The world is full of supremely creative people who develop some of the most spectacular – funky – ideas. Homemade Christmas decorations fall into the uber creative category where residents take items from nature or around the house and decorate the make the abode more festive.

Why spend your precious money on cheap tinsel or bobbles made from cheap labor and using toxic materials?

You can easily craft your own designs that can be homey and artistic. While many Christmas decorations stem from children’s artwork, perhaps you are beyond that stage and want to make your home a little bit more elegant.

You can make your own decorations by reusing or creating new without ruining the environment or the budget.

Here are 7 suggestions on how to decorate your home using eco-friendly or reusable materials:

• Why buy a wreath when you can make one? If you have easy access to evergreen trees, forage for fallen branches and pine cones. Arrange together on a strong wire backing using ribbons or yarn to secure material to the wire. Fresh pine branches give off a wonderful fragrance that you’ll want to hang the wreath in your home.

• If you don’t live near any evergreen trees, consider making a wreath using scraps of material you might have left over from sewing projects or from clothing that’s got holes and relegated to being a cleaning rag. This project needs a wire ring as well and the cloth is cut into strips. The cloth is secured to the wire frame by tying the pieces.

• Christmas tree? Bah humbug. Who needs a live tree or one made from toxic plastic materials. Put those cardboard boxes to use.

• Boost a lovely fragrance in your home by securing cinnamon sticks together around a candle with a ribbon. At the end of the season you can reuse the cinnamon sticks in drinks and cooking.

• Do you have an herb garden? Tie packets of Rosemary, Thyme, and Lavender together in a cloth bundle and spread around the house for a natural aromatic packet to scent your house ahead of a party.

• Gather nuts in shells, leftover evergreen sticks, pine cones and leftover cranberries onto a plate around a candle. The colors make for a tasteful decoration.

• Take an unused glass bowl or vase and fill with nuts, oranges, apples, candy canes and pine cones. It makes for a solid, festive display.

Lastly, homemade decorations generally stem from the same ingredients, pine twigs, cranberries, pine cones, nuts in shells and left over fabrics. All of the fall colors tend to be varying shades of brown, reds and greens. The last wreath on our list is a clever way to reuse all of those wine bottle corks. Again, the corks are separated with cranberries.

Have a wonderful Christmas season because it’s not just a day anymore.