Thrifty decorating.....and by thrifty......I mean cheap

I'm cheap...I admit it.

I shop discount racks, regularly shop at Walmart and I buy my boy toys from the dollar store to fill up his stocking.  I also get a big kick out of making something nice out of something that I got for a steal.

 Do you remember my Winter Wreath?

You guessed it.....made entirely out of goods from the Dollar store.  Four dollars total.

This time of year is a nightmare for prices...they are usually gouged through the roof because the stores know that we are all panicking with the holiday looming in the wings.

But AFTER Christmas is when the real deals can be found.  When the purging of shelves begins. 

Target is a really good source for after Christmas steals.  Last year I hit the mother-load of all decorations right there at the back of the store on a single shelf.  I swear that I could hear it screaming my name from the parking lot.  I could have left with 2 full carts of goodies...everything was marked down to one tenth of the price on the tag.

But I limited myself to the ones that I couldn't live without.

Mainly...anything involving a deer or being silver in color made it's way into my cart. Oh, and some really pretty glittery ornaments.  Those too.

I know....wonders never cease, do they?

You see, my mom started me on this trend of  Christmas deer.  She bought me my first snow globe a few years ago.  Full of water, trees, silver glitter, and precious little deer faces.  It set the trend and I never went back.


I do love it to bits....even with the snapped off antlers.

I got this silver fellow for a whole $2.00.

and this shiny fellow for $1.50

And this shiny little bird is actually supposed to be an ornament.  A steal at  $2.00.  I snipped the ribbon though....it's really too heavy and delicate to trust to hang from a branch.

All three sit side by side on my windowsill behind the tree.  Shimmering in the glow of the lights.

And then there is the Dollar store.  It is where I find alot of wonderful things to inspire creativity.  It is also where I found these sweet deer ornaments a few weeks ago. They had fishing line loops to hang them from a tree.  I really didn't need any more tree decorations, but I did have a Santa sleigh with no reindeer to pull it.   I cut the loops from their backs then I glue-gunned their little feet onto some painted tongue depressors in pairs of two.

Voila...a stylin' AND synchronized team of deer for Santa's big night.

Thrifty is, as thrifty does.


And I, my friends, am thrifty.

Are you?