Budget Decorating

[Guest guest]

Budget Decorating

Last Minute Holiday Touches on the Cheap

by Kathleen Wilson

 

Last minute details can take a holiday home from ho ho hum to spectacular, and doesn’t have to cost a lot of cash! Here are some great quick, easy, and inexpensive ideas to wow your guests and comfort your family.

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*Use those leftover bits of wrapping paper and a holepunch to make confetti. (Great job for the kids!) Usethe colorful confetti to sprinkle across holiday tablesfor festive cheer, or save for that midnight moment!*Invest in a large roll of wire edged ribbon in gold orsilver, so that it can be used for all holidays rightinto New Years. Learn to tie fanciful bows, or just tiea simple bow to the backs of dining chairs, aroundstemware, or around your silverware. Let it ribbonthrough holiday centerpieces, over mantels, or streamit across doorways. Go tohttp://www.save-on-crafts.com/howtomakebows.html to learn to tie several different bows!*Use graham crackers, a little frosting, and cookiesand candies from the dollar or discount store to create a wonderful Gingerbread House centerpiece in no time! This is one of those projects that make memories, so bring the kids to the table, make a replica of your own home, or make replicas of friends homes and give as gifts! The best frosting to use is a stiff one, with no ingredients that will spoil. Remember, you can color some frosting to make grass and trees.*Have your children pitch in with holiday decorating,and ask them if they have any toys that would like towatch for Santa! Tie ribbon around the neck of a teddy and tuck onto the mantle, use wooden blocks to spell out Christmas words or sayings… create a toy wonderland from your own “backyard” so to speak!*Drop by your dollar store and pick up some Christmaswrapping paper. (Yes, it is just a buck!) Wrap some ofthe pictures from your walls like gifts, add a bow,then rehang. I like to do this just in the entryway formore impact using less dollars! You could also “wrap”your front door or window with a bow and ribbon, andsome packing tape.*Cut simple holiday shapes out of paper or felt, thenhang with thread from curtain rods, hanging lamps,doorways or over the outside of a lampshade. Try your hand at paper snowflakes, and hang them in groups in your windows.*Stamp holiday shapes on your glass windows with craft paint. Mix acrylic paint with an equal amount ofdishwashing liquid soap, then use to stamp snowflakes, stockings, and santas on the inside of your windows. After the holidays, it will clean right off with window cleaner and a non abrasive scrub pad. (You know, the kind that is safe for non stick cookware, so that it doesn’t scratch your windows.)Enjoy the joy of the season, and Happy Holidays fromThe Budget Decorator!

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Copyright © 2004 by Kathleen Wilson, author of The Budget Decorator Workshop

 

Diana Gonzalez

 

Nothing wastes more energy than worrying - the longer a problem is carried, the heavier it gets. Don't take things too seriously - live a life of serenity, not a life of regrets.

-Unknown

 

[Guest guest]

At 09:39 AM 12/23/2004, you wrote:

*Use

those leftover bits of wrapping paper and a hole

punch to make confetti. (Great job for the kids!) Use

the colorful confetti to sprinkle across holiday tables

for festive cheer, or save for that midnight

moment!

If you have enough scraps left over, you can also make a paper

chain. Cut some strips - I usually try for about 1 " by 6 "

- and glue or tape them together into interlinked circles. Make one

strip into a circle, then thread the next strip through the first circle

to make the next link, and so on.

Take care,

Kimberly

 

 

kimberlyrose http://kimberlyrose.freeservers.com/home.htm

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