This is the place to take a break and think about the Fun Stuff.

I'll be posting things here mostly about how to achieve a lot of creativity for very little money.

Greening Up The Holidays - Beautiful Recycling for Christmas

With the weather turning colder and money getting even tighter than before, a lot of us are spending more time at home and are wishing there were more inexpensive ways to enjoy this time of the year. Why not take this opportunity to warm up the holiday season by doing some creative recycling?

Doing projects together that are simple and fun brings everyone closer and recycling helps to teach that basic values are important and not everything needs to be bought ready-made at the store.

The Countdown Chain

This is so simple. Get out last year’s wrapping paper and cut some 1.5” x 6” strips. Make a ring by gluing the ends of one strip with a glue stick or tape and then link on more strip/rings the same way until your chain has enough loops to count off the days before Christmas. My daughter used to love the ritual of tearing off a link each night before she went to bed. If you want to get extra creative and teach a little fascinating math trick, try making each link a moebius strip instead of a plain loop. Just give the strip a half twist before gluing the ends and watch their eyes light up as they trace along and find that the loop now has only one surface!

Paper Snowflakes

These are fun to hang with thread or string, tape on the windows, or even use to decorate gift packages. The simplest way is to fold a square of paper into quarters and snip away. Then unfold and, voila! You can get fancier and experiment with fan-folding the paper before cutting and see what happens. Since real snowflakes have six sides, I needed to look up the instructions for folding because I could never remember exactly how to do it. A great resource for six-sided paper snowflakes is http://highhopes.com/snowflakes.html. It’s very clear and has photos, too. The important thing is to have fun.

Homemade Curly Ribbon

Don’t have just the right ribbon for a certain gift package or you are bored with regular ribbon? Not to worry. Just using some of the same paper let’s you create a unique ‘bow’ that sets the gift apart in a very nice way. Cut a strip of paper about 12” x 18” long and fold it in half lengthwise to measure 6” x 18”. Then snip the long cut edge (not the folded edge) into ¼” strips to within about an inch from the fold. It’s the same as when you used to make paper eyelashes when you were little. Roll or fold the strip up and tape the folded edge together. Then you can curl the little strips just like curly ribbon. It makes a great package topper that coordinates perfectly.

Do-It-Yourself Gift Bag Filler

Shredded tissue is costly. Years ago I bought an inexpensive paper shredder and started shredding my own. It works! A pack of tissue paper sheets is relatively cheap (dollar stores are a good source) and if you fold 2 or 3 sheets together you can run them through the shredder. I’ve found you need that little bit of bulk. Individual sheets don’t feed through very well. And if you really want to be cost effective, use the junk mail advertising circulars. They make a colorful packing material for gift bags or baskets and you are keeping them out of the trash and the landfills.

Painted Light Bulbs

Instead of throwing away old, burnt out light bulbs, turn them into something special! I put a basecoat of water-based stained glass paint on first and then paint them with acrylic craft paints. Paint the metal base, too. You can add squiggles and dots of contrasting paint or glitter. Whatever inspires you is perfect. Wrap the base with wire or pipe cleaners and they’re ready to hang as ornaments. Or stick the wires into a floral foam base covered with moss and make a grouping. You can also make felt or paper ‘tops’ to cover the base. Do a google search for ‘painted light bulbs’ and you’ll see lots of creative ornaments made from them to use as an inspiration.

Feed The Birds

Stringing popcorn has always been a family tradition. Make sure you pop extra for snacking! But after Christmas why not recycle the strands for the birds to enjoy? Put your popcorn strings on a bush outside and pretty it up even more by adding orange slices tied with ribbon and bits of brightly colored yarn left over from gift wrappings. You can also make it more special by smearing peanut butter into pinecones and rolling them in birdseed. What a treat!

Use your imagination and open your heart to even more projects. ‘Tis the season to make a difference!

Decorating Cheaply

A No-Mar Wallpaper Substitute

Do you live in an apartment or rental home and are bored to tears over bland eggshell-painted walls that your lease states you cannot paint? No problem. Here’s the secret: Plain old liquid starch is your friend and can be used for lots of decorating projects. Think of it as wallpaper paste that isn’t permanent on your walls.

This wallpaper substitute with fabric and starch is especially good for kid’s rooms and bedrooms:

You’ll need:

String and chalk to snap even vertical and horizontal guidelines

Fabric to cover your walls (remember that fabric is almost twice as wide as wallpaper)

Sta-Flo Liquid starch, 64 oz. bottle (usually around $1)

Cheap woven craft ribbon (optional)

2 or 3” paint brush or big sponge (I use a big square one made for smoothing wallpaper)

Straightedge something like a popsicle stick

Nice sharp craft knife

Measure your walls for what you’d like to wallpaper. It may be an entire wall, just the bottom half, or even just one accent wall in a room. Then head out to your local fabric or craft store and rummage around in the sale bins of fabric (I like to look in the $1/yd section). Look for broadcloth used for quilting or any fairly sturdy, non-stretch, close-weave fabric in a pattern that just grabs you. I’ve found small prints that don’t have a definite repeat work really well because you won’t have to spend a lot of frustrating time trying to match the design. Or even use a solid color in a spectacular shade.

