My Holiday decorating tips.

I am no Holiday decorating pro, but I do enjoy it.  I thought I would share a weeks worth of how I go about planning my holiday decorations.

I always decorate on a budget and try to do it with as little money as possible; which requires getting creative.

I have it divided up in to 5 categories that I will share over this week.

1.  Use Pinterest and ideas from Magazines.

2.  Buy cheap and make it better.

3.  Use what you have and make it better.

4.  Think outside the box; get creative.

5.  Buy a few things you love.

So lets get started with #1:

I first started my holiday preparations by browsing my Christmas Pinterest board, Better Homes and Gardens site or magazine, and my holiday planner which is full of ideas.  I wrote down a few of my favorites and came up with a way to make them work on a budget.

Isn’t Pinterest sent straight from heaven?  It can be so helpful.

I will share the idea, the link, and what I came up with.

I found these Chalk board prints and then…

Chalkboard printables

found this idea for chalkboards on the tree:

Chalkboard ornaments

So I decided to combine the two together by printing the printables and hanging them on my tree:

 

I also decided to make a few of my own chalkboard prints…

to hang on the tree and also place around the house.

Want to print them? Click on the images to download.

I used these free graphics when making them.

I loved this Merry Christmas banner I found strung on the tree:

Banner on the tree

So I collected letters from the dollar spot at Target and scrapbooks stores and made lots of them but in a smaller versions for my tree:

My kiddos helped me with this.

I also fell in love with these blue and green trees on BHG.  I knew those colors would look great in my house:

I used these colors on my tree this year; on a budget, of course(more on this later.)

I saw this in Better Homes and Gardens while I was at the dentist:

Gingerbread house city

I knew I could recreate it by buying a gingerbread kit and using the glass jars that I already had on my counter for flour and sugar:

 

This is probably one of my favorite additions to the holiday decorating.

I wanted my new stockings made by my sister to have our names on them.  I saw this:

Stockings

This is my version:

I used velvet ribbon, glitter letters left from my banners,and an acrylic stamp set I had on hand.

I loved this print:

Rudolph

So I made my own:

Want this one too? Click on the image.

I fell in love with this wreath:

Gold Wreath

I already had a pinecone wreath on hand, so I just spruced mine up with some white spray paint and small gold balls:

Ok.  Now get to it.  Go browse Pinterest and see what you can come up with.

To see more of my holiday decorations go here.