Discarded scraps from Christmas trees, a craft waiting to happen.

This may be my thriftiest moment yet. When Alex and I were buying our Christmas tree, I noticed these wood rounds laying around from where they had sawed off the bottoms of other trees. Never one to miss an opportunity to indulge my obsession with wood (especially fresh cut douglas fir that smells incredible), I discreetly picked up seven or eight rounds and put them in my bag. While some of them – like those above – are too uneven to be coasters or hold candles, others were more level and had holes through them where the tree stand had been.

I'm no artist in tangible mediums, clearly.

As a designer, I work on the computer and not with a paintbrush. So when this turned out a little silly, I was glad I only painted one side. The smaller, more level ones like these could be used as coasters (painted if you know what you’re doing, left alone if you’re like me) as well.

Our Christmas tree is adorned with pinecones and vintage ornaments.

Our characteristically thrifty tree also features grocery store pinecones and vintage Shiny Brite ornaments. Flea market vendors bring out all their holiday stuff this time of year, and vintage ornaments are plentiful.

I bought this perfect set of 12 ornaments at the Venice High School flea market for $20.

I am no Martha Stewart. Sure, I like to make stuff, but it’s in more of a camp counselor way than a David Rakoff way. So when I bought a few evergreen boughs at the Venice farmers’ market on Friday for $4, I thought, hey, I bet I could make a pretty amateur rustic wreath.

Evergreen boughs bought at the farmers' market for $4

See that wire hanger there? That was going to be my mold, so to speak (I found it in Alex’s side of the closet; I could never use a wire hanger, but I’m glad he gets the dry cleaning). The concept is simple: mold the wire hanger into a round shape and a hook, and shape your branches around it. As I shaped my branches, I realized I wanted something a little larger, so I decided to do my wreath freehand, threading thin wire around the branches and under the needles to form a circle.

Threading the wire close to the branch allows the outside of the wreath to appear seamless.

Once you’ve got your circle, you’re pretty much done. I guess you could go in for some ribbon or berries, but I find the concept of the simple pine branches fulfilling enough. Plus, I’m lazy. Merry Christmas!

You know, it actually looks pretty good.

Here’s some wintry desktoppery for your visual enjoyment. No, I don’t have rights to any of the illustrations contained therein, so I’m asking that these not be distributed widely – just stick them on your personal desktops and tell no one. Happy holidays!

To kick off our happy holidays month, I thought it was about time I got some holiday cards. Here are some of my favorites, via etsy:

Letterpress Santa cards by byvikINK, $14 for set of six

Warm Wishes letterpress cards from Sycamore Street Press, $18 for 6

Seasons greetings, $16 for 6 from The Paper Peony

Holiday wishes from Paper Dragonfly, $16 for set or 5

Season's Greetings letterpress card from May Day Studio, $15 for set of 5

Let it snow screen-printed card from Orange Beautiful, $14 for set of 6

Peace on earth gocco cards, $18 for a set of 10 from annamatic's etsy shop

It’s that time of year again: summer vacation time! To celebrate this momentous occasion, I am first going to get very sick with a cold and sore throat (done) and then I’m going to hopefully recover by tomorrow morning to make the magical, fun-filled journey to enjoy the San Francisco Bay Area and then to spend a week at this lovely internet-free cabin in Michigan. Have a good weekend, week, and then weekend again!

With the party (mostly) cleaned up, it’s a lazy day around here.

In looking for vintage ornaments on ebay, I kept running into this company called Shiny Brite, which must have been America’s primary source of Christmas ornaments for many years. They made the traditional orb-shaped glass ball ornaments, sure, but they went beyond this basic favorite to adorn our trees with bells, spaceships, and bizarre shapes that don’t quite resemble anything.

These reindeer ornaments I found at the Venice high school flea market in their original Shiny Brite boxes. We also used plain old pinecones to add to the rustic look of the place. Did I mention I love Christmas? I do. And I love Shiny Brite.

I love Christmas. I love Christmas music, I love wrapping paper, I love trees, I love decorations, I love parties. I am such a nerd for Christmas that I started shopping three weeks ago and have already been looking eagerly for a tree. Speaking of wrapping paper, here’s a little feast for the senses:

Granted, as wrapping paper, they’re not terribly thrifty at $3.25 per sheet when you’re just going to rip and recycle them. But if you’re the type to get an early start and gaze at presents under the tree for weeks, then go for it. As always, Snow & Graham has some lovely papers this year as well, but I haven’t seen all the new designs in online stores, only brick and mortars, so it’s worth checking out your local store. I’ve actually framed sheets of these before if they have a particularly non-repeaty pattern, and then $4.50 seems pretty cheap.

Happy wrapping!

I know, what happened to week five? Well, it was Thanksgiving, and since our office is our living room, it kind of got taken care of last week (this week was cleaning up office clutter, and the week before was living room). The cure’s directive to eat at home was not a problem. Here’s my turkey stock simmering to go into the gravy:

I can’t remember exactly how I made it, but I know I browned the turkey parts in olive oil with some onions, carrots, and celery, then added some water until the pot was full, then tossed in whatever herbs I had handy. Rosemary? Sure. Thyme? Perhaps. Black pepper? Not an herb, but okay. (Note: if you brine your turkey, do not add salt to any stock you’re planning on making gravy from. If you do add too much salt to anything, add a quartered potato while simmering to absorb the excess salt. But it’s better to avoid excess salt to begin with.) Then I simmered the whole thing for a couple hours until the turkey was done and ready to make gravy (key ingredient: white wine).

Now, this year I really got into the spirit of spending a little more for things that matter (thanks a lot, apartment therapy), so I bought a fresh free-range turkey for about $2.30 a pound. If you haven’t done this yet but are planning on it for Christmas or whatever, let me point out that “free range” essentially means they use their limbs. Therefore, while the flavor may be better because the feed is better, you might not get the plump and juicy legs and wings you remember from birds with less freedom.

Another tip I learned, regarding mashed potatoes: when concocting this tantalizing miracle, add melted butter before any dairy (half and half works best). The results may surprise you.

Happy Holidays!