Take a deep breath, the holidays are almost here!

The rushing, the baking, the decorating, the spending...but, we look forward to it every year, don't we? It doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming. Let me share some ideas to transform your home in less than a day.

• Outside decorating - Make your own luminaries from paint cans painted white and then punched with a design of your choice using an awl or a large nail and hammer. Place a small pillar candle inside and line your walkway with them.
  


• Go for a walk in the woods and cut some small branches or saplings to string with lights and stick in the ground around your home. Place some branches in your window boxes as well.
  


• Window treatments are a great way to change the look of the room. Buy yards of tulle and sew or hot glue into a tube. Slide onto tension rods inside your window frame and lay lights inside the tube. Tie up the ends with ribbon to give yourself a beautiful cloud effect in the windows. Beautiful from outside and in.
  


• Buy some great holiday placemats and napkins and hang on a rod using the cafe clips readily available. Fold the napkins into a V and clip to rod with placemats accordion pleated and hung onto the side to give length to the treatment. This is a fun way to change your kitchen windows and bring the holiday feeling into a room.
  


• Greet your guests in the foyer with a tree decorated with small scrolls rolled up and tied with ribbon. Each one will have a personal sentiment inside or maybe a gift of your time, i.e. a night of babysitting, dinner out, etc.
  


• Place potpourri envelope sachets down in your forced air registers to keep your home smelling wonderful. Every time the furnace kicks on, it will push the fragrance through your home.
  





• A tree in every room...what an easy way to bring the holiday throughout the house. A kitchen tree decorated with cookie cutters, cinnamon sticks and dried fruit slices. Or, how about a dining room tree with a collection of teacups, sugar and creamers wired to its branches? Add some doilies, ribbon, baby's breath...viola, a beautiful tree.
  


• Transform your lampshades for the holidays by making simple fabric tubes. The tubes should be one and half times wider than the bottom of the shade. Sew or hot glue a channel in the top and bottom so that you can string ribbon through, then pull down over the shade and pull the ribbons tight to cover the shade. A great new look for very little money!
  


• Change the throw pillows in your living room/family room with your choice of holiday colors. Or take your existing pillows and tie on ribbon embellished with floral bows so your pillows look like gift packages sitting on your sofa.
  


• Buy round, glass ball ornaments and remove the metal hanger on the top. Hot glue four ribbon streamers around the sides so you can hang the ornaments by the ribbons. Put some water inside and fill with small fresh flowers and baby's breath, then hang from your chandelier or Christmas tree. Miniature carnations work great - the size is perfect and the carnations last a long time.