$0 Christmas Tree Ornaments

Ok, are you guys ready for my last Christmas tree ornament tutorial?!?
"Drumroll please!"
.....
"Drumroll!"
(has anybody seen Christmas Vacation? classic :)

These stars are pretty much the most beautiful mess I have made so far in my life. I just love 'em!
I have been seeing other people make projects with aged paper and I decided to use something similar for my poor, bare tree.
First, I considered my super limited library of books I decided to bring with me down here. After some deliberation I decided to offer up A Wrinkle in Time as a sacrifice to the pagan crafting gods. I tore out a bunch of pages and brushed on some very concentrated herbal tea. (I also tried coffee but didn't get quite the color I wanted for this project) I then crumpled it up a couple times to make it look worn and then let it dry. After it was dry I used a candle to burn the edges a little.
Now... What to do with my paper...
We have excessive amounts of cereal boxes in our apartment (because I refuse to throw them away. Be-Cause I might need them for something). I free handed a bunch of stars from the cereal boxes and then covered them with the aged paper! I used modpodge to adhere the paper to the cardboard and also to glaze over the paper. I like the glossy finish that modpodge gives :)

(I love how you can kinda see me taking the picture in the silver ornament!)

I decided the ornaments needed a little more decoration, so I dug into my box-of-random-things-I-might-need-someday. I found a couple scraps of burlap (from my burlap wreath tutorial), some buttons, ribbon, and... some black and white pictures from our wedding! Score.
Now I am Super impressed with myself. Usually the messes I make are a lot more messier than this!

Only about one more week until CHRISTMAS!!!!! Enjoy it! I am looking forward to camping out in front of our tree tonight with the hubby :)
One more Christmas Vacation reference....
"Hey Clark! Where do you think you are going to put a tree that big?"
Bahahaha!

How to make your home smell like Christmas

Here is a mini tutorial to hold me over til my next big post (it's going to be great!)
I like to hang out on pinterest. Sometimes for ridiculous amounts of time. Occasionally I see something and wonder.. Would that really work?
Well yesterday I decided to try an orange candle. I saw a bunch of pictures on.. Apartment therapy? I think that's right. Anyways, the
goal is to get all of the fruit out of the orange peel, with that middle stem thing that goes all the way through the orange still attached to the peel(that didn't happen) pour in some alcohol, and voila! You have a cute little candle that makes your house smell great.
Like I said. The 'wick' did not make it through intact. And we don't drink alchohol so I transposed a tea candle into the orange peel by melting it with a lighter.
I was still really proud of myself and was able to get a few good pictures before my husband walked in and said, is something burning?
Sure nuff. The thing had caught on fire.
My apartment did not smell like oranges, and I have drips of wax all over my table.
Epic Fail.
If you are determined to have your house smell like amazing oranges, save some of your orange peels and set them on the stove to boil. Sprinkle in some cinnamon. Now my house smells like Christmas. :)

DIY star ornaments

Today is a big day!
L is presenting In a prestigious business plan competition at Rice university. I was lucky enough to get off work so I could see him!
So now here i am, listening to people talking all "businessy" and as interesting as that is, I figured now would be a good time to bust out another tutorial :)
now, the sad thing is that since I am writing this from my iPhone, all of the pictures are put at the bottom of the page. Boo.
Well you may not believe this, but these stars are made of...
Cereal boxes!
These cost me absolutely $0 to make and were pretty easy. I free handed my star(but if you have a printer I would recommend printing a star out and tracing it on the box). Use A Ruler! Strait lines are super important. When you have the outline of the star, use a pen to draw a really deep line where each fold would be. By pushing really hard with the pen it makes folding it a lot easier.
Cut out your star, paint it(I just used a rusty red acrylic paint), and fold along the pen marks!
I then glued on a loop of bakers twine to hang it on the tree!
I hope that all makes sense! If not, totally ask me questions! I don't get near enough comments on these posts!

DIY Christmas Tree Gingerbread Ornaments

Hey Yall! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! November was a crazy one for me. But I am happy to say that I am back for December in a Big way! I moved from Utah to Texas this August and am having a hard time adjusting to the weather. It's just hard to cuddle up by the Christmas tree with a cup of hot chocolate and my fuzzy socks when it's 80 degrees outside and the AC is on.
Also when we drove down here we didn't have the foresight (or the truck space) to bring any of our Christmas decorations! And on a budget as tight as ours, buying ornaments to put on our tree is not a priority. So for the next week or so I am going to show you how to decorate a tree on almost no budget! 
I'm going to kick off the season with a tutorial on gingerbread ornaments! They look like gingerbread, they smell like gingerbread, but you Can't eat them! They go on your tree to make it smell nice and look pretty :)
Here is what you need.
1 cup of Cinnamon
1/4 cup of Applesause
1/2 cup of kraft glue
and..
A little bit of time

Take 1 cup of ground cinnamon and mix it with 1/4 cup of apple sauce.

Then add 1/2 cup of kraft glue! Ta Da!
Now, you will be tempted to use whatever glue you have in your house. I warn you, Do NOT use Modpodge. I doesn't work. And it's stinky. I made that mistake and I regret it.
Now roll your "dough" out. It should be about the consistency of sugar cookie dough. Not dry, but if the dough is sticking to the rolling pin you should sprinkle some more cinnamon on it.
Grab some cute Christmasy cookie cutters and go to town! Make sure you poke some holes so you can hang them on your tree.
Let the dough sit for 24 hours, turning the ornaments every six hours. After 24 hours set your oven to 200 degrees and bake for 2 hours. Turning once.

Aaaand your Done! You have beautiful CHEAP Christmas ornaments!
I got a few colors of Stickles and am going to add some decoration to them before I put them on the tree.
BONUS- I don't know if I mentioned it a few times but these smell amAzing!
Make someone smile today! Peace!