Buy enough fabric with a yard or two extra for good measure. You may need it and, if you don’t, you’ll have the extra for accent pillows. You can even get one or two coordinating fabrics to customize your room with pillow covers and curtains (pressure rods are easy and don’t mar the window frames) if you have a sewing machine and can do basic straight stitching.

Take the time to use the chalk line to mark your first guidelines. It will definitely save you from a headache later. Cut your fabric about 4 – 6 inches longer than the finished size. Pour some liquid starch into a bucket and, with the brush or sponge, spread an even layer over the section of wall you’ll be starting on. Smooth the fabric onto the wall leaving a bit at the top and bottom. Then use the brush or sponge to apply a liberal amount of starch all over the fabric. Make sure it’s smooth and straight but take care not to stretch the cloth. Squeeze out the sponge and use it to really work the fabric flat against the wall. Use the straightedge to make sure there is a good contact at the top and bottom but don’t try to trim it while it’s wet. Just like with wallpaper, start over with a new piece at the corners of the room to get a professional, clean look.

Laugh and wipe the starch off your arms and then continue applying and smoothing sections of fabric around the room. Let it all dry until it starts to feel nice and stiff and then you can use the craft knife to trim along the ceiling and baseboards. If you find an area that isn’t sticking the way you like it, just reapply some more starch. Any excess starch on the ceiling or trim can easily be washed off with water.

Now stand back and pat yourself on the back for how really great it looks! If you want, you can apply craft ribbon with the same starch method over the cut edges or anywhere you want an accent.

You did it! You let your imagination soar and you now have a beautiful transformation at a fraction of the cost of expensive wallpaper. Plus, you can enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that this whole incredible reflection of your taste and talent can easily be peeled off and all it will take to restore the wall to it’s original blank canvas condition is a little soap and water.

Décor Magic with Paper Napkins

These projects are so simple and relatively inexpensive but the end results are amazing and look like much higher priced designer effects. Just take a trip to your local discount party supply store and browse the paper napkin section. You’ll find lots of beautiful patterns there and it’s great fun to search through them with an eye for interior design.

You’ll need:

Paper napkins in your choice of color and pattern

Sta-Flo Liquid starch, 64 oz. bottle (usually around $1)

2 or 3” paint brushes and/or a sponge

rubber stamps and ink (optional if you want to get really fancy)

can of water soluble Polycrylic clear finish (optional)

These wall borders will not damage paint and can easily be removed by peeling them off and washing the wall:

To figure how many napkins you’ll need, measure the diameter of your room and divide it by the size of an open napkin. Most decorative paper napkins have a border all the way around and, unless you want a really huge border, I find that half a napkin with the end border sections trimmed off works very well for a border with the plain edge up at the ceiling edge of the wall and the long border at the bottom. The napkins are usually two or three ply. Moisten your finger to lift the printed layer away from the back at a corner and carefully peel them apart. You’ll only use the one ply top layer. If your wall is painted a color other than eggshell or white, you may want to use one of the white backing layers as well to keep your border’s color bright.

Pour some liquid starch in a little bucket and use a paintbrush or sponge to apply a layer of starch on a section of the wall. Smooth the napkin onto the wall working from one side to the other gently so as not to tear the napkin. A gentle dabbing motion with the brush or sponge works well. If there are a few wrinkles, don’t worry about it. The paper is thin enough that it will appear to become one with the surface of the wall and the few creases add an old world character. Just try to keep the edges as even as you can. Once the napkin is stuck in place give it another coat of starch and move onto the next section, working your way around the room. Excess drips and swipes of starch can easily be cleaned off with water. Let dry thoroughly. If you desire, you can take your personalization one step further by rubber-stamping designs onto the plain sections of the napkins.

For walls, borders are not the only creative endeavor to do with napkins. Go around door and window frames as an accent. Try making a faux chair rail (it’s a good idea to snap a chalk line first for a nice straight guideline). Or create square or rectangular “frames” on the wall to accent sconces or to surround a grouping of photos or pictures.

Now that you’ve got the hang of working with starch and thin paper napkins you can move on to trying your hand at a shortcut version of decoupage. Plain wicker trays are wonderful to decorate. Merely put a good coat of starch over the surface and cover it with the one ply of the napkins. By gently dabbing with a soft brush, you can work the paper into the wicker nicely. Once again, put another layer of starch over the top. Let dry thoroughly and then apply three coats of Polycrylic, letting dry between coats. This gives you a nice protective waterproof surface and spills can be wiped up with a damp sponge.

The uses for this type of decorating are limited only by your imagination. Not long ago, I found an old gray metal typing table in a thrift store. The top was scratched and stained so I used acrylic paint on the edges of the top and the flip down sides and then used the decoupage technique on the flat surfaces using guest towel type paper napkins I had on hand. Now I’ve got a functional retro piece that I can conveniently wheel around.

This method is so easy and inexpensive you’ll be searching for other things to decorate for your home and for personalized gifts as well. Thrill and amaze your family and friends and always have fun with your creativity!