A Creative Way To Give Christmas Cash

Here is a creative way to give Christmas cash that also doubles 

as a mini decoration. 

I was trying to think of a way to gift cash to my grown 
children that did not involve a lot of folding of the cash 

and would be easy to send through the mail. 

A cute wreath made by the Martha Stewart

 team and featured on the cover of her

 magazine for December 2014 came to mind.

It featured little houses called "Putz Houses". I decided to try

making simple paper houses and use the roofs as carriers of

the paper money. 

I searched the Internet for a template for a paper house. 

The easiest one I found was on the "Mac and 

Moof" blog.  It provides instructions on how to make little

paper houses the size you need.

After some trial and error, this is the little template that seemed

to work size-wise to have a folded U.S. bill on the roof. Having 

a tab on one side of the house makes it easier to to securely

attach the two ends of the house together.

Each side of this house is 2" wide  (blue lines) with 0.5" tab 

so the total length of the template is 8.5" 

The very top of the gable is 3.25"( taller vertical green line).

The roof line is 2.5" (shorter vertical green line).

To get the angle of the gable mark the middle of the peaked

 sections and draw an angled line down to the corner of the 

 roof line of the shorter (side) of the house (red arrows).

The fold lines are marked by dotted lines on the template. 

You can play with the dimensions that look best to you.

If you are only making one or two houses you might not

need to make a template but if you are making multiple

houses, it think it is easier to trace the outline on to the

back of the paper you are using as the house. 

Here is how to proceed:

If you are using a template make it with heavier paper

 like poster board or card stock. This will make it easier 

to trace the template on the actual paper you are using.

You do not need to have cut out windows and door on 

your house. You could leave the house blank or cut out

squares and rectangles of another color of paper to glue

on to be the windows and door. 

This picture is not the dollar bill paper house but just to give

 you an example of gluing on windows and doors.

This picture is also not the dollar bill paper house but to show

you can draw on panes on the windows if you want. 

I did find out that it is easier to glue or cut the house 

embellishments while the house is still flat. If you are going

to cut the windows and door, using a craft knife is easier 

than using scissors.

 To keep a flap on the door, only cut the

top and one side of the door. 

Fold the cut out paper house to make the corners.

After a few not-so-straight folds I found it better for me to

go back and use a pencil and ruler to mark the fold line.

If you decide to cut out the windows and doors, here is

another not-necessary-but-cute idea...tape or glue vellum

(kinda see through) paper over the openings.

I made the mistake of using regular glue on some of the

houses. When that glue dried, it had warped the paper and 

those houses were wonky (but I used them anyway at this

point). If you use glue, use a glue that will not warp

the paper ( one is Zip-Dry).

When you have all your windows and door finished, use 

the tab (put tab to the inside so it won't show) 

to join the two ends of the house. 

Cut a rectangle of paper to make the roof. The roof 
for my house was 3" x 2.5".  Fold it in half. 

Use a thin line of glue along the top edges of the
 house to attach the roof. 

Fold the paper money you are gifting in half.
Then fold it in half again. To get really sharp fold
to apply to the roof of you house you can iron it on low.

You want the money to be fairly easy to take off of the
roof so don't glue the money on the roof. You can use 
doubled-sided tape or removable glue dots attach the 
money to the roof.

Tape or glue dot the open ends of the bill together. 
I thought one glue dot worked fine. You want it to 
stay on but not be too hard to get off,

Put tape or glue dots on the center edge of the sides 
of the roof. Center the bill on the roof with the folds 
of the roof and bill together. When you are happy 
with the placement, press the bill down firmly .

On the first set of little houses I made I hot glued
tiny trees to the side but that was time-consuming.

For the other two sets I made for money gifting I just
sent the little trees in the package and hope the 
recipient will place the trees around the houses. 

Here are examples of other paper houses before I 
had attached the money on the roof,  You can adapt this
idea for whatever amount you are gifting and how many
houses you feel like making. 

If you did cut out windows and a door on your house
you can add a battery-powered votive candle on the 
inside of the house to make it glow.


P.S. My children loved their presents and did actually use
the little houses and trees as holiday decor. 

Give tiny houses a try the next time you are gifting money.

If you want to save this project to Pinterest,
 here is a good image to use...

Tips For Making Inexpensive Moss Balls

These are tips that I have gathered from other tutorials on making 

moss balls at home (like here and here) and more ideas that I tried

 while making them myself and want to share with you. 

Packages of moss are easy to find in the floral section of stores.

Some stores have more than one type of moss. Here is a photo

of the kinds that you will probably see...

...starting on the left of the photo is Spanish moss that has been 

color-enhanced green...it is more grey in its natural state. 

This bag came from Wal-Mart and was $6 which I think is a very

good value for the size of the bag. Spanish moss is not my 

favorite for making moss balls but (it actually turned out 

better than I thought it would on the balls) is the cheapest option. 

The center bags in the photo are sheet moss. They have almost a velvet look to them. Sheet moss is in the bag usually in about 

three to four sections that have some dirt on the back holding the moss together. Look at several different bags in the store and buy

the ones that have less visible dirt. You get more usable moss. 

The moss in the upper right of the moss types photo is forest moss which is very similar to sheet moss but it has more texture. 

