In Dollar Stretcher today:  Crafting Without Spending Money

This would be a good time to start a new thread for ideas of what to use for supplies for Christmas Projects, Holiday Projects and school projects without putting out lots of money for expensive items like Michael's might sell.

Here are some old ideas:

1. Pasta glued and painted and sprinkled with glitter to make ornaments.

2. Pine cones painted, then wired up for hanging. Also little ones can be used for wreaths

3. Seed pods can also be done the same as for Pine cones.

4. Paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls: Cover with pretty fabric, with a yellow or orange pipe cleaner bend it into flame shape and glue into the top. Make a hanger from thread, paper clip or wire and hang up. Also the tube can be a body shape to make into a doll that looks like a Caroler. Use scrap fabric to make it up.

5. Aluminum foil. Make a raised design with something, like pasta glued onto cardboard, press aluminum foil over the top, glue felt on the back, and hang up.

Look around you house and see what you have in the recycle bin that could be used for crafts. Jar lids, those hooks that socks get hung on in stores, rubber bands, boxes, etc., all things that with some glue, paints, thread, and wire could be made into gifts and ornaments.

Do you have some ideas for using things like this?  Edey

 I have a box in the closet where I stash things that might be useful. I have a couple of those cones that cotton thread comes on - they remind me of Christmas trees so I'll probably use them for that. I have popsicle sticks, mylar pouches, florist's tape, wooden beads, feathers... and I'm sure there's more that I can't think of right now. When I get that urge, I pull it out and find something to do with some of it. 

My problem is that 4 paws, a pair of beautiful blue eyes, and 10 pounds of wiggliness wants to be in the middle of whatever I am doing. It doesn't matter if I'm trying to cook or do crafts/needlework.

It's times like that I truly can see little horns covered in diamond dust holding up a lopsided halo on a precious little face.

I would be lost without this kitty !

I saw a needlepoint canvas once that said DULL WOMEN HAVE IMMACULATE HOMES.

My friends in a group on the Ravelry Forum say that their pets "help" them just like Aurora helps me.

Mom used to grow extras of things like okra for floral arrangements. She'd dry them and spray them.

I saw a wreath at the nursing home recently made out of Sweet Gum Balls that had been spray painted red, white, and blue.

I had a couple of aunts who would spray paint weeds, thislte, etc. in differing colors, then arrange them nicely in pitchers.  They were wonderful any time of year, but I seem to recall they were first done in early fall.

Shapes cut out of felt by tracing around cookie cutters, then stitched together with some padding to create ornaments.  If you have the fancy cutters, you could use floss or string to embroider a design in a single or multiple colors.  This would be a great place to use up some of those plastic sock hangers that have no arms. 

Chenille stems bent and twisted to make reindeer antlers on candy canes, two little wiggle eyes attached.  Great to put in a mug as a stirrer with a homemade cocoa mix.

Jar or bottle lids can be washed out and used as frames for a family picture -- decorate at will but be sure the year is put on the ornament for posterity!  I first saw this with the old waxed cardboard bottle caps, but nothing wrong with salsa jar lids either!  Those small bottles of Starbucks Frappucinos look like the old milk bottles and the metals lids are about the same size.  This might also be a use for used canning jar lids (without rings) that you don't want to use a second time.

I've seen walnut shells that have been halved perfectly hollowed out and used as "beds" for tiny wooden craft mice, hung by a piece of yarn.

BTW, I loved the story about the teal sweater being taken apart and something new made with the yarn.

Crocheting lace around the edge of a handkerchief or embroidering an initial for someone.  We used to pick one thing, and by the time you did it several times, you were pretty proficient with it.  It also kept our small hands busy making something as a gift for someone or several someones in the family!

99 days until Christmas. 

I made a pinecone christmas tree for my dad when I was about 4; I'm almost 30 and he still has it.  It's stored in a tin can now to keep it safe.  DD and I go walking sometimes to look for pinecones; once we find a good one or two (or more!), we'll turn them into tiny christmas trees.  My grandma used chenille wires and red and white beads to make candy cane ornaments for the tree.  Those were pretty and we have some of the supplies already around the house.  I was thinking of turning more christmas cards from years past into boxes and then using the mini-boxes as ornaments on the tree this year.  DD will make several things in preschool to bring home for decorating the house, too.

Edey:

Do you have some ideas for using things like this?

December, 1949, was my parents first Christmas married. They did not have much money, and Christmas was fast approaching. I don't remember what kind of tree they bought, but they did not have any ornaments. They bought walnuts in the shell, carefully cracked them open, and saved the walnut meat. They glued the shells together again, making sure a loop of string was glued between the shells. They painted them gold. They lasted many years. 

I have never made them myself. I have, however, created many ornaments over the years. Today they sit in a box. I don't use them. Nonetheless, I am in the middle of meeting the deadline of December 25th by making Christmas presents. This year, it is knitted lace to be put on...