Origami Star Christmas Garland

 My husband folds these really fun origami stars.  My wheels were turning on ways to make our Christmas tree a little more fun and I decided to string these stars just like you would popcorn and use them as garland around the tree.  My husband plans on making a tutorial on how to fold the stars at his blog, Stephen's Origami.  I will update with a link to that post when he gets the chance.

I think it added some fun and some more color to our tree and I am happy about it despite my sore thumb. 

Shared with

 

Handmade Holiday Decorations

All of our Holiday decorations were made by hand with just a few exceptions- our Christmas Tree, the tree skirt, and some of the ornaments.  I thought I would share some of the decorations we have at our house. 

Origami:

My husband is really good at origami and so I use and abuse his skills at Christmas time (among other times of the year.)  You can visit his blog, Stephen's Origami to see more.

This is a tree he makes that I love plus this fun star.  You can see a tutorial on how to make one yourself here.

 Then we have an origami wreath.  It's really cute!

 This star we put on top of the tree.  My son was so excited to put it on top of our tree this year.

 My husband has also done a variety of smaller wreaths we have on the tree.  They are pretty cool too.

He also makes a Santa Claus that I don't have a picture of.  Last year we put up some origami ornaments, however my sons couldn't resist the temptation to take them off the tree and destroy them.

Cricut Machine:

Another thing I use a lot to make decorations is my Cricut Machine.  Here are some things I've made.

A little greeting on our front door above the origami wreath.

 Santa, his sleigh, and his reindeer.  Silhouette style.

 A Christmas Countdown I do with my children.

 I have a variety of snowflakes hanging around our windows as well.

Child-Made:

The biggest part of our decorations are things that the kids and I make throughout the month.

Here is a chain to go around our tree.  See my post here for instructions.

 A paper torn Christmas tree.

 Christmas Tree ornaments from our Christmas tree day

 A Gingerbread house

 Gingerbread ornaments both of these gingerbread activities are from our Ginger Baby Day

And we have much more to make throughout the month!

Made By Others:

Lastly, we have several things that were made and given to us by other people.

This cute Santa was made by my mother.  She gave it to me the first Christmas I was married.

 These absolutely adorable stockings were made by my mother-in-law.  We also have two advent calendars she made.  I need to get a better picture of the stockings because they are awesome.

Well, that gives you an idea of what we've got going on around here for the holidays.  The best part is that not only are most of these things kid-friendly they are also budget friendly!