no-budget christmas decor: popsicle sticks!

popsicle stick crafts bring to mind kindergarten camp crafts, don't they? but i think they get a bad rap. they're pretty ingenious & versatile little things. case in point: this adorable little winter sled ornament that my husband made in sunday school in... wait for it... 1986.
[i love that someone thought to write the year on it- he was 5, i would be 3.]

cute right? and has clearly endured the test of time despite being made out of literally nothing more than popsicle sticks & what looks like some hot glue.

there's actually a lot to like about popsicle sticks: their woodenness. their paint-ibility. their wood stain-ibility. the fact that they come in every size from tiny almost-appetizer-mini-stick to giant tongue depressors. and most of all? they are dirt cheap. and so they definitely are on my list this year of no-budget christmas crafts.

i'm going to church them up & start calling them crafts sticks so i can stop picturing the sticky, slobbery mess that is a popsicle stick after my 3 year old eating a popsicle.
so i picked up a pack of large ones [ for $2.50 at wal-mart], medium sized ones [150 for $1 at the dollar tree, & i had some mini ones on hand from a nativity project last year. ]
i saw so many of the cutest ideas on pinterest... little christmas trees, angels, snowmen, & mangers for the nativity. i settled on making some little angels as ornaments/gift toppers for the angel-loving ladies in my life. they turned out so cute i made an extra one for myself & one to hang on my neighbor's door with a snowflake cookie!
i used one of my daughter's toy tinkerbells to trace the wing shape onto cardboard [a fruit snacks box] & then used a glue stick to cover it with book pages & hymn music pages. then i painted the sticks to use for her dress, cut her arms & legs to size [half a mini stick] & hot glued it all together! i used a little 1" flat wooden circle for her head, & a little squirt of glitter glue for her halo.
the first one turned out a little big, so i ended up cutting the large sticks in half to make shorter, fatter angels! the stars are from a pack of glitter foam stickers that i found at walmart with the craft sticks, although if i make these again i'd use a wooden shape.
i love these because there's so many ways you could do them! they're like little paper dolls when you're putting them together. the little ballet-flat feet are totally my favorite part:

other no-budget christmas decor ideas:

paper star tree topper

framed letters

paper snowflakes

candy canes

jute & ruffle wreath

no budget christmas decor: star tree topper!

never underestimate the power of cardstock to make something cool out of basically nothing. or scrapbooking paper to add a pretty print on the cheap. or modge podge to add a little strength to your paper-made thing & a shiny finish to make it look, well, not so on the cheap!

my favorite tree topper from target broke last year, so i was on the lookout for something quick & easy to replace it with this year. this project did take a little time, but it was easy & completely free! i found a lovely free printable template thanks to pretty & cozy that i decided was definitely worth a try, & came together so nicely i decided to fancy it up with some book pages & modge podge. i LOVE how it turned out!

i printed the template on cardstock, cut it out & hot glued it together per the tutorial. then i added a dollar tree party hat as the cone that keeps it on the tree. here's how it looked all glued together:
& here's how it looked a hundred years later [not really, but man it did feel like it took awhile!] when i finally got it all decoupaged... i glue stick-ed some green construction paper onto the cone so it would blend into the tree. that was a quick fix since family was coming over to dinner that night, but i felt like it was a little lackluster on the tree.
and, you know, crooked. gotta fix that.

i'm crazy about how the book pages look, but i do admit it seems like a star tree topper should be a tad more sparkly... even my hubby asked if i could add some glitter to it. keep in mind, if my manly-man glitter-hating hubby says it needs more sparkle, it needs more sparkle.
so back to the ever-trusty dollar tree for some tinsel garland [9 feet for a buck. yay!] & i glued it around the edge of the star. i also added little leaf shapes cut from dark green felt so that the base blended more into the tree. totally, completely LOVE.
yet again, my amazing hubs was right. now i just have to figure out how to store it for next year without it getting completely squished. any ideas?

no-budget christmas decor! framed letters.

remember these large & cheap frames i found at goodwill a while back? [& by cheap i mean cheap. 11x14ish frames for $1.50 each!]
i originally planned to use 4 of them to hang silhouettes cut from paper, one for each member of our family. i did a little distressing to the white frames with sandpaper, and glued down a mix of book pages, french pages & old hyms directly onto the cardboard backing [super easy with spray adhesive!].
i stuck the ill-fated silhouettes directly on the book pages as the background. the silhouettes of the kids turned out absolutely adorable, but the ones of hubs & i were, well, let's just say less than flattering.

on to plan b: i cut out some letters from red scrapbooking paper to spell 'noel.'
the contrast is great & i absolutely love how the frames, well, frame the large mirror! fills up a lot of empty dining room wall space in a lovely, inexpensive way.
and when christmas is over, any 4 letter word will work! (haha). i'm thinking 'home' or even 'love' for around valentine's.

have you framed anything a little unexpected recently?

here are the other no-budget christmas decor ideas:

paper snowflakes

candy canes

jute & ruffle wreath

no-budget christmas decor! candy canes.

to me, nothing beats red & white for christmas. it's just so classic, and so clean & graphic & typifies the season. more specifically... a candy cane. when you see a candy cane, you just can't help but think christmas!
i love cheap decorating with candy canes. i bought 3 boxes at wal-mart, 98 cents each for 12 candy canes. [i love bob's brand because they're just the right shape, color, and mintiness, if you decide to eat them after decorating!]

there's only one rule when it comes to decorating with candy canes... when in doubt, keep adding more. eventually there will be enough to make it look more like you did it on purpose & not like your toddler has been stashing them about the house.

really, you can do no wrong. mason jar + candy cane = insta-christmas-y & cute!
i originally wanted to make a bajillion paper snowflakes & hang them with candy canes until they obliterated the boring-builder light fixture in our dining room. unfortunately, the thing hangs so low that the face-smacking risk was high, so instead i stuck them in the hanging chain until i felt it was sufficiently covered. again, not crafty rocket science, but a little cute & colorful for a light fixture that i'm trying to ignore how much i dislike it.

boring light fixture:
light fixture with a little christmas spirit!
other fun things to do with candy canes: glue them around your candles or a wreath, or just set them in a vase.
all of the above also goes for little round peppermints: throw them in a bowl with some ornaments as a quick centerpiece
you could even use your friend the humble candy cane to make a gift! here's an idea. the dollar tree has some very plain, simple glass hurricanes/vases in the perfect height and shape for using with candy canes! all it takes is one vase, candy canes, hot glue, & a bit of ribbon.

just set the glass level on the table so that the candy canes are all even- you want it to still sit flat even with the candy canes around the bottom. then gently glue them hook-side down with a long strip of hot glue.
glue them all the way around, spacing carefully, until your vase is covered.
add a bit of ribbon & you're ready to use it as a centerpiece or give it as a gift to your favorite hostess-y homemaker! this one cost me all of about $4 to make, including putting a candle in it.
you could give it with a candle in it, or even some pretty red flowers. i've also seen it done with the hooks pointing upwards like this:

here's the full list of no-budget christmas decor ideas so far:

paper snowflakes