Coloring Your Home With Seasons of Joy

You can transform your home for the holidays with any size budget and create a gorgeous setting to be enjoyed by both family and friends. Many stunning and elegant decorations can be made to adorn your home for the holidays for little or no cost.  The following will help you create the perfect decorations to color your home with seasons of joy.

Pine Cones

One of the best items to start with when you are planning your decor is pine cones. If you’re lucky enough to have pine trees in your yard; you have access to a free supply. Following is a few ideas of how to work pine cones into your home’s holiday decor.

Pine Cone Ornaments

1. Spray cones with metallic spray paint
2. Set out on newspaper to dry
3. Tightly tie a loop of string on top of cone and hang on tree

Miniature Trees: Pine cones displayed as miniature Christmas trees make a beautiful table decoration

1. Select a few candle holders to hold the cones
2. Select cones that have opened and have few flaws
3. Decorate the cones like a Christmas tree by gluing small sequins or jewels
4. Fill the candle holder with Styrofoam
5. Glue the bottom of the cone to the Styrofoam
6. Add a tree topper such as a cut out star adorned with glitter

Pine Cone Wreath

If you’re feeling ambitious, you may want to try making this beautiful pine cone wreath that can be used year after year.

• Supplies:
  • 60 small, closed pine cones
  • One grapevine wreath
  • One sheet moss
  • fishing line or nylon thread
  • hot glue gun
  • 18 large pine cone halves

• Directions:
  1. Cover front and sides of wreath with moss
  2. Secure moss with line or thread
  3. Apply large halves around wreath in a circle with hot glue gun
  4. Attach smaller cones to fill in spaces between large cones
  5. Allow to dry overnight and hang with hook or nail

Greenery

Using greenery is an economical way you can make beautiful decorations for the holidays. Greenery can be cut from trees or picked up at Christmas tree stands.

Greenery Swag

• Supplies:
  • Wire coat hanger
  • Chicken wire
  • Enough evergreen to make six bundles
  • Green pipe cleaners
  • Two bundles of winter berries
  • Two apples
  • Large holiday bow

• Instructions:
  1. Pull the wire into a diamond shape
  2. Cut the chicken wire to fit on the wire frame and attach by bending the wire around the hanger
  3. Starting at the bottom, attach the bundles of greenery with pipe cleaner
  4. Attach the berry bundles with pipe cleaner near the center top
  5. Push a hole through the apples
  6. Pull pipe cleaner through the apples and attach above the berries
  7. Attach the bow to the top

Transforming your home for the holidays is not only a fun project to do with friends or family, but it also can jump-start your holiday cheer, revamps your décor, and can encourage you to be more crafty. And if you happen to be a procrastinator, not a DIY-er, and on a strict budget, fret not—some companies sell holiday decorations at an affordable cost. Just try to prepare yourself as early as you can and remember that decorating can be done in more ways than one—get creative, think outside of the giftbox, and color your home with the holiday spirit!

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Caroline Casetti is a new homeowner and an aspiring artist with experience in humanitarian work and freelance writing. She typically writes about community involvement and home improvement, but has taken the time to provide a few tips on how to spruce your home for the holidays.

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