Getting Ready for Christmas

I have had a long break from this blog, but I guess I decided to re-purpose it, just because being a full-time student does not give you much time to create pictures for a blog.

Anyway, Christmas is my favorite holiday, my birthday comes second. What I love about Christmas is the meaning behind it, the presents as well as the decorations, the cheerful attitudes, the presents, seeing the look on people's faces when they see your gift to them, the cold weather and the snow on the ground, the presents and the list can go on and on.

As a full-time student going to over-time student I won't have much time to do much of anything except homework, so seeing this dilemma I began decorating early, insanely early since Thanksgiving is not even here yet. Basically I decided that decorating took precedence over cleaning.

As a college student I don't have a lot of money as well as time, what I am about to show you are things I have found around the internet that are relatively cheap so you can decorate your home without hurting your budget.

First up, ornaments, have you ever thought of making your own? It actually doesn't take that much time and the outcome is based on your creativity. The batter is really easy to make, since it is three ingredients, but I will warn you, even though it takes longer do not use the oven, the ornaments curl more dramatically if you use the oven rather than the long way of letting them sit and dry. Here is the link: Click me for homemade ornament recipe
 the template given on the site is for birds, but a simple roam around the internet can give you other designs. For example, my favorite animal is the fox, and fox ornaments are extremely rare, as well as anything with a fox, so I decided to make a bunch. I scoured the internet for pictures, printed them out and them used those as templates, make sure to make a hole for the ribbon and make sure it stays open, I learned that the hard way...
The fox above turned out kind of curled up along the edges due to being put in the oven to dry, the owl above him is not curled.


Next up: Wreaths

This is a really simple, slightly irritating, but very cheap wreath. I don't remember where I got the idea from but know it is not my idea although I wish it was.
What you need:
2 boxes of candy canes
glitter
hot glue gun and the glue for them
glitter bow (I got 2 small bows for a dollar at family dollar)

The directions are pretty self explanatory,
glue the candy canes together. (I put a can in the middle to get an okay looking circle)
Apply glitter
Affix bow
hang

pretty simple but nonetheless very Christmas-y.

Next up is the intermediate wreath: The trash bag with ornament and twig and pine cone wreath

 

 This wreath was inspired by: click me for intricate directions for this wreath

This wreath was tedious and used copious amounts of hot glue but I really like the end result. I added the pine cones since I bought the cinnamon smelling ones and these lost their scent too quickly, so I spray painted them with American Accents spray paint with metallic stuff in it (it came in a patina kit that I got on clearance at Micheal's). The curly twigs I got in England in a bouquet that I brought back, the thicker curly twig I used a silver rub and buff on it and glued mangled up lids on them, two I spray painted with the stuff I used on the pine cones. The bronze "ornament" is actually a light bulb that I painted with Sophisticated Finishes in Blackened Bronze, though it was on the pricy side I love it, I have used it multiple times around my apartment to bring a more steampunk feel to it. the silver things are ornaments I got at family dollar for 2.50.
Note: I did use three metal wires and twirled them around each other for the base and used old packing paper to wrap around the wire to get something a little easier to glue the plastic bags on.

Next up: Christmas Tree Star Topper

This was a little annoying to find and put together. It was inspired by: click me for the template and instructions to make the star topper

I saved the regular template on my computer otherwise it prints off tiny ones and put it on microsoft word to print out. I made it a bit bigger and then found scrapbooking paper to use the template to cut and fold and such. After gluing everything own except one side for the opening to put on the top I realized it didn't really fit anything else I had made, so I spray painted it with the stuff I got from michaels. I added the other glitter bow that I got in the two pack for a dollar at family dollar to bring more of the attention to the top of the tree (which I got at Walmart for 40 dollars, the ornaments that were not made by me were froma 50 pack from Walmart and the garland tinsel things came from family dollar (the gold ones) and walgreens (the white ones) the icicle things were also from walgreens for a dollar).

 Excuse the mess, I took this right after finishing the decorating process.

Next up: Decorational little trees

These were inspired by: click me for instructions for these cute trees as well as more ideas to make your own

See the blue paper behind the trees, that is what I made mine out of since I don't really eat cereal. less than a dollar at walmart and I still have some if I feel the need to make more. The white one is made from the snipped off trash bags of the trash bag wreath, the one to the left of that is made from twine that I got for a dollar at walmart, the blue one is made from beads from by bead collection that grew until I got tired of making jewelry. The smallest one is made from pine cone needles, that one was by far the hardest, since my pine cone needles kept breaking off. I spray painted it with the stuff I got from michaels to continue the bronze theme that exists throughout my apartment. Later I might add those little touches.

Next up: Light up candle:

When I took my trip to walgreens I found this adorable light up candle. I loved it, except for one thing, the cheap looking gold plastic on the bottom, I knew with a touch of my Sophisticated Finish though, that ugly cheap looking gold plastic could look so much more expensive.


With a foam brush add a small coat to the base, wait until it dries and add more until fully coated the way you want it, simple as that.


It looks great next to my other steampunkish items

And there you have it, inexpensive Christmas decorations that require little to no money but look amazing and pretty. Enjoy the holiday seasons and Merry Christmas!

-Splatterfox