Decorating With Nature
Published Date: Dec 15, 2014
Photo credit: TheGracefulGardener.com
Getting tired of the blow up santas, snowmen, and now penguins lighting up your street? Or the flashing multicolor light displays aggressively competing for the local Christmas lighting contest? Start a new trend and decorate with nature to add some classic beauty to your front porch, driveway, and walkways. Here’s a few ideas you can create in just moments that you can enjoy throughout the holidays and all winter long. Festive buckets: Get the metal garden bucket out of storage and fill it with the log remnants from your fall trimmings, pine cones, pine branches, and so on. Arrange lights throughout the display, and enjoy.
Photo credit: bhg.com Twinkling Hanging Plants: If you still have hanging plants in your trees that are off-season, put some red and gold ornaments inside them, and maybe a few pine boughs. Wrap some white lights around the baskets and amongst the ornaments for a truly fun and festive look.
Photo credit: ohmy-creative.com Winter Ice Lanterns: A great idea for decorating with nature sparked by Ohmy-Creative is a winter ice lantern. Here's instructions from Pinterest. 1. Fill a 2 liter plastic soda bottle with about 1 1/2 inches of water and freeze. 2. Remove from freezer and place 24 oz bottle inside resting on the ice. Center the 24 oz bottle in the 2 liter bottle and use masking tape to secure in place. Make sure space between bottles is even all the way around. 3. Cut greens from the yard (I used Boxwood) and cranberries to fill the sides. Cranberries float, so place some in the bottom first and then add green on top. Add a few additional cranberries on the sides. When you fill the container with water the cranberries will rise to the top. Another method is to cut off the top of the plastic soda bottle, secure a small glass vase to the bottom, fill space between bottles with cranberries, mistletoe branches, pine needs, whatever you want, and add water. Freeze. Once frozen, cut plastic away from frozen lantern, insert tea lights and use as décor in the snow along your walkways and driveway. These are just a few fast, easy and inexpensive ways to decorate with nature this holiday season. Use your imagination and bits of nature all around you for even more.
