Decorate for the Holidays on a Budget.

You can save a lot of money by purchasing a few cans of metalic spray paint and revitalizing old decorations or gathering dead leaves, pods and other interesting foliage from your yard. The first photo is (I hate to admit this) made with a palm that I placed in the back room and forgot to water. The rest is an antique tea kettle, weeds from along the highway and silk flowers I had plus a few poppy pods. Cost about $1.00.

Branches from the bottom of my Christmas tree, old vases and dried things from my yard plus wild wheat make the two arrangements. The caroling scene is my normal diningroom centerpiece, some cones and dried plants. I will get several more arrangements out of the can of paint so cost continues to be $1.00 per arrangement.

A cloth bowl filled with gold curling ribbon and sprayed cones.

Below is my old Victorian wreath. Another coat of paint and a ribbon and it will be a new wreath. This is made of silk, plastic and dried things. Since it was old and headed for the garbage the cost will be about $2.00 as I bought nothing. These items are also much nicer when you actually see them. The photographs are also taken at various stages of completion.

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My old dried roses! A bit of wild wheat! A few sprays of berries bought on sale for 5 for a dollar! My daughter's pitcher and a bow taken off of a flower arrangement. Cost about $1.60. I also spray painted my old christmas ornaments a few years ago when I decided to have my tree in gold and crystal. Baskets spray up nicely and can be used for holiday arrangements or gift giving. Go dig in your old treasures and you will be surprised at what you can do. I even sprayed and an old wicker basket and a garbage can gold for the bathroom. Since someone gave them to me the cost was a can of paint. No old vases? You can remove lables and spray bottles, jars and tin cans. Try some old plastic fruit. I used wooden skewers to place cones and plastic fruit and ornaments in some of the arrangements I gave away. How about spraying old things for tying on your packages? I'm going to do some things from around my house in gold for the packages. You can even spray old cloth bows to match.