Holiday decorating! My holiday decorating is minimal but festive and reusable from year to year. I skip any tree. Buying a live tree is expensive and kills a tree and buying artificial is introducing more plastic into your home. I simply lay some lcd lights on my mantle each year which brightens the living room on these long winter evenings.

Then yesterday I make a wreath I LOVE from random green items I got at the Habitat store and our recycled craft store. The items I picked were zippers, crayons, army men, a tie, mardi gras beads, wooden blocks, marbles, puzzle pieces, plastic clothespins, plastic fruit, bottle caps and cookie cutters. I bought a cheap twig wreath that had very fake leaves for $1 from the Habitat store and using wire cutters removed the fake foliage.

This would be a wonderful craft to do with kids. It took a little over an hour w/ my hot glue gun. Best of all it is 100% reused materials.

 I am also making homemade holiday cards again. Here is my design this year. Each card takes about 15 minutes and again, all materials I got from the recycled craft store! For the cards I use a carpet needle which gives a bigger hole and is curved so it doesn't poke your finger with each thrust. I work on a folded cloth napkin on top of an old book. Work from the backside. Mine are all freehand but you can find a million templates for snowflakes if you google "snowflake template". Happy holidays