MAKE NATURAL DECORATIONS... FOR LESS

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When you've picked all you need, take your pine buckets back indoors and fill them with enough water to cover several inches of the cut ends. Soak them overnight to allow the greens to absorb as much moisture as possible so they'll last all season Iong.

Next, take the nuts and cones home and dry them on a tray in a warm place. Hang—dry the teasels.

Now it's time to unpack the Queen Anne's lace you've dried over the summer. along with the old-fashioned red rose-hips and dried white hydrangeas. Red celosia, lamb's ears, and red and white globe amaranth, which you can grow in your garden and dry, will make striking accents. For those of you living in the South, eucalyptus or Spanish moss should be easy to find. For us Northerners, crafts stores carry both. Pick up a spool of wreath wire while you're there, too.

If you who enjoy a touch of sparkle in your creations, spray-painting the hydrangeas, teasels, bay leaves, or yarrow gold or silver is a clever alternative. This is easily done by sticking the flower stems in a piece of Styrofoam and then spraying them from all sides. Bay leaves can be sprayed on one side, dried, then turned to spray on the other side.

With all your supplies gathered, you're ready to start assembling. If your Christmas spirit is a little slow in coming this year, constructing a garland will most certainly turn your feelings around. Smelling the greens, working with all the unique naturals, and enjoying how well your garland is turning out really injects the spirit of Christmas.

Creating decorations with friends is a marvelous way to share and get new ideas. So put on some Christmas music, heat up some potpourri (another marvelous use for some of the natural dried ingredients listed here), and let your creative spirits flow.

Natural Christmas Garland

Supplies needed: (Alternative materials in parentheses)

• 2 large bunches of dried artemisia
• 6 large branches of fresh white cedar (arborvitae, boxwood)
• 6 large branches of fresh white pine (balsam)
• 6 dried yellow yarrow flower heads
• 6 dried yellow yarrow flower heads spray painted barn red
• 3 ounces of Spanish moss (sphagnum moss)
• 12 dried lambs ears (bay leaves, holly leaves)
• 30 dried Queen Annes lace flowers (yarrow, baby's breath)
• 30 dried red celowia (any red dried)
• 30 dried rosehips (holly berries, canella berries)
• 6 dried hydrangea blossoms (German statice, baby's breath)
• 63-inch pieces of green eucalyptus
•10 white globe amaranth flowers (dried)
• 10 red globe amaranth flowers (dried) (rosebuds,
strawflowers) • 10 hickory shells (any nuts or shells)
• 6 dried teasels (milkweed pods, goldenrod galls)
• 12 small pinecones
• Clippers
• Scissors
• Baling twine
• Small roll of wreath wire
• Hot-glue gun and glue sticks
• Barn red spray paint
• Clear acrylic spray

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