$25 Christmas Mantel

 This year I decided I didn't want to purchase anything new for my Christmas decorating.

It's easy to get caught up with all the pretty things at the stores,

but I wanted to see if I could save some money

and still create something new for my mantel

that anybody could create if they wanted to at a reasonable cost.

I dug through what I had

and most of what I did use was from yard sales or second hand stores:

• 2 pine cone candle holders = $2

• two brass candle stands with glass tops = $4

• tall gold with red glass candle holder = $2

• silver box used as a pedestal for little house = $1

• little houses after Christmas sale = $.25 each

• red vase = $1

• silver candle stands with red votive tops (purchased separately) = $4

• little trees from previous years, especially after Christmas sales = $2   (some of the trees I made using pieces of artificial evergreens that I snipped off and shaped and then painted with 2 parts white paint mixed with 1 part Plaster of Paris. I then glued these into old wooden spools from some of my grandmother's stash of thread I had used up.)

• wreath I made from our grape vines and decorated with pieces I got in a bag of greenery supplies at the charity store, ribbon I had from an after Christmas sale, moss ribbon, and a bird I made from home-made papier mache a few years back; the other two birds on the mantel were a $.25 purchase at the charity store.

• About 5 pieces of double-sided scrap-booking paper that I also found at a yard sale = $.25

• votive candles = $1

I figured out that with what I did have and the paint and crafting supplies I used,

excluding the mirror,

I had spent about $25 for my mantel decorations and supplies.

(That is taking into account that I also used a good part of the crafting supplies in creating things to sell:

the silver spray paint,

moss ribbon,

plaster of Paris,

glass glitter,

glue gun and sticks,

gold and white paint paint,

ribbon and heavy jute).

I created 9 new Christmas tree decorations from "junk",

like the silver ones shown above,

the cereal box trees I explained in a previous post,

these others with them that I will share in a couple of days,

 

and these mossy ones in this picture.

The greens in the vases I got from around the house:
pine, holly, white and silver spray-painted branches, and boxwood.

For the garland, I made some origami stars

and hung them from some heavy jute

(I hope to explain how to create them in the coming days).

 It is fun to create a few home-made decorations every year,

and the fact that it helps keep things in the budget makes it seem to sparkle just a little bit brighter.

Do you have any home-made decorations or tips you use in Christmas decorating?

I'd love to hear about them!

To see a picture of the  mantel in daylight,
you can see it in my previous post >HERE<.

Linking up to:

Wearethatfamily.com 

funkyjunkinteriors.net

Abowlfulloflemons.net

Simplykierste.com 

Firefliesandjellybeans.com 

Momontimeout.com 

Raisinghomemakers.com