10 Favorites: No-Cost Holiday Decor Ideas

Hello! I finally got around to putting up all my Christmas decor yesterday. (I've learned to take a more relaxed approach by doing a bit each day.) However, it's fun to add in a few more decorations, especially if they are easy to make and inexpensive.
 
Thus, I was interested in a recent post from the Remodelista website entitled "10 Favorites: No-Cost Holiday Decor Ideas", which can be found here. This article, by Justine Hand, includes over 20 project photos - the "10 Favorites" refers to the list of decorating themes.

The term "no-cost" assumes, of course, that one has the necessary supplies on hand. But since there's plenty of variety in the 10 categories of ideas, there's bound to be at least some projects that truly are no-cost. Another bonus is that many of them are easy for children to do, like decorating a bare branch or a chalkboard. 

Speaking of chalkboards, upon reading the article I recalled that we had one sitting down in the basement. The chalkboard is part of a wooden perpetual calendar that had once seen daily use since its purchase 30 years ago. However, the frame got banged up after getting accidentally knocked off the wall, so the calendar was banished from the kitchen.

But why not run with "Chalk It Up" (theme #5) from the Remodelista article? So I dusted and cleaned up that old perpetual calendar, drew a quick design on the chalkboard with art chalk pastels (a vintage set found at a church rummage sale), and leaned it against a wall on the family room floor:

Instant, no-cost decor! And of course, I can change the "artwork" any time I want. Looks like this old perpetual calendar will no longer be relegated to the basement!