DIY Stunning Christmas Tree Decor By Repurposing These 27 Common Thrift Store Items

Trimming your Christmas tree is a chance to express your personal style — much like choosing your outfit or decorating a house — and crafting your own decor lets you customize at every turn. Making ornaments, garlands, and other festive frills by hand can also save you a nice chunk of change to put toward holiday gifts. To stretch your budget even further, try thrifting some of your tree-decorating supplies. As an added bonus, reusing secondhand materials for DIY projects helps divert them from landfills — and that's one of the best presents the Earth could hope to receive.

Though every thrift store is unique and the products on offer tend to vary each day, there are certain items that tend to turn up particularly often. Some of them are terrific for turning into ornaments and other tree trimmings: For example, you could dress up your Christmas tree with thrifted forks decorated like Rudolph, flower garlands created from the pages of old books, or even a DIY no-sew tree skirt made from repurposed curtains or blankets. These projects are just the tip of the upcycling iceberg, though. As you scour your favorite thrift shops for treasures, keep an eye out for used ornaments you can update, items that will hang nicely on a pine bough, and materials you can use to add color, pattern, or texture to other objects.

Small wooden picture frames are a common sight at thrift stores, and they make a versatile addition to nearly any Christmas tree. Coat them in enamel to cover blemishes or make them look pleasantly weathered with a distressed paint finish. Attach seasonal trimmings such as ribbons and faux holly sprigs, or spell out a jolly greeting with hand lettering. Finish your project with an eye hook, a twine hanger, and something special inside the frame: a vintage Christmas card, sheet music for a popular carol, or a photo of loved ones wearing matching holiday pajamas.

Buttons make terrific building blocks for ornaments, and green buttons in particular are perfect for constructing wreaths and Christmas trees. To make a tree, form a stack starting with your largest button. Add progressively smaller buttons to create a conical shape, then glue a star to the top. Or, make figures such as angels and snowmen; build each one like a Christmas tree, but use a bead or marble for a head. You can also give each figure accessories that reveal its identity: a halo and wings for an angel, for example, or a scarf and hat for a snowman.

Thimbles are small yet mighty supplies for Christmas crafting, and they tend to be abundant at thrift shops. The metal types are easy to turn into ornaments that look like tiny bells. They're also excellent holders for teeny-tiny figurines, including elves from Santa's workshop and smiling snowmen. Or, try placing miniature bottlebrush Christmas trees in these charming little pots. After attaching wire hangers to the thimbles, give the trees a dusting of glitter and top each with a star or bow.

Hang thrifted teacups upside down to make your Christmas tree look like it's covered in bells. Alternatively, hang them sideways to use them as dioramas. Create a snowy surface inside a teacup using textural white paint and glitter, then build a colony of tiny penguins. You could even construct a cozy cottage surrounded by mountains and evergreens. For an especially vibrant scene, fill the cup with rainbow-colored gumdrops, striped starlight mints, and characters from "The Nutcracker." Finish your masterpiece by tying a satin ribbon on the handle and lining the rim with a shimmering pipe cleaner.

Wooden napkin or curtain rings are thrifting treasures for many crafters. You can wrap string around the top of each ring to make a hanger, then glue something eye-catching in the center. Snowflakes cut out of wood or paper are also an easy way to give your Christmas tree an elegant makeover. Or, fill the gaps with circular pieces of gift wrap, little sketches of woodland creatures, or discs covered in homemade crackle paint. You could also paint the rings themselves, giving them classic candy cane stripes or cheery red-and-green polka dots.

Secondhand stores tend to be swimming in CDs and DVDs. Throw some inexpensive discs into your shopping cart, along with some plain, globe-shaped ornaments. When you get home cut them into small pieces that can function as mosaic tiles, then hot-glue them to the ornament. Have a few discs to spare? Coat them in green tempera paint to create simple wreath ornaments, which you can stud with sequins, beads, or leftover bits of cut-up CDs. Snake red yarn through the middle of each CD to make a loop for hanging.

Coasters made of cork and other lightweight materials are easy to hang on Christmas trees. They also make nice little canvases for yuletide art. Cut out illustrations from holiday cards or dog-eared seasonal picture books, then glue them to the coasters you've collected. If the illustrations are black and white, you can enhance them with colored pencils or dabs of paint. Embellish the edges of your creation with tiny pinecones or bits of gold leaf, and add a topcoat of spray varnish to each image to help it last for years.

