Finding time to decorate for the holidays can be difficult, especially when juggling it with kids’ school activities, year-end responsibilities at the office, and an active social calendar (even Trevor and I seem to be out and about more in these months, and that’s saying somethin’). Add the strain on the wallet this time of year, and getting house and home looking festive can be a challenge in more ways than one. When I decorate (and I admit there have been years, especially when the kids were really small, that I completely abandoned it) I need it to be efficient, impactful, and last throughout the holiday season.  Sure, Santa images make an appearance around Christmas, but for the most part the décor definitely needs to be appropriate for several months to make it worth the time and effort.
For the last couple of years I’ve used things from our yard to help round out holiday decorating – red twigs from dogwoods, branches from birch trees, and dried hydrangea blossoms. I can run outside and grab them when I have a few moments free (I’m much more likely to do that than I am to get in the car on a weekend and deal with holiday crowds). Plus, you can’t beat the price. This year I added pine cones to the mix. Spraying pine cones with metallic paint is super easy, helps preserve them, and adds some interesting dimension. For this arrangement, the pine cones were placed around the perimeter of a glass apothecary jar, artfully hiding the stems of the greenery and other items placed inside.
Prevent overspray – create your own “spray booth” by placing the pine cones in a medium to large cardboard box. This method helps the process go quickly, as you can allow an application to dry a bit and then shake up the pine cones and apply another coat at a different angle. Particularly if you are using a mix of paint colors, you don’t need the application to be perfectly even.

Applying a single gold color makes for a striking look.

I don’t suppose anyone’s preference is for artificial rather than natural, but if you want arrangements to last for more than a week, you don’t really have a choice. Avoid the “fake flower” look by using some unusual items such as tallow berries and marmalade-hued globes, as shown above.

Reality Check. For this post I had planned to have the items I mention in the intro – red twigs, birch tree branches and hydrangea blossoms – as part of various arrangements throughout the house (for us to enjoy) and the subject of lovely photos (to share with you). Then it snowed 10 inches. On November 9th.