Decorating with Nature
To help get us in a festive mood for the holiday feast, we??™ve
come up with a dozen easy, fun decorating ideas, using only the
abundant gifts of nature.
Simple, non-toxic and absolutely gorgeous, these bountiful,
beautiful ideas are sure to please:
1. Centerpieces: Pumpkins and other winter squashes,
Native American corn, acorns, nuts, grapes, pears, pomegranates,
and apples overflowing from a wicker cornucopia or heaped in a
wooden bowl look abundant and beautiful in the center of your
festal table.
2. Leaf coasters: Autumn leaves make great coasters to
protect your furniture from rings and stains. Oak leaves are
especially tough, leathery, and durable.
3. Natural napkin rings: Tie napkins with raffia and
tuck in a pretty fallen leaf and an acorn, or a cinnamon stick or
two. Guests can add their cinnamon to a pot of hot cider to sip
on, later.
4. Simple arrangements: There is a beautiful Zen simplicity
in a perfect branch bearing colored leaves set into an earthen
vase. Sometimes that??™s all you need for a seasonal and dramatic
focal point.
5. Pumpkin vase: Hollow out a pumpkin and place a cup
inside to hold fresh or dried flowers.
6. Pomanders: Start making them now so they??™ll be ready
in time for Yuletide gift-giving, tree-decorating, and
home-scenting:
Using a darning needle, poke holes in lemons or small oranges,
tangerines, or apples and insert a clove in each hole. Place the
clove-studded fruits in a shallow baking dish filled with a
mixture of ground cinnamon and cloves, turning occasionally, until
the fruits have dried and hardened. (It speeds things along if you
place them on top of a radiator or refrigerator. Plus it will make
your home smell heavenly!) When they are ???cured,??? dust them off,
tie a pretty ribbon around them if you like, and give as gifts,
hang on the branches of your tree, or place them in a bowl at
pulse points in your home.
7. Grapevine: Gather grapevines and twist them into
garlands or wreaths for table, mantelpiece, doorway, or stairs.
Add leaves and berries, if you like.
8. Multiple fruits: Miniature pumpkins, apples,
pomegranates, or pears looks charming placed in a row on a
bookshelf or mantel, or marching up the stairs.
9. Leaf garlands: Stitch leaves together with heavy
thread or tie bunches together and wire them into a garland.
10. Fruit slices: Slice apples crosswise, thinly, and
allow to dry in a warm oven or on top of the radiator. Add to
grapevine or leaf garlands.
11. Decorated votive holders: Glue or tie the following
around the outside of your glass votive candle holders: dried
apple slices, cinnamon sticks, cornhusks, autumn leaves.
12. Decorated tapers: Place tapers in shallow bowls
filled with beautifully-colored Native American corn, or place a
ring of acorns around them, or set them into hollowed miniature
pumpkins or apples.
13. Festive lamps and lights: Glue a pretty leaf to a
nightlight cover, or add autumn leaves to a lampshade.
14. Native Corn: Thread the kernels of Native American
corn to make pretty jewel-like strings to hang in a doorway or
place around a lampshade.
Article Courtesy: Care2.com
