These tough financial times don't require forgoing festive, holiday decorations. But to stretch dollars, we can create our own warmth and good tidings.

I found a beautiful felt garland in "The Land of Nod," a high-end catalog for children, which can be copied with a dozen sheets of craft-store felt, several feet of ribbon, some school glue and a glue gun. Cleverly named the "Judy Garlands" in the catalog, they are $35 for an 11-foot string of nine tree or nine mitten designs.

The originals are sewn; our copy is glued. The catalog's garlands have some hand-sewn detailing; for swiftness' sake, ours don't.

The garlands can be copied, as I did here, by viewing the designs online, at LandofNod.com. They're simple, though, so you probably can come up with your own creative ideas, adding what may exist in your sewing box, from buttons to rickrack trim.

For example, we can duplicate the ribbon in the catalog by using twill tape, which is inexpensive (I paid less than $2 for 12 feet of it), but there are lovelier ribbons out there.

It's less than $5 to make one garland (and takes about two hours to cut out the pieces and glue the entire thing together). If you're resourceful with the felt squares and stick with the cost-effective twill, both the tree and mitten garlands can be made for only $8. (That's a $62 savings! "The Land of Nod" throws in free shipping with theirs.)

This is a craft that may charm the children, whose creative touches certainly would improve the garlands' appeal. These garlands can be used to decorate a doorway, stairway, mantels -- wherever you want a homegrown dose of cheer.

Felt garlands

These directions are for making the two garlands pictured in "The Land of Nod" catalog.

♦ Supplies:

12 felt squares, 9 by 12 inches each. One in each of these colors: red, yellow, royal blue, light blue, aqua, light purple, green, lime green, orange, brown, tan and white.

Thin cardboard for templates (I used the backs of notebooks)

24 feet (8 yards) of 1/2-inch ivory twill tape

Glue, such as Aleene's Tacky Glue or white school glue

Glue gun with glue sticks

Sharp scissors

♦ Assembly:

1. Draw your own mitten template (about 4-1/2-by-5-1/2 inches) onto cardboard, or download one from a Web site. MarthaStewart.com has a good one: http://www.marthastewart.com/article/kids-mitten-sweater.

2. Cut out nine felt mittens of various colors. To duplicate the "Judy Garlands," cut seven with the thumb on the left and two with the thumb on the right. Decorate as you choose, or go to The Land of Nod Web site for inspiration.

3. Cut the twill tape into two equal, 12-foot pieces (4 yards each), one for each garland. With a hot glue gun, glue the nine finished mittens to the first length of twill equidistantly (I started in the middle and placed a mitten every 10 inches).

4. The tree garland uses four templates (each about 4-1/2-by-4-1/2 inches -- a tree trunk will be added later). I drew mine freehand, using the "Judy Garlands" images online as a guide. If that sounds daunting, look for a tree template online. I found a simple tree pattern at FamilyFun.com that could be adjusted to create the other three templates. Go to the "printables" link at www.familyfun.com, then into the "Holiday & Seasonal" sub-page. At the bottom, in the "Christmas" section, is a good "Christmas tree pattern" for downloading.

5. As with the mittens, decorate the nine trees as you wish, or view the tree garland at The Land of Nod Web site for inspiration. Cut a 1-by-1-1/2-inch tree trunk in brown or tan for each tree.

6. As with the mittens, use a hot glue gun to attach the nine finished trees to the twill (with tree tops slightly above the ribbon) equidistantly, beginning in the middle of the twill and working out in 10-inch increments. Note: The catalog garland is 11 feet long while ours is 12 feet long.

7. Alternatives: Consider spelling a greeting or word, such as "Peace" or "Joy," surrounded by the mittens or trees. Or for Hanukkah, make Stars of David in white felt and shades of blue, hanging the stars from a blue or silver ribbon. Decorate with whatever is on hand: old buttons, rick rack, pompoms, small beads, pipe cleaners, even those foamy shapes that kids love.

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