The point to all this: Creative efforts take time, so whenever you can double duty ... take advantage! For instance, 10 feet of PVC pipe is plumb full of creative opportunity and, if you start now, you can have some hip, new decorations for your home and yourself this holiday season.

Simple, inexpensive PVC pipe can be used to create wreaths, ornaments and even jewelry. Here's how:

For a contemporary looking wreath, gather up various sized PVC pipe from your home improvement store. We used everything from 3/4- to 4-inch diameter pipe.

For a cutting tool we prefer a powered miter box (bonus: the leftover "sawdust" makes beautiful snow!)

You can purchase a macrame hoop to serve as your round frame. Or you can substitute with anything round and suitable to mold your inner pieces around.

You'll also need some 50-pound monofilament fishing line or other suitable wire and a picture hanging hook, as well as a drill with a small bit and some ornaments to use with your various sizes of pipe.

Work on a flat, level surface covered with a canvas drop cloth. Decide what thickness you want your wreath to be and cut all your pieces the same length. Or you can mix things up and cut them at various lengths. Our shortest piece was 1-1/4 inch and our longest was four inches. Clean all your cut pipe with PVC cleaner. Start with some sort of a circular template to work around.... I use a macrame hoop.

You can do a dry fit by placing all of your cut pieces of pipe around and then go back in and glue, or you can just jump right in and start gluing, working out the design as you go. Apply glue where needed and slide pieces together. Caution: this glue sets pretty quickly. Once you have your wreath how you like it, let the glue set up properly and then paint. Use a spray paint suitable for plastic, or prime with a plastic primer and follow up with standard sprays.

To hang, we drill
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