Wow! Those are beautiful! The colors are so lovely and each arrangement seems perfectly placed.
<3

Amazingly perfect! I'm sort of a scrooge myself and I love those cards. Specially the "ho, ho..." one.  If my friends saw those, they'd scream that they are soooooo me. Ha!

How in the world did you come up with that idea? Its so strange that I'm in love with it! Totally Awesome!

That's actually friggin great! A lot of teens would love a skirt like that. Hell, if I didn't live in 'amish land' and was younger, I'd so want one.

I live in a tiny apartment, have a tiny budget and don't believe in killing a tree for the purpose of Christmas. Buying a fake tree meant that I'd have to find a place to stash the tree in after the holidays... so I bought a tiny, live Norfolk Pine.

Now, the tiny tree can't hold your regular ornaments because it has gentle, soft branches that bend all the way down once adorned with anything. I tried some ornaments and the poor thing looked like Charlie Brown's tree. Good Grief!!!

Also, I'm kind of a anything Japan freak. Wanted to do origami but come on, paper cranes are so overdone. My solution?
Paper Kimonos!

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I started out with this pattern that I saw online when I googled kimonos. I drew it on a piece of paper and then separated the pattern into individual pieces.



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Next I took a stash of magazines and looked for colorful ads. I traced around my pattern.  Cut out the pieces and glued them to card stock.  Then I taped a stick behind the kimonos and wrapped wire around the stick to make it look like the kimonos were placed on hangers.



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Here's a couple of them already made.



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And here they are on my tree.





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The tree would have look bare with just a few kimono. So I went to my local HELLmart and bought some silvery balls for a buck at the jewelry making section, a pack of jingle bells and some wire. The result after impaling said items with the wire:







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And here is the tiny pine all decorated.  Cost for the whole project? Five bucks for decoration. Sixteen bucks for the pine which gets to stay alive and pretty-up my place for years to come (as long as I remember to water it!)




Thanks for looking! 

Thank you! I'm glad you liked.  And its always awesome to get compliments on one's home too!

And you know, just by using the same simple design, you could make any type of screen and maybe even using fabric. Next one I make, I'm going to try to get a Moroccan feel to it for my bedroom.

The Paper. You know when you go to your doctor and they make you lay down on a surface covered with this paper that bunches and crunches? That paper! They let me have a roll that was almost finished.

I spent on everything about 43 dollars. I saved an average of over $70!

So I've always wanted one of those folding screens but they're always either way to expensive or way too ornate.  I adore simple things.  The more simple the better.  I saw some screens online I liked but were over $100 plus tax and shipping and handling, totally insane.  So I went to my closest lumber store and made my own!

First, I went to Home Depot with some measurements, picked out some wood, dragged it to the back of the store and cut it into the appropriate sizes. Then I brought them home, up three flights of stairs and threw them on the floor along with some tools.


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Then I got to work. I simply lay out the pieces as I wanted them and stapled them together with a handy dandy staple gun that I found was pretty fun to use. I made six frames and lined them up. Each one measures 17 inches wide by 72 inches tall.


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Then I stretched out paper over three of the frames.


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And after I made sure the paper was nice tight and straight, I set it in place with glue and staples.


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Next, I took the other three remaining frames and I glued them to the papered frames. The corners had to be pressed nice and tight. No jiggling allowed. Left to dry overnight.


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Add a couple hinges and finally, the finished product in my living room. Shadows behind screen are caused by my Xmas tree.


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Oh I like! Not only do I love kimono but Loli costumes are great too. (I dressed up Goth Loli last year.)  What to make?  Hair ribbons or head bands and flowers for the hair!  Maybe even a flowery cascade hair thingamabob... or a white kitty plushy to carry around.

If this isn't the cutest thing I've seen all week!  Oh gosh, I'm melting! Lovely, absolutely lovely and the fact that the animals are willing to wear them is fantastic.