Christmas Decorations

I know it seems a little early in the season to be discussing Christmas decorations. Yesterday the weather was perfect for spending time outside and gathering nature's donations for my Christmas decorating projects.

We live in Ohio and it's been unusually warm and sunny for November, so we were outside taking advantage of it.

Some people were putting holiday lights outside, I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! They're playing it smart by beating the cold weather.

I'm sure they'll be laughing at everyone else that's out in the freezing temperatures putting Christmas decorations on their houses.

I decided to do a little "outside shopping" for Christmas decorations. We went to our favorite park for a picnic lunch and treasure hunting.

We found branches to make a couple Charlie Brown Christmas trees and two bags full of pine cones. I need a lot of pinecones to fill canning jars and a huge hurricane vase I have.

I also want to use pinecones to decorate pedestal cake plates and a centerpiece for our Christmas Eve buffet. I enjoy being creative and coming up with new Christmas centerpiece ideas year after year.

The craft store had small assorted bags of pine cones for $4, little pricey in my opinion when it takes no time to pick them up off the ground.

We also cut ivy to make topiaries. If you like leaves on your holiday trees instead of Charlie Brown trees, take a look at the ivy and eucalyptus topiaries I made.

The Charlie Brown Christmas trees are easy and cost very little to make. I started with two tree branches we found on the ground.

I do crafty stuff all the time so all I had to buy was a can of snow for $1.79. Maybe I'll use it when I create some snowman crafts.

I spray painted the larger tree branch black and decorated it with snow. The smaller tree branch I spray painted white and decorated it with bread dough ornaments our daughter and I made.........seems like centuries ago.

I attached both branches to a piece of board and wrapped them with burlap. I tied the burlap to the tree with twine.

1. Tree branch without leaves
2. Spray paint ( any color you want)
3. Snow, glitter, ornaments or anything else you might want to decorate the tree branch.
4. Board to attach tree branch
5. Long wood screw
6. Burlap or any other type of material you wish to use.
7. Twine or ribbon, to tie the material around the tree branch.

1. Using a drill attach the tree branch to the board with a long screw. ( you may need a helper, four hands are better than two).
2. Drill the screw into the bottom of the board until you see the tip of the screw on the other side of the board.
3. Place the tree branch on the tip of the screw and continue drilling until the screw is all the way through.
4. Spray paint the tree branch with the color of your choice.
5. Let dry; cut a piece of burlap or material to wrap around the board.
6. Tie the material around the branch with twine or ribbon.
7. Decorate the Charlie Brown Christmas tree however you want.

To give your holiday table a casual tone, look at these hand painted dishes. If you like etched glass, see how to achieve the look cheep and easy.

I have a vintage snowman for my front door this year, see how I brought him up to date and be sure to check out the awesome Snowman my friend Vinny decorates.

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