A reader emailed me to ask for suggestions for green holiday decorations, hopefully ones that she could make by recycling stacks of catalogs and magazines piling up. My mailbox has also been fuller than normal. Here are a few options for decorations you can make with those stacks of shiny colored papers.

Magazine Bead Garland

I first marveled at this paper craft at age five, when I would pour though my big 1970s craft book. It’s a great alternative to popcorn and cranberries--you won’t eat the craft materials, and the garland will last for years to come. I've also seen crafters use paper beads to make bowls and toys, so you could make paper-bead gifts for everyone on your list, if you're inspired.

Materials: Magazine pages; scissors; glue; toothpicks; fine string, thread, or fishing line; extra craft beads for decoration

Instructions:

• Cut strips from magazine. You cam measure them into perfect rectangles, which will make tubular beads, or cut them into long triangles, the length of the page, which I think make for more interesting beads.
  
• Starting with one end (the wider if you’re cutting triangles) of the picture, put a dab of glue on the outside (side to be rolled over).


• Roll the strip around the toothpick. The glue will hold the center together and the toothpick will allow room to string the beads together later.


• At the last 1/4 inch of the roll, put a dab of glue on the underside of the paper. This will keep the roll from coming apart.


• Remove toothpick and allow to dry.


• Repeat with other strips.


• String the beads, alternating between round craft beads and long magazine beads, onto a piece of string, thread, or fishing line.

Origami Garlands and Ornaments

I love the tradition of folding and stringing origami cranes for good luck. And there’s not need to buy special paper to make them. Use your junk mail, and string them as a holiday garlands, or using them individually as ornaments. See this site for great illustrations on many folds.

Wrapping Paper and Envelopes

This may seem too obvious, but magazines make attractive free wrapping paper for small boxes. (My sister and I try to one-up each other with clever links between wrapping and gift.) Use the paper shredder to turn magazines into pretty stuffing for boxes. You can also fold pages up to make one-of-a-kind (almost) envelopes. Use a glue stick to easily stick the envelope together.

Collage and Cards

If you like to collage or make cards, you may find it helpful to think of the catalogs or magazines not as images, but as fields of color that you can cut up and use as you would any sort of pretty paper. If you have one, set a bored child down with stack of catalogs, some scissors, and have them cut out and sort snippets of each color, making stacks of red, orange, yellow, etc. Collages made from these rips look especially interesting.

Do you have any other favorite paper-recycling holiday crafts?