Quick, Cheap & Easy!

It's the trifecta of DIY projects and at this time of year, aren't we all looking for quick, cheap and easy solutions to holiday decorating? I am not in my own space right now and in fact will be moving over the Christmas break, so my decorating has been bare bones minimum. We do have a tree (artificial) which my daughter convinced me to buy. Goodwill was having their yearly 50% off every item in the store sale, so the tree cost only 12 bucks! Since all my ornaments and other Christmas accoutrements are in storage, I had to decorate the tree using found objects, second hand ornaments and a garland I made using craft paper sheets, a craft punch, fishing line and hot glue. I really like the way the garland turned out and it would be a great to make for other occasions as well. It went really quick, was very cheap and couldn't be easier, so I wanted to share with you guys. Most of you will have already done your decorating, but this could be a last minute bit of bling to add to your tree, banister garland, mantle decoration or wherever!

 Found these great prismatic and glitter paper packs at Target in their scrapbook section, only .99 cents for a two pack. Cost so far: $2.97

Using a craft paper punch in a fluted edge pattern, I punched out dozens of disks in all three colors of paper I had. Paper punch was on sale for $7.00

Then using fishing line and a hot glue gun, I glued the disks on in a random color pattern. Since garland tends to twist and turn, I made the disks double sided which also gave the fishing line a place to be glued in. A disk of paper right side down, a dollop of hot glue, the fishing line run through the hot glue and another paper disk, right side up, on top. Easy and it goes really fast when you make an assembly line. I made about 30 feet of garland in less than an hour. Fishing line was $2.99 and I have hundreds of feet left for other projects.

 All the other ornaments were either from the thrift store or stuff I had around already. Another  r e e e l l y easy thing I did was throw some mini glass ornaments in a hammered silver bowl I got at Goodwill for $2.99 The mini ornaments cost more than the bowl at $5.99 for a pack of 50! Rocket Science? No. Beautiful? Yes!

LOVE the way it gleams and the bowl reflects the ornaments, doubling the sparkle! So, just a few quick, cheap and easy tricks I used to brighten up my holiday. Here's to ho ho hoping your holidays sparkle and shine!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....

Well, ok, I know I'm late to the game as it started to look like Christmas in October!!  But for me, this is the perfect time to start decorating and getting in to the holiday spirit.  I made my own wreaths this year, which I think look great, and couldn't be easier to do.  This idea has been around for a while:

Using plastic bags cut into strips, simply tie them around a wire wreath frame until it's nice and full.  I like to spray paint the wire frame silver so it blends with the plastic bags.  Using this same idea, I cut felt into strips and tied them around another wire frame and the results, to me, are stunning!  Again, soooo easy and they cost about $7 for the felt one and $5 for the plastic bag version. Click here for a tutorial.

                           Hot Pink and Turquoise ARE traditional Christmas colors, right?!

                                                  I might just leave them up year round!
                                           Here are some of my other holiday decorations.

In the southwest, we use Agave stalks as Christmas trees!  Here is one of mine festooned with my homemade glitter ornaments!  This one, I DO keep up year long, minus the ornaments.

Hope you enjoyed a peek at my holiday decorating!
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Cheers,