DIY Christmas decorations recycling cardboard: With all the online Christmas shopping arriving at my house I have my very own cardboard mountain. Most of it I stick in the recycling, but I do keep some back for crafting. My popular fabric birdhouses are made with cardboard.
Every year, I love to repurpose some of that cardboard mountain into cardboard Christmas decorations.
Some of the cardboard Christmas decorations I have made include a wonderful gingerbread house garland that has a Scandinavian Christmas feel. I’ve even combined the cardboard packaging with stamps to make a rainbow of postage stamp ornaments.
Fun DIY Christmas Decorations: Upcycled Penguins and Snowman
Wednesday night was craft night in my house and after a few sloe gins, my friend Wendy and I attacked my cardboard mountain. We made these fun repurposed cardboard Christmas decorations.
We made our very own penguin family and a snowman out of the cardboard. You may think that this would be a great craft for the kids to make in the holidays. I’m sure it is, but as 2 grown-ups, we really had fun making our own little penguin family. Plus it cost us almost nothing to make.
As more and more Amazon parcels keep arriving the cardboard mountain keeps on growing, so no doubt we will be making some more DIY Christmas decorations next week. We will just have to design another cardboard family to make.
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What you need to make your DIY Christmas decorations
- Cardboard packaging – all ours were made out of Amazon packaging.
- Scissors
- Paper template – download penguin template here
- Paint- I used leftover chalk paint from my Led deer I made last week. I also used some leftover white wall paint. For the grey, I just mixed the 2 paints.
How to make the DIY Christmas Decorations
1.. First, print out the penguin templates. One for the front view of the penguin and the other for the side view. Place the templates on to some of the cardboard packaging and draw round it.
Top tip: Enlarge or reduce the size of the template, depending on whether you are making a mummy, daddy, or baby penguin.
2. Next, cut out your penguin shapes and cut the slits into the cardboard so the 2 pieces slot together. The slits will run from the top of the side facing penguin to the center, and from the bottom to the center on the front facing penguin.
3. Then paint your cardboard penguins. I painted the adult penguins black and white and the baby penguin grey and white. Remember to paint the back of the Penguins a solid colour and the front tummies white.
Just use a brush and any paint will do craft paint or chalk paint. The painting is so easy that the kids can get involved with it.
4. When the paint has dried, simply slot the two penguin pieces together to make a 3D cardboard Christmas decoration. If you want you can paint a yellow eye on the penguins. I decided to leave mine without for a more simple look.
Other DIY Christmas Decorations
We had so much fun making the penguin family we decided to make them a snowman. I think next week we will attempt to make our penguin family an igloo.
These penguins would make a great decoration for any Christmas or New Year Party.
If you are any good with a jigsaw then these penguins would be fun to make with plywood for a more lasting Christmas decoration. However, that won’t help with your cardboard mountain.
We are very fond of penguins in our family, one of my sons could name all the species of penguins from the age of six. He is much older now but every Christmas he still writes a Christmas quiz for the family and every question has something to do with Penguins. It has become a bit of a family tradition.
By the way, there are some wonderful vintage penguin illustrations to download for free here.
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love it soo-o much. fantastical adorable.
summer filled fun in the making!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you.
Sarah
These are great, my kids would love them. I am surrounded by boxes as my Christmas packages arrive so this is a great way to use them.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, they are great fun to make with kids.
Sam - Raggedy Bits
Super cute idea Claire! These would be so fun to make with the kiddies too!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you Sam, the kids would have fun making a whole colony of penguins.
Julie
These are so cute and the possibilities are almost endless. You could have a whole menagerie and maybe a forest too! Thanks for sharing at #HandmadeMonday
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, I have a whole zoo planned.
Cecilia MyThriftStoreAddiction
Such a cute idea, Claire! Thank you for sharing @Vintage Charm! Blessings, Cecilia
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much !
Katy SkipTheBag
These are adorable and make me regret ever recycling cardboard without doing this first! What a fun thing to do with your friend. Thanks for sharing on the Waste Less Wednesday Blog Hop!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, I’m sure you’ll end up with more cardboard soon.
Helen at Pleasures of the NW
What a great way to recycle and reuse!! Thanks for sharing on the Pleasures of the NW’s DIY Party!
Claire Armstrong
Cheers and thank you !
Vanessa
These are so adorable and what a great idea to recycle boxes. Thank you for sharing at Dishing it and Digging it link party. We love having you.
Claire Armstrong
Thanks, I’m going to use them to decorate the Beavers Christmas party today.
Julie Christiansen
Great penguins! I love it.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much.
Rosie (@greenrosielife)
I’d forgotten I used to make these as a child – Xmas trees are good too. Popping by from #WasteLessWednesday
Claire Armstrong
Thank you, great fun to make as an adult too.
Eileen @ Just Measuring Up
These are so cute, Claire! I love upcycled projects that cost nothing! Thanks for the inspiration:) Visiting from This is How We Roll 🙂
Claire Armstrong
Thank you Eileen.
Tuula @ Thrifty Rebel Vintage
Your penguins are adorable Claire. What a fabulous repurpose of everyday cardboard. Love it!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much.
Toni | Small Home Soul
Oh my gosh these are so cute. What a great idea and the possibilities are endless for what you can make.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you Toni, yes I keep on designing new figures in my head I think I will end up with a complete winter wonderland by Christmas.
Mary-the boondocks blog
You are too clever Claire! These are fantastic decorations and a great way to use up all of that cardboard.
Claire Armstrong
Thank you Mary, with the amount of cardboard I have at the moment I could make enough penguins to fill the Antarctic.
Carolann
What an adorable idea! I love upcycled projects and this is so cute. Love it!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you so much, it was really fun to do.
Borei Design
Awesome job (as usual) “thinking outside of the box,” my friend. lol I LOVE all your upcycling projects!
Claire Armstrong
Thank you Holly, I like your box pun !