Bangle bracelets and rolls of string are frequently found in secondhand shops, and you can combine them to create abstract art for your Christmas tree. You'll need two colors of string for this project: Wrap the bangles in one color of string, adding glue for a secure hold — then, make webs with the other color of string. Stretch the string across the middle of each bracelet and over the exterior edge, crisscrossing multiple times. Finish your creations by gluing beads, confetti pieces, or other embellishments in random spots before attaching hangers.

Transform old earrings and brooches into gorgeous Christmas tree decor with a little help from E6000 Craft Adhesive or another strong glue. A balloon can help you turn these items into a 3D sculpture. Remove any pins from the brooches and hangers from the earrings. Then, arrange the pieces so their edges touch. Glue together these intersection points, and once the glue has hardened, pop the balloon before adding a thread loop. You could also push the posts of stud earrings into a foam sphere to make another style of 3D ornament.

Beaded necklaces from your local thrift store, and especially those made of faux pearls, are an easy way to dress up a plain old round ornament. To begin, remove the clasps and fire up your hot glue gun. Wind strands of pearls around the orb in neat rows, gluing them down as you go, then push the pearls together to minimize gaps. To take advantage of the power of contrast, alternate rows of pearls with black beads and incorporate a black wire hanger. Or, give your creation a Victorian vibe with a hanger made of velvet ribbon.

Thrifted doilies are an ideal material for crafting wreaths, angels, and snowflakes for your Christmas tree. To fashion a wreath, select a small doily and remove a circular section from its center. Fill this hole with a photo of a loved one or a tiny piece of art — perhaps a drawing of a candle or an inspired crayon scribble made by a toddler. An off-white doily will lend your tree a cottagecore vibe, or you can give the doily a pine-like hue by soaking it in Dark Green Rit Liquid Fabric Dye or something similar.

Dolls often make their way to thrift stores after their original owners have outgrown them. You can give them a new role to play by treating them to a holiday makeover. Pick up some small, lightweight dolls that catch your eye. Then, give their wardrobes some wintry updates: You could incorporate little scarves or stocking hats, glue red and green sequins to a dress, or craft a new frock from scraps of old Christmas pajamas. For a snow-inspired getup, glue folded cotton pads to a doll's body.

Little toy cars can give your Christmas tree a personality infusion, especially if you wrap them in your own creative ideas. Gather an assortment of vehicles at the thrift shop, then dream up a story for each of them. Maybe one is headed home from a Christmas tree farm? In that case, you could glue a pine sprig or bottlebrush tree to its roof. Or perhaps you've got a shiny convertible that could be Santa's "other" sleigh. Fill this one with tiny presents and a Kris Kringle figurine. Hot-glue a string or hook to each car for easy hanging.

Your local thrift shop probably has a ton of cute pre-loved mittens for babies and toddlers. So, why not fill a shopping basket with these items to make a garland for your Christmas tree? If the mitten selection is minimal, you could also incorporate knitted baby booties or little winter hats topped with pompons. Also, make sure to grab a few balls of yarn. Braid the yarn to create a long strand for hanging the mittens. If no yarn is available, you can swap in twine or even a spare clothesline. Then, simply attach the mittens with clothespins or a few stitches.

Cozy fabrics are a staple of hygge, a Scandinavian lifestyle concept that can help you fight the winter blues. Gather flannel shirts, knitted sweaters, or fuzzy scarves from your local thrift shop to outfit your tree with comfy-looking ornaments. While you're there, grab some Mason jar lids as well. Trace the discs from the lids on your fabric, then cut out the circles. Hot-glue each round piece of fabric into the interior edge of a lid's ring. You could also attach faux mistletoe, cinnamon sticks, or other wintry accoutrements. Finally, add some twine hangers.

Girl Scout badges, patches from the National Park System, and other embroidered clothing embellishments often turn up in thrift stores. You can make these items into ornaments that conjure childhood memories or reflect your current hobbies. To make the patches easy to hang, grab a rivet set – such as these ONLYKXY 50 Piece Rivets. Poke a hole in the upper section of a patch and push the post that comes with each rivet through the hole in the metal piece below the rivet's hook. Then, guide the post through the hole before attaching its cap.

Thrifted jeans are a cheap and convenient source of fabric for handmade ornaments. Even better, denim is sturdy enough to last a long time without being too heavy to hang on your Christmas tree. So, try using denim to make hanging homages to your home's holiday fir. Cut out trios of triangles and join them with hot glue as you arrange them in vertical formations. Cover the tops of the two lowermost triangles with the bases of the triangles that sit higher up. For a trunk, attach a small fabric rectangle or a cinnamon stick.

