Make Hand-Drawn Recycled Cardboard Christmas Ornaments

I have a fun project for you today that costs almost nothing but your time, cardboard boxes ready for the recycling bin, and a gel pen! And it’s one of those fun crafts syou can do with the kids on a snowy day. It’s a great use those extra cardboard boxes you have lying around from holiday deliveries. Even old cereal or tissue boxes will work to make hand-drawn recycled cardboard Christmas Ornaments. These look amazing on your Christmas tree, are easy to DIY, and can kept very simple or embellished with glitter or other items. There is a template for the designs at the end of the post, or you can make up your own designs and have fun being creative! Instructions are below.

(this post contains affiliate links. See our affiliate and sponsor disclosure here.)

These recycled cardboard stars are so fun and easy for holiday decor and all you need is a cardboard box, a pair of scissors and a white gel pen. I prefer this white gel pen.

First trace a shape of a star in the size you want and carefully cut it out of the cardboard. Mine are about 4 inches across. It’s easy to trace and cut your cardboard stars all at the same time. It’s just as easy as turning toilet paper rolls into a pretty garland that looks like metal. You would never believe they were cardboard rolls! If you don’t want to make just stars, you can use Christmas cookie cutters to create other fun shaped Christmas decorations.

After cutting out your stars, use the gel pen to embellish! I have a template at the end of the post of some pattern ideas. Most of my stars are jut a mix of these patterns. This is something you can have real fun with. Use a pencil to trace patterns beforehand it you don’t feel comfortable just winging the designs.

Looking for another fun Christmas ornament craft? Try making these DIY marbled ornaments with paint!

You can add words, and do all kinds of designs. You can even try other shapes as well, like an ornament shape! I love crafting with cardboard because it’s easy to work with and there are so many creative ideas and artisan uses you can use them for!

This one I did random dots that were closer at the base like falling snow flakes. The closer you place the dots, the more they will look like a blizzard.

If you love cardboard and paper projects, check out here how to make Christmas Village Houses

I ended up using some red embroidery floss thread to make hangers for my tree ornaments. These would be really cute gift tags too, or clustered together in a Christmas wreath.

The white on brown actually reminds me of cookies. In fact,it kind of makes me hungry for cookies. 🙂 Don’t be afraid to experiment and make a snowman shape, reindeer or even little cardboard Christmas tree!

I think they add a nice natural element to the tree. These would be super cute as a garland. This boho garland would also be fun to pair the with stars. Pom poms made of yarn would be cute to pair with these as a fun craft project.

With a little creativity, these can be decorated with sequins, stickers, ribbon, jingle bells and even googly eyes. They really can get you in a the holiday spirit.

This is one of those Christmas crafts you can make on the fly too. There are always cardboard boxes hanging around d with all of our online shopping now a days. If you don’t have one, your neighbor might! If you like cardboard crafts, see how to make this little A-frame cabin ornament.