Conscious Christmas Crafting

It’s true, Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year, a season filled with gifts, good food and great company! The frenzy of the festive season is back, but this year we’re determined to make this a stress-free season, no last-minute shopping sprees or mountains of gifts that need to be wrapped, just a fun-filled countdown to the big day spent with those closest to you.

2021 is the year that we learnt to become more earth-conscious, so how can we make this our most eco-friendly Christmas yet? Even the smallest changes we make over the festive period, can collectively make a huge difference to our environmental footprint. From switching to recyclable wrapping paper to choosing forest-friendly Christmas cards, tis’ the season to spread goodwill and joy after all.

Crafting extraordinaire, Julie Peasegood, from our Pavers YouTube channel, has brought to you, 4 sustainable and easy Christmas crafts to suit all ages. She’ll teach you how to make a Christmas hamper from a shoe box and some marvellous handmade beaded jewellery made from used wrapping paper.

Christmas Wrapping: How to Upcycle a Shoe Box

We all love a beautifully packaged gift, it makes the thrill of unwrapping a present even greater and it shows the amount of thought that has gone into preparing the perfect gift, plus they look beautiful when they’re patiently waiting under the tree.

With sustainability on our mind, this year using eco-friendly methods to wrap your Christmas presents is more important than ever. If you’re anything like us, you’ll have plenty of shoe boxes around, and if you don’t want to recycle them, a shoe box has plenty of extra uses, like a repurposed and reusable gift box or homemade Christmas hamper …

Making Jewellery with Recycled Wrapping Paper

As a nation we will get through around 108 million rolls of wrapping paper each year, which is enough paper to wrap around the world 22 times. 

But did you know, not all wrapping paper is recyclable? Any paper with sticky tape attached, shiny or laminated wrapping paper, and even gift wrap with glitter, cannot be recycled and is likely to end up in landfill. By swapping to recyclable wrapping and reusing paper you already have can make a huge difference to the planet.

Julie shows you how to handmake jewellery using old wrapping paper, an easy and fun craft idea for kids and adults too. The bracelets she makes in this video are perfect for gifting, and if you get carried away, you can even turn them into handmade Christmas garlands to wrap around your tree! 

DIY Christmas Sweet Cones

Christmas is the ultimate season for sweet treats, so if you’re looking to make some special stocking fillers for the big day, new ways to decorate the tree, or a cheap and easy craft activity to keep the grandchildren entertained over the school holidays, Julie’s DIY sweet cone project is for you. 

This is a great way of using up any extra ribbon and you can even cut up the designs from last year’s Christmas cards to decorate the cones.

Christmas Fairy Light Hacks

Making decorations that have been gathered from nature is not only a unique way to decorate your house, but they’re also easy to source and budget friendly too! Here Julie has made a Christmas tree from pieces of driftwood and a few twinkling fairy lights for good measure, this is also a great way to display your Christmas cards.

For a festive table decoration idea, Julie has reused her fairy lights with an upcycled bottle of wine, which will add a magical touch through darker nights. You can also borrow a glass storage jar from your kitchen and fill it with baubles and of course some fairy lights, this can be taken apart and reused elsewhere when the New Year comes, so there’s nothing to throw away!