Christmas Greens and Outdoor Lights

I love decorating for Christmas. And I love greenery for my outdoor decor. A few weeks ago I 'planted' my front porch arrangement.

Cedar (some cut from my trees), pine, BC cedar, incense cedar...

Holly and yew cut from my shrubs

Seeded eucalyptus and magnolia leaves

 Juniper with berries from my yard

Yew with berries from my yard

Curly willow from my tree that I spray painted gold

Hydrangea from my shrubs that were also spray painted gold

I started with a large 10 gallon pot still filled with the soil used to grow my cucumbers and began sticking in branches. I started with the cedar & pine for the base, then I added the rest of the greens as accent pieces. The BC and incense cedar are draped around the bottom softening the edge and helping to hid the pot. Since the back won't be seen, I didn't worry about decorating it, just filling it with cedar for depth. Sorry, no during pictures.

 Almost finished. Don't you just love the rusty colour of the magnolia leaves? So beautiful...

Before I added the bow, I sprayed the greens with Wilt Pruf. This helps the greenery stay fresher longer, but be sure to spray this outside...what a stink!

I had a set of twig lights that I used in the front yard in the past, but this year I added them to this arrangement so it will be lit up too. I made my bow and added it, stuck in a couple dollar store gold bling, and it's finished! It's the biggest one I've ever made, but I love it.

At night using a flash. I'm keeping the soil well watered until it freezes to help keep the arrangement fresh.

Without the flash you can see the twig lights better. And I promise, I didn't turn them on till December 1st! These are on only for the couple hours to edit and take pictures. :)

At night with all the house lights turned on. You can see the lit wreath on the front door, this is the one I made from scratch. We don't use this front door so I can have the arrangement in front of it.

Nothing fancy in the lights, but I love how Christmasy our home looks. Looking at the pictures, I can see bare spots on the shrubs...I will be looking for new lights on Boxing Day! 

This is the other front door at the top of the driveway. Sorry my car is in the way. You can see the wreath and sled decorated with greenery, too. And you can see our tree in one of the windows!

Our neighbours call us The Griswolds! lol And they hadn't seen the back courtyard, yet! 

Oh, you want to see the courtyard? Okay, I'll go find a picture or two.

 My inflatable snowman and Santa in the courtyard

The lights around the pool room. You can see the courtyard lights reflecting through the corrugated window.

The dining room doors looking out on the courtyard. You can see the snowflake mobiles I made now have lights around them.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the outside of our home. Very festive and very well lit up! 

And now I'm going to whip up some pasta for dinner, crack open a bottle of wine, and put 'White Christmas' in the DVD player. It's been a beautiful sunny fall day and my husband has gone golfing, then to a Christmas dinner with his hunting buddies. Perfect night for relaxing and enjoying one of my favourite Christmas movies.

Do you go crazy with decorating outside like I do? Are your lights all one colour, or multi-coloured? How many have the inflatable figures on their lawn? :)

Have a Very Merry Christmas!


I'm sharing with:

    The Ironstone Nest -   

Outdoor Decor Linky Party

Snowflake Mobile

Christmas is my favourite holiday of the year. I love the weather (nothing like a White Christmas), the movies (my daughter buys me a classic every year), the food (the only time of the year I bake), the festivities (when I'm not working), the decorations (I love all the lights), the atmosphere (everyone is so joyful), and seeing family and friends.

In the beginning of October I found Diane's In My Own Style blog through Pinterest that shows how to make a 'Snowflake Window Treatment'. I fell in love...I collect snowmen and what a great idea for a backdrop.

Diane used a type of 'pom-pom' yarn and with Aleene's Tacky Dots attached snowflakes she cut out of printer paper. So easy, so cute!

In November I got to work...

I picked up the pom pom yarn, Creatology large glitter, foam sheets, and I already had Martha Stewart fine glitter and Elmer's spray adhesive. Yep, I made a lot more work for myself, but I wanted the glitter/sparkle for Christmas. I mean, it's Christmas!! (I didn't end up using the sparkly pom poms in the package below.)

I Googled patterns for snowflakes (forgetting Diane included some in her tutorial) and started making templates. Like Diane, after a few I just did my own thing. It's all in the folding of the paper really, cut whatever you think will look good. 

Then I got my foam sheets and with my knife started tracing out the snowflakes. This wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be...sure they aren't perfect, but once I tidy them up and decorate I don't think you'll be able to tell.

I sprayed the adhesive and sprinkled with the glitter. I used White Gold and Smoky Quartz fine glitter from Martha Stewart and the larger glitter for a bit more accent.

 My second snowflake

Knowing I needed quite a few of these, after cutting 5 from the foam, the rest I just used the paper snowflakes and glittered them. I threaded the snowflakes through skewers and hung them on bottles to dry.

I measured how long I wanted them and cut the yarn. I tied a knot at the top to slip over the S-hooks.

I had S-hooks I'd bought at Ikea in the summer for some of my garden decor. 

These work perfect to hang them from the top of the screen doors.

And now to assemble! I used my glue gun to glue the snowflakes to the pom poms on the yarn.

I had found a package of bells at Walmart and thought these would look cool on the bottom!

 I tied 3 together with a 24 gauge silver coloured wire.

And tied them to the last pom pom. 

They hang quietly for the most part, until the cats decide to play with the balls. 

But so far so good, no damage!

 Hanging in dining room door

My daughter loved them and wanted shorter ones, here's hers hanging in the pool room door to the courtyard out back.

Do you cut out snowflakes to decorated your home for the season? I'm thinking these could be left up past Christmas, don't you think they'd work for the winter decor?

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