Recycled Christmas decorations

Now I'm not a great one for Christmas - all that over-consumption and terrible telly - but I have been getting rather excited about making recycled Christmas decorations for Transition Town Worthing's Christmas event. I wanted to make something easy, out of natural or recycled materials, and something beautiful, that didn't end up looking like a load of beer bottle lids bunged on the Christmas tree.

Idea 1: Pine cones. Simply twist off the top pointy bit of the cone to make a little space for you to glue a couple of inches of twine in place with a dab from a glue gun.

Idea 2: Milk stars. These are made from a plastic carton of milk - I managed to squeeze four stars out of a pint bottle. Cut out a paper or card star template (there's a good-sized template to print off at www.underfives.co.uk if your freehand isn't up to it) then position on your clean milk carton, draw round with permanent marker, and cut out. Glue a couple of inches of twine onto the back of a small button to make a hanging loop, and then glue button and loop onto your star.