A thrifty DIY fan has revealed a hack for creating stunning bronze Christmas decorations – and all you need is a household item you would usually throw away.
Louise Lockhart from Yorkshire, who goes by The Printed Peanut on TikTok and Instagram, shared a video on her social media channels sharing her method
She showed viewers the process of her making festive decorations, using empty tomato puree tubes from Morrisons.
The craft fanatic wrote: ‘I have been making decorations from tomato purée tubes for years (since my mum taught me when I was a kid) and I’m happy to see new crafty ideas all over Instagram now!
‘I thought it was about time I made a garland using motifs that I use in my paper collage work, it was such fun to make!’
A thrifty DIY fan has revealed a hack for creating stunning bronze Christmas decorations – and all you need is a household item you would usually throw away
She showed viewers the step-by-step process of creating the festive ornaments, starting by cutting off the end of the tomato puree tube and opening it up.
She washed the bronze side of the packaging so all of the traces of tomato were gone, before smoothing the creases out using the back of a spoon.
Next, she began the design process, drawing the shapes and details of the decorations using a pen.
Louise’s designs included a donkey, an angel, a gingerbread man and various bronze leaves, birds and moons.
She cut out the shapes using scissors, making sure to also cut a small hole at the top for some wire to go through, creating a garland.
Louise added that she also ran a decoration workshop at Yorkshire Sculpture Park to help out other DIY lovers in the festive period.
The craft fanatic showed off her stunning new ornaments, draped around her fireplace.
She showed viewers the step by step process of her creating the festive ornaments, starting with cutting the end off the tomato puree tube and opening it up
Louise Lockhart from Yorkshire, who goes by The Printed Peanut (@theprintedpeanut) on the app, shared a video alongside the festive tune ‘A Marshmallow World’ sung by Jo Stafford
Next, she began the design process, drawing the shapes and details of the decorations using a pen
Simply thread through wire or string, with the decorations in any order you like and hang them around your house, creating beautiful ornaments without paying a penny
Viewers were in awe of the decorations, writing, ‘There’s a special place in heaven for creative people’ and, ‘omg imagine if these could be hung onto fairy lights!!! how beautiful!!’
Another shocked user added: ‘I didn’t know they were pretty and gold inside!’
Someone else penned: ‘I’m absolutely furious that I’m only just discovering this!!! so beautiful’.
Others gushed: ‘Love these! Your designs are so charming’ and, ‘these are BEAUTFIUL.’
Some people were concerned about the safety aspects of creating the decorations.
One viewer commented: ‘Are the edges sharp? Do the decorations smell of tomatoes?’
Another admitted ‘I love this but I would have deep lacerations to 90% of my hands if I attempted it!’
However, Louise was quick to reassure on her Instagram account that it’s ‘not too bad but be careful,’ advising: ‘you can round any sharp bits with your scissors’.
She also suggested that if you don’t like the non gold side on the back, just ‘cut two shapes out the same and stick them back to back using a glue gun or double sided tape’.
One Instagram commenter joked: ‘You do realise there’s going to be a shortage of tomato puree this Christmas!’
Another chimed in with: ‘Gorgeous!! Going to try with yoghurt lids’.