Christmas crafting: DIY ornament, card holder, mantel hanger

I told Aaron that for our first holiday season at the house, I wanted it to look like Christmas threw up here.

I meant that in the prettiest way possible.

We don’t have a tree yet, but I’m working hard on decorating the rest of the house. It’s not that hard: The walls are already bright green, so adding a dash of red and some sparkle is really all it takes.

I’ve spent some time on Pinterest the past few days (haven’t we all?) ogling all the pretty Christmas things and finding some inspiration for our decorations.

And I’m trying to do some frugal DIYing to try to cut down on the costs. It’s taking more time, obviously, than if I just raided the holiday section of Target, but as I mentioned a couple days ago, it feels really good to get crafty. Here are a couple of projects and plans I have jingling around in my head, along with about how much each costs to make.

My not-quite-finished thumbtack ornament. I dig the way it looks sort of pinecone-y.

Thumbtack ornament, about $3: This one was a straight-from-Pinterest project, although I didn’t pin it and a quick trip to Google shows that it’s been around for quite some time.

I bought a pack of 150 thumbtacks for $1.99, realizing I might have overpaid a smidge but did it anyway because I was getting cranky from overshopping. I also got a package of six 2.5-inch diameter styrofoam balls, which cost $4.99.

Confession: I didn’t read any instructions, just looked at the photo that was pinned. But I predicted that the tacks might fall out of the styrofoam. So I opted to use hot glue to make the tacks a bit more secure.

I built in a hanger so I can put the ornament on our tree, or hang it somewhere else in the house.

I picked a spot to start and put in a six-tack circle with a space in the center. Then I wrapped a piece of thin metallic string (which came with another pack of ornaments) around another tack and glued it into the center for a built-in hanger for the ornament. In retrospect, I could have done that for the last tack, instead. Or really any of the ones in between.

Once the top was set, I worked in a circle fanning the tacks out. I ran out of tacks with just a few rows left, so I’ll need to pick up some more. I might do another ornament like this, because I like the way it’s turning out, and it’s a cheap way to bring a lot of shiny metallics into the picture.

Take home point, though: 150 tacks would be enough for probably a 2-inch ball. For a 2.5-incher, I’m guessing it’ll take almost 200 tacks.