A paper wreath brings plenty of colour and can be composted when it's too faded. Zero-waste living: Could you live without a rubbish bin? Christmas is a time for indulgence for many, and also a time of great wastage with throwaway decorations sold in huge numbers each year.The Carter family avoid plastics as much as they can with a zero-waste philosophy to life, and Christmas is no exception. Lauren Carter makes creating the family's Christmas decorations part of the festive season fun. "Most of our decorations we've had for quite a few years and we add one or two each year," Lauren Carter said."Usually we make them ourselves or we're given some and they're generally made of wood or something compostable."We use a lot of old fabrics and things that we have lying around and make the most of them."Making Christmas decorations is now a family tradition for the Carters' three children.They start in November by making a paper advent calendar. Each year the Carters make an advent calendar, with each day containing an activity which helps them prepare for Christmas.

Inside each day of the calendar is an activity for the family to do that day."One of my favourite activities is going out to see the Christmas lights out the front of people's houses ... it's so fun," 13-year-old Audrey said.Another activity is finding and putting up the Christmas tree."We have a day that we go and collect a Christmas tree, which is usually a weed tree growing outside of a [forestry] plantation," Ms Carter said. Decorations are made from material, wood, paper and ceramics and are reused over and over again. The tree will be decorated with things the children have made and special ornaments from family members and friends."[Making decorations is] a lovely way to mark how the kids have grown," Ms Carter said."You can see their little handprints in things and remember making them together.""It's really nice to have those memories and talk about them each year."The decorations include pompoms made from leftover fabric, handmade clay shapes and simple craft items like stitched hearts and stuffed dolls.

Scraps of fabric are used to make pompoms and cardboard and wool make colourful decorations that are easy for kids to make. As well as making decorations from reusable or compostable materials, the Carters avoid waste with their present wrapping."living room decor accentsWe use fabric for wrapping rather than paper because we can use them over and over again," Ms Carter said."wall art stores atlantaWe have some basic plain white cloths and then we decorate those with [coloured fabric]."christmas tree decorations wood The Carters wrap gifts in material which can be used over and over again instead of throwaway colour paper or plastic. One of Audrey's favourite decorations has no chance of going to waste."

I love doing the gingerbread house," she said."Mum will make the gingerbread house and then we'll get bulk lollies from somewhere and decorate it."Then it's usually just left out for people to feast on it as they walk by."The only thing the Carters have not been able to source yet are plastic-free Christmas lights."It's pretty hard to find lights without plastic," Ms Carter said."You can get some nice copper wire ones that I think Audrey would like, but we haven't had lights for a while." You (or someone you know) can pay & pick up online orders at a Kmart store - and even use an international credit card. U.S. shipping & delivery Get your order shipped or delivered to any address in the United States - including hotels. Via Sears, we ship to over 100 countries, so you can have your order shipped back home. Kmart International Online Shopping If you are planning to visit the United States, or have friends and family here, shop at Kmart to get everything you want - including gifts for yourself or others.

Shopping online in the USA at Kmart couldn't be easier. You can pay for your order in a store or even use an international credit card. Once you place an order, you (or someone you know) can pick it up at a Kmart store, have it shipped or delivered to a U.S. address, and even have it shipped to over 100 countries - whatever is most convenient for you. 1,764 Free Images - Photos, Illustrations, Vector graphics: Christmas, OrnamentOpenClipart-VectorscegohgeraltPublicDomainPicturesgeraltPublicDomainPicturesstuxPublicDomainPicturesulleogeraltShortSwordClker-Free-Vector-ImagesjarmolukNatunikasmartmombloggersobimasobimajill111miphotographyjill111PactoVisualDaria-Yakovlevajill111PexelsPexelsKlausAiresjill111castleguardflodambricourtxsonicchaosakshay_We've got well over 100 original Christmas colouring pictures at Activity Village, so we've got something for all ages and all interests too! We think we've covered all aspects of the festive season here, so get the printer working, dig out the crayons, and enjoy the holidays!

Here's how to discover all our Christmas colouring pages. If you know what you are looking for, click the links directly below to explore Christmas colouring pages sorted by category (a new window will open). Alternatively, scroll down to browse all our Christmas colouring pages to choose from! Our "religious" Christmas colouring pages are here:Crocheted LightsLight CrochetXmas CrochetCrochet FairyChristmas Crochet PatternsCrotchet Christma BaublCrochet Christmas Light GarlandCrochet CristmassFree Crochet Necklac PatternForwardThis free Christmas Crochet pattern from Ravelry is an absolutely adorable Christmas tree decoration. Handmade Christmas decorations like these are perfect for celebrating. Christmas tree lights and bauble. Christmas ornaments are decorations (usually made of glass, metal, wood, or ceramics) that are used to festoon a Christmas tree. Ornaments take many different forms, from a simple round ball to highly artistic designs. Ornaments are almost always reused year after year rather than purchased annually, and family collections often contain a combination of commercially produced ornaments and decorations created by family members.