The smaller moss bags in the moss types photo are from Dollar Tree. I have used the moss stones in other projects but they are

 not the best for making balls. The reindeer moss from there is  stringy shreds of moss...I don't recommend it for balls. 

If you find a moss you like at Hobby Lobby, Michael's or Jo Ann's try to have a discount coupon to buy it with. The coupon

will get the cost of most of the bags to about $5 or less. How

 many moss balls you can make from one bag depends of how 

big you want to make the ball(s).

Another item that can add cost to the ball is the form to put

the moss on. Most folks use a styrofoam ball for this. When you

are making smaller balls the cost for them is about $1 each.

If you want larger moss balls the styrofoam form for those goes 

up in price quickly. 

I tried making the forms for some of my balls from plastic bags

and newspaper to basically make them no-cost forms (if you 

already have some tape or string to make them keep their shape).

Start by crumpling the paper or plastic in a ball in your hand.

Keep adding more layers but keep the round shape. When the

ball gets too big to easily hold in your hand, tie string (or add

tape) to the ball to keep the layers together while you add more.

When it gets to the size you want, tie or tape it together. 

This form is about 7 inch diameter. It made a large moss ball. 

If you want small or average size balls just tie or tape it 

together at the size you want. Remember that once you put the 

moss on your form, the moss will make the ball a little bigger. 

Look around your house or attic for other things you could use

for a form for your moss balls. I found this old box of decorative

balls that I had never used. They got moss covered. 

Another cost in making moss balls is getting to moss to stick on

the form. Spray adhesive is a popular product to use for this.

A can of spray adhesive usually starts at about $6. Different 

brands and amounts of product in the can make the price vary.

The spray adhesive can in the above picture is from Hobby Lobby.

I used a discount coupon to get it less than the $7 price. 

I was really impressed at how well the spray adhesive worked on

all types of forms I used it on. A slight drawback to the spray is

that (in my opinion) it should only be used outside. Even then, you

should protect your surface if you don't want it to get sticky. 

I  didn't mind getting my dead grass sticky so I just placed the

form on the grass and sprayed all of the surface of the form that was facing up for the first spray. Then I picked it up with two fingers and brought it back to the porch table where I had the 

moss ready to go. I placed moss on the sticky side of the

 form and patted it down. 

Then I carried the partially moss covered ball back in the grass

and sprayed the portion of the ball that had not gotten adhesive

the first time around. 

Then the ball went back to the table for the rest of it to get moss. 

It probably took less than two minutes to cover a ball this way. 

This ball got the forest moss that has more texture. 

Here are photos of Spanish moss being used with the same process...

If the Spanish moss ball has too many ends sticking up,

you can give it a haircut. 

I had gone the Dollar Tree to look for things that could be used for

forms but the only thing I could find that day was a cat toy. 

Even that worked.

If you don't have the outdoor space, are working on these moss 

balls at night or don't want to use propellant, almost any type of white glue from a bottle does a very good job of making the

 moss stick to the form too. It is usually cheaper to buy than the spray adhesive (or you might already have some at your home). 

The form in the photo above is made from plastic bags, painters tape and string. 

The glue is from Dollar Tree and the sheet moss is from Wal-Mart $4.

Squirt a generous amount of glue on the form in one area.

Put moss on top of the glue and pat it down. Continue to put 

glue in adjacent areas that already have moss around the form.

 Put moss on top of new glue area and pat/push it into the glue.
This technique keeps your hands from getting a lot of glue on them.

 If the moss overlaps where you don't have glue yet just squirt
 it on as you are placing the moss on the form. 

The moss will probably overlap other pieces as you place it on.

Just tear the moss where needed. This is messy. It is easier to

clean up after this project if you work on something you can 

throw away in the end. Use torn off pieces of moss to cover

any blank areas on the form. 

Here's another moss ball made the same way...

If you have some moss that does not want to stick well with the

white glue (like if it has a lot of dirt attached to the moss or the

form has a bumpy surface) you can glue half of the ball and

moss it. Then secure that half with string and let the glue dry. 

After that moss is secure with the dried glue you can cut 

the string and finish the other half the same way. 

This was an old berry ball that had seen better days. 

I did make some of the moss balls with hot glue but I got a 

lot of burned fingers so I am not going to recommend that.

It does work, however, if you want to try it. 

I also tried making the moss balls with the mat moss (moss

that is attached to a fabric-like grid and in a uniform sheet).

I thought it was much harder to make the moss conform to

 the shape of the balls even with cutting it a lot. The mat moss

also is more expensive than the loose moss. 

I did not try any reindeer moss balls even though I have seen

them and think they are adorable. I may be wrong but it seems

like it would take a lot of the reindeer moss to cover a ball and

I was going for inexpensive moss balls. 

Here's how I used the moss balls in changing out some of the

winter decor in my living room and dining room to introduce

some spring green color...

Click on the highlighted text below if you would like to 

see the post showing more photos of moss in my home...

Using Moss In Home Decorating. 

Click on How To Make Inexpensive Moss Bowls if you

want to see a tutorial on how to make the cousins of moss 

balls which are moss bowls. They are quite trendy now. 

Moss balls are great decor items that can be used almost year

around. They add natural texture, color and style to your home

or can be used for parties and weddings. Using these tips you 

can make them yourself inexpensively...plus it is fun!