It’s crafty Friday here today (ok I made that up by maybe I should make it a thing) and I have a seriously inexpensive Christmas decorating project to share. It all started on my morning walk in the last week in November.

At the end of our street there is a bit of bushland and then a little park that Will walks through to get to the bus and I walk through on my morning walk. On my way home I spotted this big stick part of a palm tree sitting in the park. Sorry I don’t know the name for it. I Googled like crazy.

It’s funny, Will doesn’t even blink when I come home with strange things now. I just put it on the front porch and asked him not to throw it out because I had a craft project in mind – a DIY Christmas chandelier. ‘Ok,’ was his response. I’d seen similar things in shops over the years and had always wanted to create one of my own but in the unit, we were a little limited on space to hang it. Not anymore.

All you need to create your own rustic Christmas chandelier is a palm tree sticky thing, some decorations, clear fishing line and a few clear removable hooks. I asked Will to grab me some clear fishing line at Kmart the following day. Would you believe it was significantly less expensive for him to buy a whole fishing rod than a thing of line on its own?

I set two chairs up back to back with a gap in the middle and lay the stick over the top. It’s much easier to set it up if it’s elevated so you can see how your decorations are hanging. You’ll need to work out how low they can hang first. Then it’s just a case of tying them all off wherever you want them.

Just one tip: make sure you tie the fishing line really really well. I got an awful fright yesterday when ours fell from the fan due to my dodgy knot tying skills. The finishing touch would be some battery operated fairy lights strung through it but I didn’t quite trust the hooks enough to add the extra weight but you might. Enjoy!

What about you? Are you getting crafty this Christmas.