Christmas Presents II

My stack of presents for people has slowly been getting bigger. I leave for Norcal on Monday, so I'm "wrapping" things up. I did end up spending some money. I guess even if you make things, you usually have to buy the materials. And other things seemed so perfect for people, yet not readily home-makable.
But of the presents I did make by hand, I had a lot of fun with them, and definitely increased my own holiday spirit. Especially fun was gift wrapping with newspaper, and glitter. Glitter is just so
. . . wonderful.


7. handmaking gifts
8. glitter


(It's snowing in Portland!)

Christmas Presents I

I guess I won't go into too much detail (in case family members look at this), but Christmas present
gathering has been good so far.
I believe I have spent a total of $15 so far, and have almost everyone's ready. Although, this isn't accounting for the gifts I acquired through work.
Does this count as spending? I'm just going to take the cost out of my paycheck.

On the other hand, I have composed the rest with lots of free items, for example- used jelly jars, old yarn, and even a pretty weed I saw outside.

Last week, a friend had a Craftapalooza or Craft-tastic something-or-other, where we made crafty Christmas presents. I made some homemade wrapping paper with potato stamps. I was skeptical, but it worked out fine.

Decorations!

. . . are so much fun!
I have never bought a Christmas tree, live or artificial, so every year seems to come out different.

I was inspired by the movie Elf, which has been playing on repeat on TV for several days. Will Farrell's character (Elf?) decorates everything he comes in contact with, covering rooms with snowflakes. All he uses is plain white paper.

Here are some snowflakes made with recycled paper. Of course, not as fabulous as Will Farrel's, but holiday-like, still.









After rummaging through our recycle bin and experimenting with several materials (tin cans,
flattened cereal boxes, travel cup lids, plastic grocery bags), cardboard coffee holders turned out to make the best ornaments. I just needed scissors and masking tape.




This is a little maple tree I bought at a farmer's market in October, when it had a few, pretty red leaves. Now it's basically just a stick.
But, I have bombarded it with more recycled ornaments!
Now it is festive enough to elicit ooh's and ah's from the apartment manager's four-year-old. If that's not Christmas, what is?!







What have I learned:
1. While all the colors of the rainbow can make a really good Christmas tree, there is still something about Red and Green.
2. It does help to have cheesy Christmas music on while decorating (and it can be free, on the radio).
3. Less is more. Before the maple tree, I collected a bunch of sticks and tried to mold them into a tree shape, with yarn. It was really more spooky than festive. Meanwhile the little maple tree was waiting outside.
4. The above applies to ornament-making as well. The more simple and quick, the better. Otherwise, all December, you will be trying to admire things that were time-consuming, and probably a little frustrating.


6. Decorating with recycled stuff.