Thrifty Gifty

I am going to a little girly gift exchange Monday with a star theme. I picked up these sheet music cuties at Pottery Barn and wanted to spice them up for the lucky recipient. PB had a box of cute little cranberries that I thought would mix beautifully but the $14 price tag along with the price of the stars put me WAY over the gift price limit. So off to Michaels I went. And lo and behold, I got this strand of wooden cranberry-esque beads for only $2 (50% off! Whoop! Whoop!)

I just cut the bead string and with a little help from my favorite elf...



and a 10 inch vase...


I ended up with this! I love it and am very, very bummed that it is leaving my house. Boo. But, I always figure the best gifts are the ones that I also want to keep. Part of the joy of the Christmas season is sharing something lovely with others.

This is an alternate option and actually the one I ended up going with. I like that it looks a bit like a traditional holiday trifle. Custard, good. Jam, good. Meat, gooooood.

Update: About an hour after finishing the project, I saw a little waded up pile of tissue paper in the corner of the room. Low and behold, there were extra stars and red beads under it. So it turns out I have a few to use for a project in my casa as well! Yay! Looks like my little elf is also a little hoarder.