published about 4 hours ago
The holiday season — and by extension, holiday decorating — is in full swing. But you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get your home in the holiday spirit. Just ask TikToker Mads (@madsgordo), who recently shared a video documenting how her mom created a stunning fireplace display using only leftover cardboard.
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First, Mads’ mom sketched out her design ideas for plenty of tiny holiday village houses in a notebook. Then she cut out different-sized house shapes from the cardboard and transferred her designs onto them using a tipp-ex pen (which roughly translates to Wite-Out and Liquid Paper products in the United States).
To give the tiny houses proper dimension and help them stand upright, Mads’ mom stuck them to small boxes using double-sided tape. And just like that, the family had an adorable holiday village display hanging over their cozy fireplace, without breaking the bank.
“Such an easy and fun decorating hack!” she concluded.
Needless to say, fellow TikTok users were impressed. Since Mads first posted the video on December 3, it’s racked up over 42,700 likes and over 335,500 views.
“This is Christmas magic,” one TikToker wrote. “Truly impressive!!!”
Another user added: “I think she should be one of Santa’s elves.”
Other viewers chimed in with their own ideas for the DIY holiday village.
“Cut out the windows and put fairy lights behind!” one user suggested, while another wrote: “She could cut some holes in the windows and put battery tealights behind so it looks like someone is home.”
It just goes to show that sometimes, keeping that cardboard box has its bright spots.
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