You guys. There is one week until Christmas. One week. Holy moly, right?! It always sneaks up on me. It has been so wonderful to decorate our house with simple diy projects. Like I said, I normally don’t do this. Over the past few years, I lived on a college campus and had a tiny gap between finals and Christmas day. So decorating was exhausting. Now, I’m college-free, living in a house that is begging to be decorated. Yay!

One of my favorite holiday decorations this month has been this sparkly garland:

I picked up a bunch of pretty pipe cleaners without knowing what to do with them. One morning, I got inspired and thought they would look pretty as a snowflake garland. The thing is, each “snowflake” ended up looking more like a asterisk or sometimes…a spider. I thought this was a DIY bust. Like one of those things you’d find on Regretsy.

Thankfully, I found a way to make this work. It’s not really a snowflake garland. More like an star garland. I had to improvise. :)

Supplies needed: Cotton yarn, ruler, metallic pipe cleaners, scissors, tapestry needle.

First, cut your pipe cleaners into three-inch sections. Then attach the sections by twisting them together, one at a time, until you have connected five pieces of pipe cleaner.

If your little star looks uneven, just trim the edges. I probably trimmed every star to make sure it was even.

Next, string your stars onto a long piece of cotton yarn.

Space them out evenly, cut the cotton yarn, and hang your garland somewhere nice. I hung mine above my new desk. Please excuse the mess :) I’m still trying to create my crafty station.

I hope you are having fun making your living space sparkly and festive in any way!

Here’s a little series I’m calling “Crafty Christmas.” This year, I want to make most gifts to people by hand. I tend to procrastinate, so I am challenging myself to work ahead of time and get started on a bunch of crafty projects. Until Christmas, I’ll be posting some easy ways to be festive and crafty this month.

First up: glitter ornaments! This project is inspired by a few tutorials I saw floating around Pinterest, particularly this one. I have always wondered how to make perfectly sparkly ornaments with the glitter on the inside. The answer is in Pledge Floor Finish.

Once you’ve gathered your supplies (gloves, newspaper, and a sink will also probably be helpful), fill your clear ornament bulb with a little Pledge. Swirl it around and make sure it covers the entire inside of the bulb. Add some glitter and shake the ornament a whole lot until it’s completely sparkly inside. Attach the top of the ornament. Add some twine. And there ya go :)

I made a little funnel out of a paper bag because I always get glitter everywhere.

These are so quick and fun to make! Buy a bunch of cheap glitter and go crazy :)