Holiday ornaments, eco-DIY style

'Twas an hour before a drink date with friends and since I'd spent way too much time in front of the computer today, I took a break and made green holiday decorations!

First up: Photo ornaments, with an eco-twist. Luckily, I'd recently worked on my scrapbook and excised a few photos -- so instead of printing up new ones, I just cut the reddish parts out  of the reject pile. And I didn't have paper fasteners, so I tied knots on some red twisty-tie things that come around veggies and stuff -- I've seriously amassed a small stockpile of this stuff -- to hold it together.

A piece of ribbon I got on a birthday present last month served as the string -- et voila! A cute lil' holiday ornament! Of course I don't have a tree, so I hung it on an orchid that's been dying a slow, twisted death since I got it as a gift in October.

Next: A DIY 3-D snowflake. This didn't work out quite as planned. Instead of using new paper, I cut up an old calendar -- a mistake, because the resulting snowflake ended up being way too busy-looking. Plus, the instructions call for a lot of tape and staples, neither of which are particularly eco...

Still, what I made will do for the next couple weeks. It's now hanging from a curtain rod via some old yarn I have in my knitting stash.

All of that took just half an hour -- which is why I'm back on the computer now writing this post. I found those two projects via this roundup on BlogHer. An additional DIY ornament idea: Decorate an old lightbulb! I'd do that too, but I got my CFL bulbs a while back.

Can't make your own? Then support others' eco-DIY talents by getting these wrapper ornaments. Pick from a star or a ball, refashioned from potato chip wrappers under fair trade conditions in Nepal. ($10 at BTC Elements)

And if you're not crafty but have a green thumb, get the Gift of Green -- a biodegradable holiday tree ornament embedded with seeds that can be planted in your pot or garden -- from BeGreen. 

Pick between organic cilantro or Serrano chile peppers, packaged in recycled paper with a card. BeGreen even plants a tree for every Gift of Green purchase. ($9.95 at BeGreen)

OK -- now I'm gonna hit publish then bike over to the Huntley.

Photos by Siel except the wrapper ornament photo courtesy of BTC Elements and the Gift of Green photo courtesy of BeGreen