• Sad to say, our scrabble game is still in the plastic wrap that it came in five years ago! While we wait to find time to actually play the game, we're digging the fun idea of using the pieces to create perfect festive messages.
• Simplicity at its best! Snip some sprigs from your Christmas tree and add them to your champagne flutes with a splash of water. Anything this easy and elegant is always welcomed in our home!
• Newspaper, old book pages (that have fallen out of course!), and brown paper bags have always been my favorite wrappings paper, and I especially love the idea of adding to the simple charm by using twine and sprigs of green as package embellishments.
• After using the contents, wash our your cans, peel off the label, and poke a few holes using a hammer and large nail. Attach a handle using wire (we used metal picture hanging wire), yarn, or kitchen twine. Then, place a candle inside for perfect custom luminarias.
• Using dental floss or fishing line to suspend a branch from the ceiling over your dining table, and add a little sparkle by snagging a few glittery ornaments from your tree.
(Images: 1, 4: Better Homes and Gardens, 2: Sunset, 3: An Angel At My Table, 5: Country Living)
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Wooden alphabet blocks are some of my favorite all-purpose holiday decorations. I have a big bucket of very old ones that I picked up at a thrift store years ago, and I always use them to make holiday messages - or just to post words or sayings that I find funny or motivational.
I take some epsom salt and poor it in the bottom of jars, or candle holders to imitate snow. Then you can load up those jars with ornaments, pine cones, or a candle. The candle light will flicker off the "snow".
Great idea to trim from your own tree! I love the idea so much that I'm off to do it right now. What a great way to do double duty, especially since one corner of my tree is not visible to anyone.
Apothecary jars are your friend. They can hold seasonal flowers or fruit, Halloween or Christmas candy, ornaments, etc. - just change the contents to reflect the time of year.
For our annual holiday party, where guest drink out of disposable cane glasses anyway, I fill all our wine glasses with pinecones and a few strands of interspersed tinsel and spread them throughout the house. So pretty!