Janet Kwan
Every holiday season Wendy Laus love of crafts and decorations kicks into high gear.
Shes up and down ladders, dangling paper snowflakes and stars from ceilings and draping garlands across doorways.
Theres a lot of cardio for me at Christmas, she says.
Credit:Janet Kwan
Her decorating aerobics can be traced in large part to thesnowflakes she snips from brown and white lunch bags.
They now number in the hundreds and are her creative strategy for a high-impact look.
Im the paper-bag princess, she jokes.
Credit:Janet Kwan
If theres one thing Wendy knows, its how to make the holiday special, even on a budget.
To me, Christmas is a homecoming, she says.
Its all about the cozy.
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Its all about the nostalgia.
But its also about affordability.
Three now-tattered paper garlands that spell “fa-la-la” and other phrases are sentimental favorites.
Credit:Janet Kwan
“I smile every time I put them up,” she says.
That starts in the entry, where snowflakes accented with fairy lights blanket the staircase.
I always venture to take advantage of vertical space, she says.
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She setsa wintry tablewith candles, babys breath, and glass vases.
And while her overall look is artful, its also simple and unclutteredeven with hundreds of paper snowflakes.
I have to include them, Wendy says.
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These things have become a big part of my story.
The light, open kitchen connects to the family room.
Draped garlands draw attention to the windows and views.
“I always add festive touches to my kitchen.
Everyone seems to end up there, and it makes cooking and baking more fun,” she says.
On open shelves she built herself,Wendy stages a village with her collection of ceramic and tin houses.
A secondhand hutch displays Christmas classics, including bottle-brush trees.
Wendy tops cabinets withreusable faux garlandsrather than investing in fresh ones every year.
Wendy infuses her home with holiday spirit each year with simple decorating ideas like craftinghomemade ornamentsand garlands.
Credit:Janet Kwan
Easy-to-make papier-mache mushroom ornaments and pom-pom garlands brighten the tree.
Dried moss appears in displaysand serves as table runners and tree skirts.
The only fresh greens are a few evergreen sprigs Wendy clips from her yard for accents.
Her holiday floral of choice is babys breath.Typically a bouquet filler, it goes solo in bud vases.
It has that snowflake effect, she says, and it dries nicely so it has longevity.
Guests know to look for surprises in Wendys displays.
A mouse dressed as a chef named Gus Gus is one of them.
Its fun building tiny inside jokes, Wendy says.
Its just playful and nonsensical.