You can thrift red fabric napkins or tablecloths to craft poinsettias for your Christmas tree. To make them, cut out pieces of the fabric in the shape of toothed leaves. Make small and large versions and line their edges with glitter glue. Arrange three large leaves in a trefoil-like shape, with their tips facing in different directions and their bases overlapping slightly. Hot-glue the bases together and repeat this process with the rest of your leaves. Stack several large trefoils and stick them together, then glue smaller trefoils on top. Finally, attach a clothespin to the back of each of your poinsettias.

Does your Christmas tree need an angel to watch over it? Craft your own with a thrifted handkerchief. Find a rubber ball or another sphere that's 1 to 2 inches in diameter, as well as a sparkly pipe cleaner for a halo, about 18 inches of thin ribbon or string, and some wide ribbon. Put the ball in the handkerchief's center, pull fabric around it, and tie the thin ribbon just under the ball to secure it before attaching the halo. To create wings, make a bow with the wide ribbon and hot-glue it to the angel's back.

Thrifted bandanas and neckties are easy to repurpose as star ornaments. Cut them into three strips that are 7 ½ inches by 2 inches. Fold the corner of each into a right triangle, then fold these triangles upward repeatedly until you reach the tops of the strips. Tuck in excess fabric, then lay the triangles flat, pointing the right angle of the first one downward. Place the second underneath the first, positioning it to create a star's top and lower-left sections. Finish the star with your final triangle. Glue everything together, then add a button.

Have fond memories of baking Christmas cookies with your grandma? Turn some thrifted cookie cutters into tree ornaments. Trace the shapes of these molds onto cardboard, then cut them out. If you like to paint, add holiday scenes or Santa Claus portraits to these backings before gluing them to the cookie cutters. Or, attach illustrations from Christmas napkins, pieces of wrapping paper printed with seasonal sayings, or photos of friends and family members. Finally, adorn each ornament with a gingham ribbon and a hanger.

Many thrift stores stock used light bulbs and lamps containing bulbs. Light bulbs are ideal for DIY Christmas tree ornaments because they're lightweight and easy to decorate. Try wrapping them with yarn, gluing on fabric scraps, or painting them. You could even use black and white paints to turn a few bulbs into yuletide penguins. Start by adding a white pear shape to a bulb; make the rest of the bulb black, then give each penguin a triangular beak, googly eyes, and a ribbon scarf.

Pieces from thrifted board games make excellent additions to Christmas tree ornaments. Painted dice can be stacked to create Santa and other characters, and the little metal hats from Monopoly games are ideal headwear for itty-bitty snowmen. Scrabble tiles are even more useful, as you can use them to spell out holiday words or the names of loved ones. Trim the edges of the ribbon with rickrack or attach other cheery embellishments such as jingle bells and curling ribbon from leftover gift wrap.

If you have a small Christmas tree or prefer the look of dainty ornaments, search for poker chips during your next thrifting adventure. These plastic coins make nice canvases for tiny paintings, and they're relatively easy to pierce with a drill. This makes it easy to attach hooks and add tassels, strings of beads, or other embellishments made of twine, thread, or yarn. Consider giving your poker chip ornaments a theme — perhaps birds of North America or characters from "Home Alone" – to help your Christmas tree feel put together.

Thrifted tennis balls, plastic baseballs, and other lightweight balls are suitable for making a range of Christmas tree trimmings. Try to get some of your other ornament-making supplies secondhand, too. Stretchy socks can turn plastic baseballs into attractive baubles, and you can hunt for socks that feature Christmas colors, interesting textures, or wintry prints. Place a ball in a 5-inch tube cut from a sock, punch a hole in the ball's top and bottom, then use a pencil to poke excess fabric into the holes. Finish your ornament with ribbon, bits of greenery, or berry-like beads.

Round plastic Christmas ornaments are prime candidates for decoupage — the art of gluing cut-out pictures to an object and applying a protective coating such as Mod Podge — and thrift shops are great sources of printed images such as old maps. So, use a map of a favorite travel destination to turn an ordinary ornament into a treasured keepsake. Or, decoupage an ornament with atlas pages to introduce themes such as road trips and adventure. For extra holiday flair, attach a picture of Santa, his sleigh, and his team of globetrotting reindeer to your map-wrapped ornament.

Wooden clothespins chilling on thrift store shelves can be made into a beautiful snowflake for the top of your Christmas tree. To do this, gather eight clothespins of similar size. Remove the metal springs, glue the wood sticks back-to-back with a product such as Gorilla Wood Glue, and paint the wood white if desired. Then, lay the modified clothespins on their sides and glue together their round ends, leaving an equal amount of space between each snowflake section. Finally, fix an unmodified clothespin to your creation to help clip it to the tree.