Use what you have

In February when I was decorateing my Valentine's tree, it just seemed like something was missing, and did'nt really look finished no matter how many ornaments I added. I did'nt have a bunch of money to buy new wired ribbon for the tree, and did'nt have enough of any one kind on hand to do the job right either, so I had to brainstorm to come up with an idea.

Last year my dear friend "delights" from ravelry sent me a box of crafty goodie's, and included in that box was a cute crocheted Christmas wreath brooch, which she had decorated with beads she had slavaged from bead strands she had bought at the thrift store. I then made some as gifts myself, and went on to design a "Christmas Tree Ornament" that also used those same beads, as the ornaments on my little trees. This got me thinking of other ways I could use those beads in my crafts, so when I needed an idea to add a finishing touch to my tree, at little or no exspence, this is what popped into my head.

I love to window shop for ideas at my local craft stores, and at decorating displays during the holidays, at all the local stores. While doing this one Christmas I had seen these pretty bead strands, that were being used in place of tinsel, but they were about $2 or more a piece, or sold in sets of a dozen at a price of $12 or more, to exspensive by far. I decided that I could make some myself, useing the bead strands I had already had in my stash for better than 10 years. So I got my little scissors, and took a strand over to the tree, to drape one end over a limb and see how much I would need to get the right look. I then cut that one piece, and used it as a measure to cut all the other's. It took me all of 30 to 40 minutes, to cut all the strands I had into these cute little tinsel replacements, enough to cover my whole tree, and I did'nt have to shop or pay a thing for them, because they were already in my stash.

Now it is St. Patrick's day, and again I was'nt able to find pretty, and in-exspensive green ribbon for my tree, so beads came to the rescue again, and probably will again at Halloween, since I have a large quantity of coppery orange bead strands in my stash.

Here is a pic of the still in progress tree for St Patrick's day. I will probably be adding new crafted ornaments to it for the rest of the month, till it is time to change it again.

I have used beads in many different ways over the last 20 years. They have been used on the tree as a garland, wrapped around the curtains for tieback's, draped across the top of the curtain rod as a treatment, and to tie the curtains back to the posts on my canopy bed, strewn across the dinning table to add some glitz, cascaded over the top of a basket or bowl or jar from time to time, just to name a few of their uses. Maybe this post will inspire you with another way to use them, and I hope you will share it with me. :)