EZ Smeazy Decorating on a Budget

I love decorating for the holidays - all of them - but I don't have a lot of money to blow in my budget. So, I look for simple ways to decorate without spending much (or any) money.

This is one way to make centerpieces without spending any money at all.

I walk around the neighborhood picking up pinecones and interesting pods and pieces that I can spraypaint.

Then I arrange them in a clear bowl with some beads and ornaments I have laying around the house.

It's so pretty, simple and (best of all) it doesn't cost a penny.

Sew-EZ Stockings to Hang by the Chimney With Care

I love stockings filled with candy and fruit. Nowadays we add little nick-knacks and goodies galore. I've made lots of them over the years. This is the one I made for Lars our first year together - because in the Danish tradition - he never had one.


Then when we had our first child, I wanted something for him. I always loved Mary Engelbriet's patterns, "sew" I made a stocking for Jacob.

side two:

I took each of the kids to the fabric store and let them pick out fabric to make pillow cases for each other. And, Luke always loved animals 'sew' this is the fabric Jake picked for his brother and I decided to make a stocking too - since there was left over material.


Kara wanted a store-bought stocking (not pictured here because it would put my handiwork to shame) - but I made a couple more just in case she ever changed her mind:




It was my Mom who taught me to make stockings (and she never used a pattern-sew way should I?). It was a year (and there were probably lots of them) when she didn't have much money to buy presents (9 kids-no surprise they didn't have much money to spend on gifts) 'sew' she decided to make them. She pulled out the felt, and sequins and started sewing. She was up until three in the morning putting little handcrafted cutouts on the socks. If you look close you'll see the blue jingle bell hanging on the toe.

I still have that stocking she made for me, more than forty years ago. And I hang it up every year (using a little more of that care than with these newby socks that I've made).

I didn't always find much inside that stocking, sometimes only a piece of fruit and hard candy (but there was always a candy cane). By today's standards, our Christmas presents were meager but I've always loved that stocking and especially the memories it brings back every year.


(If you want to make a stocking, just sketch out the look of what you want on newspaper, cut it out and use it as your "pattern" - it's sew EZ.)

Lowfat Yogurt and Granola - Yummy..licious

Just layer granola and lowfat yogurt like a parfait into a clear bowl - set it on a cake stand and Whoo-Hoo fancy food and low calorie too! It tastes so much better when it's pretty.

I served peach yogurt. My husband likes his yogurt plain, but not me--I'm a fancy food fiend.

Plus, I could have pulled out my pastry bags to pipe the yogurt into the bowl but I just used a ziploc baggy and cut off the tip - EZ, cheap, and food fast.

This is a fun way to serve food on a weekend when you have guests - like during the holidays. I had this on Thanksgiving weekend.

Christmas Tabletoppers and Show Stoppers

It's "sew" EZ to go to a fabric store, pick out some pretty fabric and make your own green-velvet or red cotton tablecloth. Then take a few ornaments put them in a clear-glass bowl and string some garland around the table: WAH-LAH a Happily Homemade Christmas

Plus, I'm lucky to have a couple holly trees in my yard and a cedar too. So all it takes is a walk around the house, to gather the goods for my centerpiece. But you could gather other items and probably come up with something more creative than me. Just take a walk around your house and see what you come up with.

And for another angle:

Edible Snowmen-EAT Without the Fear of Yellow Snow

Yumilicious Little Men Made from Meringue

Okay maybe they look more like ghosts than snowmen but it was my first attempt - so at least I have a fancy food idea for next Halloween.

All it takes is three egg whites and 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar. You heat the sugar and egg whites over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

And then you whip it until it forms little peaks (about 3-5 minutes).

Then you plop dollops onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet.

And bake at 175 for one hour and thirty minutes. WAH-LAH! Little snowmen you can stack together and decorate with cranraisins - if you want red little ghosty eyes, or chocolate chips if you want snowmen. I also added a little almond extract to my mixture - for some added flavoring, but you could add lemon, orange or peppermint-whatever suits you.

If you want to find more fun reading, hop over here.

A Very Danish Christmas - Advent and All

Just starting to load up the calendars with the 24 days of Christmas...presents!





You can find some more crafty ideas here

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