Deck the halls with holly

Christmas just a few days away, and you haven’t had the time to decorate your tree? Ruth Dsouza Prabhu offers last-minute and easy decor ideas for you to follow.

With Christmas just round the corner, most of us would have our trees and decorations all up and shining. But every morning as you pass your tree, there must be that nagging little thought on how you can make it look even more spectacular.

What is it that you can add to it that will make it stand apart from all those store bought baubles you put up? How about creating something unique from stuff that you have lying around the house? That would lend your Christmas decor a personal touch and give you a chance to show off those handiwork skills. Here are some ideas you could do even now to add to your Christmas decor.

Tree decor
Create some new tree decor with used bulbs. All you will need is acrylic paint. Cover the bulb in a base coat of white or black or brown depending on what you are going to paint on them. Then use a pencil to sketch out a Christmassy emblem – a Santa Claus, mistletoe, reindeer, stars, whatever you feel like and fill these in with paint.

Using the metallic range of acrylic paints will give you a much better look. Twine a thin metal wire around the screw end of the bulb and hook on a paper clip or two to it to help you place it on the tree. You can create a whole range of tree ornaments this way depending on the shapes of the bulbs you have.

Almost every household with children in it will have a jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing. You can make sure really pretty decorations with these pieces. Start by making candy canes. Take a bunch of the jigsaw pieces and place them on your work board in the shape of a candy cane. Make sure to place the white size of the pieces facing you.

They will be a little spaced out. Next, take another set of jigsaw pieces and place them over the gaps that are formed on the first layer. Once you have the shape right, take off this second layer and paint the white part a shade of red. Use a bit of glue on either end of the piece and place it on top of the white first layer to connect them through. This will give you a white and red candy cane. You can finish it off with some glitter and a little red ribbon. You can similarly create little Christmas trees with some green paint.

Streamers for your home
Streamers and garlands are an integral part of doing up your home. One way to create a completely unique yet personalised streamer is to put it together yourself. You will need as many old Christmas cards as you can get, a few family photos in festive gear, some thin gauge wire, a pair of scissors and a punching machine. A few beads too would be a good idea. This can be a fun activity for the whole family.

Sort out your Christmas cards and cut out from the Christmas images and the Christmas messages. Keep them in separate piles. This way you will have a collection of snowmen, reindeer, Santa Clauses, Christmas trees on one side and a load of Christmas greetings in words on the other. For each of these images and greetings, punch in a single hole on either side of them. Do the same with your family photos; cut them to size and punch holes on either side.

Now take one of end your thin gauge wire and start by stringing on a few beads. Next pass the wire through the hole of one image, all the way behind it and out through hole on the other side. Alternate with beads, Christmas greetings and family photos till you have a garland the length you desire. Finish off the garland with some more beads and Voila! You have something wonderful to hang up.

Bringing in the Christmas cheer
If you have little children in the house who have outgrown their booties or woolly socks, you can use these to create candle cosies and place them all over the house. All you will need to do is find socks or sweaters or anything woolly in shades of red, green and gold, the colours of Christmas. Snip them to size and fit them around your candles, mugs, teapots and the like.

If you have some ice-cream sticks or broken chopsticks at home, cut them to equal sizes, paint them the colours of Christmas or any shade for that matter and form the Star of David with them. Hold each of the ends together with bits of twine or thin wire, string some coloured paper through them or ribbons and use them as door hangings.

These are just some ideas to get you started. Once you begin you will see that the creative juices will get flowing and you will have a number of decor ideas pop out at you all through the house.