D.I.Y Decorations

There are a lot of cheap decorations around at the moment with shops such as Poundland, so it doesn't have to cost a lot to make your house look magical this Christmas. I prefer free to cheap though (who doesn't!) and with a bit of imagination you can make your own and I think they look way better than shop bought. Firstly I made my own wreath, I've wanted to do one of these for years now. Luckily my dad has a lovely Norwegian spruce in his back garden and a holly tree full of beautiful red berries, so I didn't have far to forage! I had a big cardboard disc saved from one of the large pizzas we had the other week (I rarely throw anything if I think I can craft with it) and I made a ring template out of it. I hadn't got any florists wire but I had some red wool so I used this to bind everything.

I cut a couple of branches off the bottom of the trees.

Using the wool I started with small sections of branch and tied it to the cardboard ring as tightly as I could. When the branches covered the card I wrapped the wool around it all creating a sturdy circle to build up on with more branches and holly until I was satisfied with how it looked.

I also made a mess!

The end result was perfect! Now my front door is very inviting and festive!

When we were little my mum sprayed a branch and stuck our home-made decorations on it and I think it looked fantastic. Having seen a few spray painted branches in the shops for sale I decided I would do my own....for FREE! After spray painting our fireplace white we had some leftover, it was roughly £5 from Homebase but you could use any paint or glitter you have lying around. Again, I raided my dad's garden for an old branch and found this one. After spraying it white and leaving it to dry I had to find something to stand it in.

I didn't really want to be buying plaster to set it in so I used my tall vase and a heat log that was hollow through the middle. I stood the branch in the heat log, put it in the vase and surrounded it with brown paper that was used in some packaging from a parcel. Literally throw nothing it all comes in handy! I hung all the children's home-made decorations off it and some lights and again it looks lovely in my dining room.

                                                 
These are just two ideas but you can let your imagination run wild! Let the children make their own paper chains and snowflakes to decorate their rooms. Don't let a lack of money dictate what type of a Christmas you will have. Most of all have fun!