My sister and I are obsessed with Christmas. It’s pretty ridiculous, actually. But, neither of us had a lot of money this year, so we devised a plan to decorate our apartment for cheap! We spent less than $30 on new decorations/supplies. Everything else we had on-hand. Here are some photos:

These are two wreaths I made using vintage milk bottle caps, some flowers/leaves from Prima and some gems (oh, and a heckulva lot of hot glue).

Here’s our Christmas tree. It’s an artificial one because Em had it already and we didn’t want to spend money on a real one this year. A third of our ornaments are handmade. Some are vintage (we got to raid Grandpa’s stash) and some are new. We used bead strands instead of garland. The countdown to Santa was a Secret Santa gift I got last year. It’s adorable. Next year, I need to buy or make an Advent calendar (after all, Jesus is the reason for the season). Then, at the foot of our tree next to the presents is a wine bottle light. I got it at a craft fair last year, but it would be super easy to make one yourself – it’s an empty wine bottle (I have plenty laying around here), put a short strand of Christmas lights in the bottle and decorate the neck of the bottle with ribbon, wraffia, and other little trinkets. Next year, I’m making a bunch of them!

I also wanted to make a Christmas banner. I’ve just recently started making banners and They are ohhhh-so-fun. I mostly use items from some Kenner Road kits, but also included some of my scrappy stash and vintage treasures. Here are some close-ups:

Let’s not forget about paper chains. Who says they’re just for kids? I used cardstock and papers from Cosmo Cricket and a fabulous transparency from Hambly. I included three li’l “ornaments” that fell from the swoops of the chain. Each one is circular and has a vintage milk bottle cap, a button, a felt shape and a gem.

There were plenty of other decorations, but I don’t have pictures of it all. Hope you had a fabulous Christmas. Happy New Year!