Homemade Christmas tree ornaments are the best gifts you can give to friends and family as well as the most gracious gift you give yourself.

For years children’s artwork, especially pieces done in preschool, adorn trees. They are cute; provide wonderful memories and mementos for parents and grandparents. While the kids crafts are keepsakes, they crumble with time and age.

Maybe you want to make your Christmas tree match a theme or be more stylish. That’s easy to do and you can make new memories with your family by making new ornaments.

The lure of shopping at Christmas time is unavoidable. Although you can resist shopping for new decorations, specifically Christmas tree decorations. Avoid cheap, toxic materials by using your own environmentally-friendly supplies.

Unless you are a super fast knitter, some Christmas tree decorations require lots of time and planning, while others can be done more quickly.

So gather the ribbons, glue gun, wood burning tool and fabric scraps!  Here are 5 crafty ideas:

Do you have wood scraps lying around in the garage? Who doesn’t? It’s not that hard to make a burnt wood snowflake. It doesn’t take too many supplies or skills. Cut out the shape you want to use, make sure you insert a hole with a drill for a tie. A gas-powered stove can provide the heat source to crisp the edges of the wood and darken the snowflake image carved into the wood. Use yarn to hang the decoration from a tree.

Personalize ornaments with photographs. Again you can use scraps of wood, sand down the surfaces until smooth and paste head shots to the timber bits.

Make darling ornaments are made with your left over fabrics and scraps of wood.

Find another use for clothespins that are no longer used. Glue the centers together and paint white to reflect a wooden snowflake.

Frosty pinecones look frigid when hanging from the tree. Paint your pinecone, attach a ribbon and hang from the tree.

Hopefully, these ideas will spur your creative gene or help you realize you can make your own decorations without breaking the bank or the environment. Have a Merry Christmas.