Decorate Creatively & Inexpensively for the Holidays with Fabric

 I love homemade Christmas decorations, especially when they look fabulous!

 Those of you who know me personally are probably chuckling to yourself about now.  Yes, it’s true that I’m not very creative.  However, I love texture and color, so there’s hope for me.

I’m also a “recovering perfectionist” so crafts that involved a lot of detail generally don’t work well in my home.

I remain convinced that I’m not the only mom on the planet who is missing that “creative gene”.  The good news is that there are plenty of “forgiving” decorations that are thrifty, family-friendly, re-usable and fun!

What could be more beautiful that a string of popcorn with cranberries?  They smell wonderful!  While no one really seems to know the origin of this tradition, and while I didn’t grow up doing it, I find it to be very satisfying and fun to do with the children.

I also love the look of it on the tree!

In the spirit of re-purposing, I’ll share a real cheapskate story with you.  One of the kids brought home an un-savable craft from school a week or so ago.  The craft had a ton of little bells and buttons on it, which I hated to dispose of along with the large piece of construction paper that they were glued to.

I kept the craft, keeping the bells in the back of my mind for another craft or project.

Then, over the weekend, I had this “burlap” mood come over me.  It occurred to me that burlap would look beautiful as a tree skirt, since we don’t have one this year.

Googling pictures of that led to pictures of burlap stockings and other gorgeous ideas!

After church on Sunday, I ran by the fabric store to check out the sale racks for burlap.  Not only did I find the burlap on sale, but I also found some glittery Christmas fabric on sale as well.

The first thing I wanted to make was burlap garland for the tree.  Bringing out the bells and buttons, we glued them onto yards and yards of burlap strips.

Fun, easy and forgiving!

I absolutely LOVE the way it looks on the tree!  It gives just the look I’ve wanted!  Nostalgic, rustic, primitive….love it.

I chose a lighter color burlap for under the tree.  Sure, I could probably sew a nice trim on it but I also think that it was fine alone.

Here’s a burlap runner (folded up here) with some sale ribbon curled and placed under the candle stick holders.

This two yard piece of sale fabric was bunched up with rubberbands and draped from our entertainment center.

I kept our mantel very simple this year, utilizing my ‘real’ lanterns, tins that will hold cookies for the neighbors, a few toys and sprigs of holly.  Good enough.

I don’t think making our homes festive has to cost a bundle, nor do I believe that we have to be particularly creative.  Using what you have, what your interests are and what you can find outside in terms of greenery can make a big difference!

*****

How have YOU been thrifty and creative with your holiday decorating?

Print PDF