Such collections are often passed on and augmented from generation to generation. Santa Claus is a commonly used figure. Candy canes, fruit, animals, snowmen, angels and snowflake images are also popular choices. Lucretia P. Hale's story "The Peterkins' Christmas-Tree"[1] offers a short catalog of the sorts of ornaments used in the 1870s: There was every kind of gilt hanging-thing, from gilt pea-pods to butterflies on springs. There were shining flags and lanterns, and bird-cages, and nests with birds sitting on them, baskets of fruit, gilt apples, and bunches of grapes. The modern-day mold-blown colored glass Christmas ornament was invented in the small German town of Lauscha in the mid-19th century. Glassblower workshop from Lauscha, around 1930 (Museum für Thüringer Volkskunde Erfurt) A bauble is a spherical decoration commonly used to adorn Christmas trees. The bauble is one of the most popular Christmas ornament designs, and they have been in production since 1847.

Baubles can have various designs on them, from "baby's first Christmas" to a favorite sports team to a simple shiny sphere of a single color. Blown glass baubles for sale in Tlalpujahua, Michoacán, Mexico. The town is known for its production of Christmas ornaments, particularly baubles, with more than 100 million ornaments produced yearly,[3] the majority of which are exported. The first decorated trees were adorned with apples, white candy canes and pastries in the shapes of stars, hearts and flowers. Glass baubles were first made in Lauscha, Germany, by Hans Greiner (1550-1609) who produced garlands of glass beads and tin figures that could be hung on trees. The popularity of these decorations grew into the production of glass figures made by highly skilled artisans with clay molds. The artisans heated a glass tube over a flame, then inserted the tube into a clay mold, blowing the heated glass to expand into the shape of the mold. The original ornaments were only in the shape of fruits and nuts.

After the glass cooled, a silver nitrate solution was swirled into it, a silvering technique developed in the 1850s by Justus von Liebig. After the nitrate solution dried, the ornament was hand-painted and topped with a cap and hook. Other glassblowers in Lauscha recognised the growing popularity of Christmas baubles and began producing them in a wide range of designs. Soon, the whole of Germany began buying Christmas glassware from Lauscha. On Christmas Eve 1832, a young Victoria wrote about her delight at having a tree, hung with lights, ornaments, and presents placed round it.[5] In the 1840s, after a picture of Victoria's Christmas tree was shown in a London newspaper decorated with glass ornaments and baubles from her husband Prince Albert's native Germany, Lauscha began exporting its products throughout Europe. In the 1880s, American F. W. Woolworth discovered Lauscha's baubles during a visit to Germany. He made a fortune by importing the German glass ornaments to the United States.

The first American-made glass ornaments were created by William DeMuth in New York in 1870. In 1880, Woolworth's began selling Lauscha glass ornaments. Other stores began selling Christmas ornaments by the late 19th century and by 1910, Woolworth's had gone national with over 1000 stores bringing Christmas ornaments across America. New suppliers popped up everywhere including Dresden die-cut fiberboard ornaments which were popular among families with small children. By the 20th century, Woolworth's had imported 200,000 ornaments and topped $25 million in sales from Christmas decorations alone. As of 2009, the Christmas decoration industry ranks second to gifts in seasonal sales. After World War II, the East German government turned most of Lauscha's glassworks into state-owned entities, and production of baubles in Lauscha ceased. After the Berlin Wall came down, most of the firms were reestablished as private companies. As of 2009, there are still about 20 small glass-blowing firms active in Lauscha that produce baubles.

One of the producers is Krebs Glas Lauscha, part of the Krebs family which is now one of the largest producers of glass ornaments worldwide. Although glass baubles are still produced, as expensive good quality ornaments often found at markets, baubles are now frequently made from plastic and available worldwide in a huge variety of shapes, colors and designs. There are a large number of manufacturers producing sophisticated Christmas glass ornaments in Poland and millions of glass blown Christmas ornaments are made year-round in Tlalpujahua, Michoacan, Mexico and exported to Spain, New Zealand and France. Handcrafted Christmas Ornaments have become a staple of craft fairs and many smaller online businesses owing much of the success to both the internet and the growth of craft stores. Christmas bauble, or ball ornament Red and gold ornamented Christmas bauble A handcrafted Christmas ornament Hand-crafted Xmas baubles and ornaments in crochet Santa Claus and teddy bear