This holiday season I am all about making recycled decorations and I got everyone at work on board too! So this season we made a Recycled Holiday window at the store. Everything in the window was made with old magazines, packing material, and used printer paper.

I love these magazine trees! They are so easy and fun, all you have to do is fold! I have seen these lots of different places so it’s hard to credit one person. But I think the first time I saw these was at one of my favorite stores in Hampden, Red Tree. Theirs were different shapes but same basic idea.

And just because we are all OCD artists, we made a Yellow Pages Tree! I think that at least five people worked on this. But it was just too big so we did have to cut it in half.

We also made these super simple ornaments with the covers of magazines and a stapler. A few people went above and beyond and really got creative with it.

So there you go, a fun holiday window for zero cost! Happy Holidays!

In a house with four roommates we really need our own space for things and that includes mail. I have seen many pocket style mail holders in stores but couldn’t stand spending $30 bucks just to put my mail someplace! So this is my version that I came up with. It was surprisingly easy. And here’s how I did it.

Supplies: Scissors, decorative paper, left over cereal boxes and double-sided tape

First I measured the area and cut the cardboard to size, adding an inch and a half for the side flaps. I then covered the inside of the back with a light green paper.

Next, I folded and taped the box up and covered it with decorative paper that was left over from another project. As a final little touch I stamped each persons initial on the front.