Not your traditional Christmas styling. Potted lavender tree that won't end up on the tree but will look great in your garden instead. Compostable orange shell stars ornaments as a uniques, refreshing decoration. Time to rethink our holiday habits.
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. I very much enjoy the festive atmosphere, family get togethers, cozy nights by candle lights and to be honest gifts under the christmas tree feel great too. At the same time Christmas is one of the most wasteful holidays. It's a time for giving, receiving – and chucking packaging and unwanted stuff into Landfills. Let's not add extra 6 Million Tons to the dump this year and get a little closer to a better tomorrow today.♡
ORANGE ORNAMENT CHAIN & UPCYCLED CHRISTMAS BOW
Ingredients:
Oranges
String - KNOT&BOW
Scissors - RED PEARL BK
Cookie Cutter - WHISK
Potted Christmas Tree - WHOLEFOODS
Old Packaging - free
Good Mood
1. Place an orange on a cutting board. Use scissors or a knife to slice the skin into 3 max 4 petals. The bigger the slice the better.
2. Peal the orange and carefully remove the shell. Try to avoid any ruptures. Make sure you have a towel on a side for any extra mess. Orange is pretty juicy ;)
3. Put the fruit on a side and save if for later. Now focus on the shell.
4. Place your favorite cookie cutter in the most efficient way to get as many ornaments out of one orange shell as possible. Add access trims to your compost bin.
5. If the orange skin is too thick, use hammer or any creative weight to help cut the ornament.
6. Use a pen to create a little hole on top of the stars in order to hang the ornaments.
7. Slide a string across the hole and create an ornament chain.
8. Take a break, you deserve it! Place pealed oranges into a blender, add water and honey/brown sugar. Enjoy freshly squeezed & home made orange juice.
9. Pace your Christmas tree in a welcoming area in your room and start decorating.
This year I made a decision that from now on I'll only purchase potted trees. This way, if everything goes well, I'll be able to plant around 75 trees throughout my life.
10. Wrap the ornament chain around the Christmas tree.
11. Grab a paper from your latest "amazon" package and upcycle it into a Christmas bow.
I always keep nice pieces of paper packaging and cardboard in stock, for creative moments.
12. Cut a narrow stripe and fold it into a shape of a bow, then use a string to pull it together.
13. Place the bow on top or the Christmas tree.
14. Feel free to be even more creative:
Hang dried fruits, bulk candies, chocolate covered pretzels or nuts. I went for keeping it simple and have the goodies in Mason Jars right next to the tree.
Happy Holidays!
PS 1 : I understand that being in my 20's I have a great advantage to think minimal and waste free. I didn’t have a chance and time to collect bunch of unimportant stuff over the course of years. I just moved out from home few years ago. I have no kids, no pets and I definitely don’t own any Christmas decor. All this makes the exploration of a Zero Waste Christmas a lot easier but if this isn't your case, it shouldn't discourage you from stepping up your environmental behavior.
PS 2 : Once Christmas is over,
I'll plant out my Lavender "Christmas" Tree and compost & recycle the entire decoration.