Christmas craft show & Trash to treasure Christmas tree

Today I want to share with you what you can do with some thrift store and dollar store finds. 

I found some Christmas balls at a thrift store that were the cheap, satin string ones that fray really bad.  I think they were .25 or .50 cents for a bag.  I tore homespun strips and hot glued them to the balls, then coffee stained them and dried them in the sun.  Some of the balls I covered with Christmas fabric, and some with homespun in Christmas colors.

  Another thing I like to do that has been a good seller for me is buy the packages of red and white twisted plastic candy canes from the dollar store.  I cover them the same way as I did the Christmas balls. 

The Christmas cat nodder is made with a rusty bedspring that I got off www.freecycle.org.  His mustache is llama wool.  I used to buy shipping tags to use as my hang tags, but they were kind of pricey.  Now I cut up manilla file folders and soak them in coffee till they're soft, then dry them in the sun.  I got a pile of folders at a thrift store, so that's much cheaper than buying ready made tags!

Look around the Christmas section in your thrift store or dollar store and use your imagination! 

Now, to save money at the grocery store, shop early in the morning and get the marked down meats.  Check out the prices on this meat.  It's less than 1/2 price!

And lastly, this is where I'll be tomorrow.  A Christmas craft show in Burnsville, NC.