CCE Update 3: Decorating on less than a dime

I guess this doesn’t technically have to do with cash, coupons and envelopes, but in a way it does because I am already seeing how my little cash-in-envelopes makes me really not want to spend our money!

So, I love seasonal decorating.  I’m too slow to do much Christmas decorating (meaning that by the time I get it up there it’s almost time to take it down!), but I like doing wintery things that I figure can stay up until early March.  So some of you may know that my favorite store on the planet is Anthropologie.  Basically think eccentric, hand-made, rich textures, vintage…and very very expensive.  I’ve actually never bought anything there for myself, but I like to look for inspiration.  The sad part is that I’m never quite as talented as my imagination hopes that I am.  Meaning, my projects end up looking like something an kindergartner brings home.  But I figure I’ll never get any better if I don’t try, right?  So, last time I was there they had these big art-pieces made out of pieces of sweaters sewn together.   I loved it.

So I wanted to decorate for Christmas/winter, but didn’t want to spend any money. Not a dime.  I had all these coupons to Michael’s, but if you’ll remember I swore I would never set foot in that place again (probably a bit rash), so anyway, my budget? $0. Now I had a headstart because I had this square wood 2″ frame that was 3′ x 3′. No back or anything, just a wood square.  I also had a bag of old sweaters that I was taking to goodwill.  Hmm…  Though they didn’t fit very well, I loved the colors and textures–winter white and icy winter turquoise, cable-knit, chunky sweaters.

So, out came the scissors! I cut off the sleeves, necks, zippers.  Sewed one white cable-knit into a pillow, and another turquoise chunky sweater into another pillow. Then, I cut up the rest of them into chunks, pieced them together like a funky quilt, sewed it all, stretched it over the square like a canvas, staple-gunned it into place, and stuck it all up on the mantel.  Then I found two big hurricane candleholder/vases and at mom and dad’s house I found an old paper bag filled with crocheted white Christmas ball ornaments my grandma had made eons ago. I filled one hurricane vase with those balls, up to the brim, then I took a long strand of tiny white Christmas lights we had (with the white cord) and shoved them into a big ball in the other lamp, hid the cord behind the sweater collage, and viola! the mantel was aglow with winter light.

Now, I don’t claim that it’s fit to be called artwork, and some of you may walk in and go, “Wow. You cut up sweaters and did a very poor job of sewing them together.”  But, I love my winter mantel, the frosty colors and the warm glow of my funky Christmas light hurricane lamp.  And I love that it didn’t cost me a cent!  My next project is to use antique-looking wrapping paper to Mod Podge the top of an old antique desk we have, then sand it down to look worn.   And finally, I’m having a crazy urge to highlight my own hair. Is this stupid?  I’d love your thoughts. What are some of your best creative zero-budget projects? I’d love some inspiration. And if you have advice for hair-coloring, send it along…