Frugal Holiday Greenery

Rocks and dirt;  that's just what I want in the house!  Okay, I admit, I exaggerated a little bit.  I am not fond of having rocks and dirt in the house, but I do like having flowers and plants.  Even if one of my cats does like to eat them!  That would be my Garfield wannabe cat.  He LOVES to eat flowers and greens.

Since I know any flowers or greens will not last long, I hesitate to spend money on those types of pretty things.  Not only does my cat eat them, he makes a huge mess while doing so.  The stinker.

This year, I decided to add a little holiday greenery that won't irritate me when the cat destroys it. That means it has to be free.  And small, to minimize the clean-up process.  My little cutie pie greenery "bouquet" fits the bill.

I grabbed an old salsa jar (we go through a lot of salsa), some rocks and dirt from the yard, and left over winter grass seeds.

First, I filled the jar about half full with rocks.  Next, I put the dirt and grass seeds in an old pantyhose leg and tied it off.  This, I hope, will minimize the clean-up process when the kitty goes to town.  I finally added some water and waited a few days for the seeds to sprout.  Once the seeds sprouted, I added a little ribbon and a paper towel tube ornament to add a little sparkle.

When all was said and done, I think I ended up with a cute little holiday greenery "vase".  A sweet little whatnot that adds a little cheer.  

Homemade gifts

It's the beginning of December and I am already exhausted by the marketing teams.  Everywhere I go, I hear Christmas carols, see Christmas decorations and am assaulted by sales fliers.  My mailbox is overflowing with catalogs.  Radio and television stations have endless commercials encouraging me to shop.  If it's not Black Friday, it's Cyber Monday. Sales galore!  Shop, shop, shop.

Enough already!!  What happened to having a peaceful holiday to share with family and friends?  Why do I have to go into debt to make everyone happy?!  Oh wait, I don't!  

This year has been particularly annoying to me as far as the commercialization goes.  I do not want my teenage son to grow up thinking happiness can be purchased or that debt is a good thing.  However, I do wish to teach him that creativity can be fun and avoiding debt . . .  even better.  

On that note, it is time to create some gifts for family and friends that will not break the bank.  First up on the list; candles.  I love burning candles and go through many throughout the year.  My mother enjoys them just as much, which is why I chose this as our first creative gift giving project of the season.

My son and I stopped by our local Dollar Tree yesterday and found several items with which to work.  I love the Dollar Tree for crafting supplies!

 

We found candles, candle holders and lots of little doo-dads to use for decorating our gifts.  The first project is a candle decorated with shiny golden colored thumbtacks.

All that was needed for this project was a rubber band, candle and thumbtacks.  I simply placed the rubber band around the base of the candle to use as a guide.

Next, the thumbtacks were inserted into the candle, between the rubber band and the bottom.  The tacks overlap slightly, creating a nice little pattern.  Once all of the tacks were "inserted", the rubber band came off.  The final step was to rub a little bit of oil on the tack heads to give a little extra shine. I love shiny things!  Especially so when they include a happy fragrance, like vanilla.  (happy sigh)  Pure bliss!