Decorating with office supplies
Whether you work in a cubicle farm or at your desk at home, the inspiration for crafty holiday decorating is all around you. Pushpins, rubber bands, staples and even padded shipping envelopes can be twisted, cut and trimmed with creativity and minimal time and effort. Here are five simple projects to brighten your world. How you acquire the materials is your own business.
90Taking note:Taking note: It’s the easiest garland we’ve ever strung. Find a “super sticky” Post-it note pad -- the kind for pop-up dispensers -- and pull. Instant honeycomb garland. (And, yes, that wreath is made with folded index cards, gold foil stickers and red map pins as stand-ins for holly berries.)
91Water cooler moment:1Water cooler moment: This impressive feat of engineering requires six of those cone-shaped paper cups found by the office water dispenser. Using a stapler (the smaller the better), join two cups, lip to lip. Staple a third, then a forth. Take the two end cups and staple them together, forming a four-pointed star with a diamond-shaped hole in the center. All that’s left are the star’s bottom and top points. Take one of the remaining two cups and slip it in the diamond-shaped hole with the point of the cup aimed at the floor. Take the sixth cup, thread a paper clip through the pointed tip, then slip the wide mouth into the diamond-shaped hole. Hang by a paper clip chain.
92Fruitful thinking:Fruitful thinking: In a variation of a favorite holiday pomander -- the fragrant orange studded with cloves -- substitute rubber bands for ribbons and pins for cloves. The orange is wrapped in a colorful plaid pattern, with the vertical bands layered at the bottom and top. For the red apple, clear pushpins and a paper clip transform fruit into ornament. And instead of simply setting out a bowl of Granny Smith apples, stud them with colorful round map pins (and compost the ornaments when their time has come).
93Stocking stuffer:Stocking stuffer: If you squint, a large bubble wrap envelope has a vaguely Chanel quilting appearance. Cut the envelope into a stocking shape, hold the edges together with paper clips and add a cuff of fringed Post-it notes. For a hanging loop, use a binder clip.
94File under “creative”:File under “creative”: On a heavyweight hanging file folder (we used a classic dark green one), lightly trace the shape of a tree. Make sure that the trunk is fat and that the lowest branch touches bottom, hanging low enough to provide additional support. Trim your file folder and you will have two identical trees. Locate the centers of the trees (vertically and horizontally) and mark the spot. On tree No. 1, cut a vertical slit from the bottom the trunk to your center mark. On tree No. 2, cut a vertical slit from the top of the tree down to your center mark. Slide the two pieces together at a 90-degree angle. Viewed from above, this notch technique should produce an X-shaped tree that stands on its own. We crowned ours with a red pencil eraser and decorated it with bulbs made of thumbtacks. It may be easier to decorate the sides before sliding them together.
