You know that I made it quite a tradition to publish each year a new DIY Christmas tutorial. While I do enjoy crafting a lot, you don’t see too many articles like these around the blog because I find it exhausting “producing” these tutorials.

It’s difficult to focus on the creative part of crafting, and also keep on eye on the camera.

But a couple of crafting tutorials each year, never killed anybody. Especially when it‘s a Christmas-related one!

| Related: DIY Sparkly Christmas Tree Decorations

This year’s “theme” (totally unplanned) was less waste and less plastic. So… this year’s decorations is also a no-plastic idea!

Let’s get grafting, shall we?

What you’ll need:

• dried orange slices
• wooden beads – two different sizes, you’ll need 3 beads for each ornament
• star anise – pick the most good looking stars, you’ll need 2 for each ornament
• white wool thread (or any colour you prefer, but I think white/ivory works best)
• a needle
• glue gun – or any other type of adhesive

Do it yourself:

Start by glueing two anise stars on each side of an orange slice. I chose to have stars on both sides, because these zero waste Christmas tree ornaments usually twist and I want both sides to look the same.

I used a glue gun to glue them, but feel free to use any type of biodegradable or sustainable glue.

Using a needle, pierce a hole at the top of the orange slice – under the peel. Don’t try to pierce the peel – it will crack.

I liked layering 3 wooden beads – I think it looks the best.

Use the needle to put the beads on the thread. Now… depending on how you want to hang the decorations, you can tie the thread differently. I wanted to have a big loop, since it’s easier to use.

Pull one part of the thread strings through the beads and bring in back though the beads, using the needle. This will help you remove the needle, otherwise it will remain on top of the ornament.

Tie a double knot at the bottom and cut the excess thread.

And that’s pretty much it. You can hang them!

You can make your own dried orange slices but I find them waaay too time and energy consuming. You have to keep the oven on for a whole day. So I prefer to buy them already dried.

What‘s really nice about these no plastic decorations is that you can get as creative as you want:

• you can paint the beads or the star anise
• you can add cloves on the edge of the oranges
• you can paint the orange peel
• use sparkly ribbon

… you name it!

I wanted to use “resources from nature” for this project and keep them as raw as possible and I absolutely love how rustic they look!

Making handmade tree decorations is so special to me, don’t know why.

Because they look so rustic and they’re handmade, I would say they would also make a gorgeous Christmas gift for your friends and family too.

What do you think, would you hang these in your Christmas tree?