Holiday decorating on a budget!

The month of December is a crazy whirlwind of pageants, programs, dinners, family gatherings and endless shopping to prepare for the celebration of the birth of our Savior. Usually, the majority of holiday preparation falls to the women, and if your a Mom or even a Grandma, sometimes it seams completely overwhelming and decorating becomes more of a last minute hassle than a project to enjoy.

Now I don't go all out with decoration for any holiday, as with kids and jobs and life there just isn't enough time (or money) to spend on projects that are not absolutely necessary. That being said, I do feel that a little decorating, like some table garland, a nativity, or a Christmas door wreath can help to get everyone in the holiday spirit and adds to the excitement of the quickly approaching season. So this year my little decorating idea was to buy a new wreath for my front door. I checked a few crafts fairs and found some beautiful  wreaths, but most were $60 or more, and with the hard hit we've all had to our pocketbooks recently, I just couldn't justify spending that much on a decoration I use once a year.

Now, my new idea was to dig out an old wreath and give it a new make over. I knew I had a plain artificial pine wreath that I had bought several years ago and never really done much with so, keeping that in mind I made a trip to Walmart and picked up two decorative pine floral picks ( aprox. $2 ea) and one of those over the door wreath hangers (another $2). I then went through a tub of rarely used Christmas decorations from previous years and found a roll of red velvet ribbon and two strands of thin red & gold wired tinsel.

The first thing I did was use the red velvet ribbon and wrapped it around the wreath, starting at the bottom. Once I completed the circle I tied a knot at the bottom and let the ends trail from the back side. I used the first strand of  tinsel to follow the pattern of the red velvet ribbon and wrap around the wreath the same direction. Next, I inserted the floral pine picks I bought, one on either side, and wired them to the wreath. Now, I love to craft, but I'm not very good at constructing bows. I thought my wreath needed a bow to finish it off, so  I used the second strand of wired tinsel to create a makeshift bow by gathering it into a roll and then wrapping the end of the tinsel around the center of the roll to make it look similar to a bow, then I wired it to the bottom of the wreath. I had to reposition and bend the loops around until I was happy with it, but I think it turned out pretty good. I then hung my 'new again' Christmas wreath on my front door with the clear plastic wreath hanger.

I was totally happy with my up-cycled wreath and I only had to spend $4.

Now, If your not the crafty type, but love to surround yourself with handmade items then Etsy has several beautiful handmade wreaths available for purchase. I found several that inspired my creativity and I wanted to share some of my favorites in a treasury. If you'd like to see it here's a link...
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4cfc1389abb38eef2ee8e9e9/beautiful-christmas-wreaths-for-40-or


Or here are a few of my favorites from the list...
http://www.etsy.com/listing/63678912/15-christmas-wreath-with-handmade-paper?ref=tre-4cfc1389abb38eef2ee8e9e9-2

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59506646/25-off-sale-santa-christmas-list-wreath?ref=tre-4cfc1389abb38eef2ee8e9e9-3

http://www.etsy.com/listing/59610561/gingerbread-man-christmas-wreath-free?ref=tre-4cfc1389abb38eef2ee8e9e9-1


Happy Christmas Crafting!!

Jill♥