Homemade Rustic Christmas Decorations
The earliest documentation of a Christmas tree is in a diary from Germany dated 1605. Decorations of candy, apples and paper roses festooned the tree. Early decorations were simple, consisting of winter foliage and items made from what people had on hand. We still decorate trees and homes. Indiana University maintains that $488.5 million was spent on ornaments alone from January to August in 2010. Avoid the holiday debt racket by making your own rustic Christmas decorations. Does this Spark an idea?
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Rag Ball Ornaments
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Rag ball ornaments can be used to decorate a Christmas tree or displayed in a rustic wood bowl. Traditional holiday colors, such as red and green, or primitive, muted colors such as browns and greens, of fabrics can be used. Flannel with frayed edges gives a rustic finish to the rag balls. Glue an end of a 1-inch-wide-by-24-inch-long fabric strip to the top center of a Styrofoam ball. Wrap the fabric strip around the ball, squirting a drop of glue beneath the strip and pressing it to the ball every 2 inches. Continue gluing fabric strips to the ball until the ball is completely randomly wrapped with strips. Cut a piece of 6-inch fabric strip or gold rat tail cord for a hanging cord. Fold it in half. Glue the ends beneath the fabric strips at the top center of the ball. Make rag balls in different sizes for a varied display.
Wood Christmas Tree Decoration
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Rustic wood tree decorations are simple to construct. Use unsanded wood for a rough appearance. Place a 6-inch wood triangle (painted green) on a table. The thickness depends on the wood used. Cut the top 2 inches of one point from two 6-inch green, wood triangles. Position one triangle without the top point so the removed point is flush with the bottom of the intact triangle. Position the second triangle without the top point so the removed point is flush with the bottom of the previous triangle. The three triangles form a Christmas tree. Center a 2-inch-wide-by-16-inch-long, 1/4-inch-thick brown wood rectangle strip vertically on the back (side facing you) of the Christmas tree/triangles. The wood strip should extend beyond the tree by 2 inches. This part of the strip is the tree trunk. Squirt a line of wood glue beneath the rectangle and press to the triangles. Hammer finish nails 2 inches apart through the rectangle into the wood tree. Glue or nail a wood or cardboard star to the tree's top point. Paint circles on the tree with red acrylic paint. Allow paint to dry. Display the tree propped against a flat surface or in a bowl of dried Spanish moss.
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Paper Chains
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Early Christmas decorations consisted of paper items, such as paper chains and other simplistic objects fashioned from found supplies. Use construction paper, scrapbooking paper, homemade paper, painted newspaper or other paper to cut 1-inch-wide-by-4-inch-long strips. Form a loop with the first strip and tape or glue the ends together. Loop the next strip through the first completed loop, and tape the ends of that strip together. Continue connecting and securing loops until you have formed the chain length you desire.
Winter Foliage
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Nuts, fruit, holly and holly berries, mistletoe and other winter foliage was used to decorate windowsills, table tops and the interior and exterior of homes. Fir tree branches and pine cones were used to fashion wreaths tied with twine or wire. According to the University of Illinois, the first decorated Christmas trees were introduced by Hessian soldiers during the Revolutionary War. Today, natural foliage and trees are still used, in addition to artificial wreaths, swags and trees. Indiana University maintains Americans purchased $28.2 million worth of fake Christmas trees from China between January and August of 2010.
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