Christmas on a Budget – Decorating the Tree

Last month, for my Christmas on a Budget Series, I wrote about Building Traditions by repeating memory building activities year after year.  One tradition that I started when our children were little was to make them a new Christmas ornament every year to hang on the tree.

The idea was that by the time they left home, they would each have a collection of handmade ornaments to hang on their first tree in their first apartment or house.  And then each Christmas after that, no matter where they were in the world or where Dave and I were; they would have those little pieces of Christmas past.

And even now that our two oldest have homes of their own and our youngest is attending college, I continue to make them a new ornament to add to their collection each year.

None of these ornaments were/are expensive to make.  In fact, many of them cost only pennies.

All that’s needed to make the crocheted ornaments pictured above and below is a pattern, some crochet cotton and a stiffening agent.  There are tons of free patterns available on the net.

Now you may be thinking to yourself, “But I don’t know how to crochet or embroider or cross stitch.”

For this next ornament I simply cut a yard of lace, folded over 1/3 lengthwise, ran a gathering stitch along the edge of the fold with needle and thread and then pulled the thread tight and knotted it.  The lace circle was then glued onto a circle cut from white cardstock.  You could also cut a circle from an old Christmas card.

I finished the center of the ornament by gluing on some loops of ribbon and the little bear. A short length of ribbon was glued between the lace and the card stock to hang the ornament.

And think of all the ornaments you can make with no more than a pair of scissors, some glue and squares of felt.

Transform a couple of pieces of felt into a dove or cardinal like the ones pictured below:

Remember the paper chains we made in grade school?   This would be a great project to do with your children or grandchildren.

Here’s a link to a how-to using old books.

http://oursuburbancottage.blogspot.com/2009/12/vintage-paper-chain.html

I’ve also seen paper chains made out of sheet music.

Don’t happen to have any old sheet music laying around the house?  Print some vintage sheet music courtesy of the Graphics Fairy.

And while you’re printing off sheet music to make paper chains print a few extra pages to make some small wreaths from this tutorial:

http://domesticali.typepad.com/domesticali/2008/11/origami-wreath-tutorial.html

Finally I’d like to share with you one more simple idea using no more than a few rolls of wired ribbon you can find at the dollar store and a bit of floral wire (or I must confess… the twist ties from bread.)

To make the bows, cut a 2 ft or 3 ft length of the wire ribbon depending on how long you want the tails to be.   Make two loops and wrap a piece of wire around the middle to form the bow.  Wire the bows to the tree.

For a few dollars you can make enough to cover the entire tree.

If you have a few more dollars, pick up some Christmas floral picks and add them in between the bows like this:

I hope I’ve  inspired you to make some Christmas ornaments this year; either for your own tree, for your children for their future trees or to give as gifts to family and friends.    Join me again next month for more Christmas on a Budget ideas.

Past Christmas on a Budget Series posts can be found by clicking on these links:

Building Traditions

Two No-Sew Christmas Ideas

Buy Christmas Fabric Only When On Sale

Christmas Fabric – Part 2

Gifts for Less than $2 Each

Homemade Gift Tags

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