Treehugger Christmas decorating!

So, I'm going for a no (/low) spend Christmas. Novel idea huh. I should probably give you a bit of background as to why.  I just finished reading The Book of Thrift by India Knight and Through the Eye of a Needle by John-Paul Flintoff, both of which encourage a more self sufficient make it yourself lifestyle, and I've got the bug. Id really recomend both. Quite light reading, but with a lot of interesting ideas.

So far, we've discussed the tree. (In the end I opted to keep my fake tree and get as much use out of that before I move to a bigger house and need a second tree- when I'll hopefully grow my own!)  We've also discussed  home made presents. (I will show you what I make a little later on- I cant give away my ideas lest the intended recipients read this!)  Now it comes to decorating my home....

It is my opinion, that for maximum christmassification (yes its a word) in the home, nothing beats garden greenery. This enterprising idea was shown to me by my auntie P, the queen of making luxurious interiors with a less than luxurious budget. I dutifully pulled on my wellies and trudged around my overgrown garden, battling bugs and little scratches and even bird poo (!) to collect my carefully chosen garden greenery*.

I gave it a good shake outdoors and let it dry out in the hall before piling it on to my mantle piece. I then tied little bits of red gingham fabric (from my stash) around some of the branches, and put some jam jars in the mix, each with some red gingham fabric tied to the rim, And voila! An almost free and lovely looking Christmas mantle. (The fake red berries were bought from a pound shop last year- without them it would have been totally free!)

Do you remember the fabric garland I made with my sister in law on Friday, cherries? I made the garland by cutting up my scraps of fabric into little circles, then folding them into semi circles and threading them onto a piece of string. Well, I was so enamoured with this little technique that I used it again to make a paper wreath and garland. I interspersed the newspaper circles with some spare white cupcake cases I had in my cupboard, which I flattened before folding in half and threading to the garland.

I completed my mantle display by threading my stash of round vintage doilies onto a piece of string and hanging it above my fireplace. Again I had all the materials to hand as I happen to be a hoarder with a penchant for good string and attractive doilies. Above my doily bunting is yet another garland, this time made fromare some ikea Christmas ornaments I bought in the sales last year. Each set of 6 cost me 50p, and I just re strung them with red gingham fabric and threaded them onto a length of string.

The fabric garland hangs underneath my mantle...

My paper wreath now proudly adorns my front door, along with a ‘welcome’ borrowed from a much loved box of scrabble.

The paper garland hangs accross the windows in my lounge- alongside the paper chains I made on Friday.

...and this is how they started. I used a wire coat hanger for the wreath, and recyled the sunday papers.

(Update!- Oops forgopt to show you a picture of the full mantle- here it is!)

I have really enjoyed making all of this. Each idea is incredibly simple and FREE! I really have the Christmas bug at the moment, so there is no doubt that more home- made decorations will be made, and probably blogged about too, over the next few days.

Happy Christmas tree hugging! (but watch those pine needles!)
Hannah x

* make sure what your picking is in abundance or overgrowing, don’t chop down a neighbours beloved bush!