes a bit of pre-planning to save all those lids. So here goes.

I actually ran across this idea years ago here, and have been saving bottle caps and jar lids for a long time, because I knew it would be a perfect activity for Elise and I to do together.

I drilled holes in all of the lids from the underside. (I used a 5/16" bit.) Many of the plastic lids have a small indentation in the center so you don't even have to eyeball it. The metal lids are a bit tougher, but really, this is all pretty easy to do. Just make sure you're drilling on a surface that you don't mind messing up (like a thick scrap of wood).

This should all be pretty self-explanatory, but I lined up a selection of lids from smallest to largest and Elise strung them on pieces of jute twine. We finished off the bottoms with chunky wood beads I bought at the craft store to resemble the tree trunk.

We also made some in bright colors and the ever-popular black and gold. That one's mine!

Folded paper Christmas tree garland (from adding machine tape!)

This is our first year with a full-size Christmas tree (we used to decorate a mini tree), and I thought I'd have a difficult time filling it up. Turns out that was a pretty silly thought, as I probably have enough ornaments for at least two trees. But I was missing one thing: garland.

I ran across a roll of adding machine tape from years ago and knew I could turn it into something. A little bit of playing around with different folding techniques and I came up with this easy geometric garland.

I'm no origami teacher, so this is a little hard to explain in still photos. I'll admit, it looks complex. But play around with it, and you'll find it's pretty simple. You're just alternating between straight and 45-degree angle folds. Get into a groove, and you won't even be thinking about which direction you're supposed to fold.

Repeat, repeat and repeat some more. I did a whole tree's worth of folding while watching a movie. It's a mindless sort of activity.

You can unfold it to see how it's coming, but I preferred to keep everything folded up until the end. Easier to manage.

I like how geometric and modern it looks. And the way the light shines through and casts interesting shadows. But what's even better? No guilt about sending it to the recycling bin after the holidays.

If you don't have adding machine tape at home (and really, I don't know why you would), it's available at office supply stores for a couple of bucks. I only used about half a roll on my tree, so a single roll should be plenty even for giant trees.

If angles aren't your thing, try folding it another way. Or make fringe! Adding machine tape is such a good base material for so many different ideas.