Illuminated Outdoor Christmas Planter

Is it just me or are Christmas decorations coming out earlier and earlier every year? 

This fall I was seeing Christmas trees in stores and on social media in mid-October. I love decorating for the holidays, but Christmas in October is just way too early for me!

Here in Southern Ontario, it starts to get pretty cold by the first of December, so I like to start my decorating by adding a few seasonal touches outdoors. A festive arrangement of greenery lit by little fairy lights was my first project. Here's how I made it:

I decided on a star as the centrepiece for my arrangement. Grapevine stars like this can be found at a variety of stores and nurseries (they even have some at the grocery store where I shop). If you can't find a star, you may be able to find a grapevine sphere or other similar embellishment. Birch logs wrapped in lights might also be nice.

In the past, Christmas lights always meant ugly wires in the daytime and long extension cords. 

Now, with these new LED options, the lights are on a fine filament that virtually disappears into the greenery of an arrangement. With the battery packs, there are no long electric cords. I did a couple of projects last winter with these lights and my love affair with them continues this year as well.

I found this set of 60 lights at The Real Canadian Superstore (Michaels has similar sets of lights). The copper-colored string was perfect to wrap around my grapevine star. In the daytime, the copper filament all but disappears. At night, the tiny LED lights make the star sparkle.

To illuminate the star, I began wrapping the lights about 6-8" up from the bottom of the dowel. This will leave a length of the wooden dowel free to be pushed into the dirt of my urn. I also left a length of the light cord-free, so I would have more room to manoeuvre when it came to hiding the battery pack in amongst the greenery.

Once I had the whole star wrapped, I tucked the end of the light cord in amongst the grapevines.

There are so many wonderful options for greenery. To save money, I try to forage as much as possible from the yard and the adjacent woodlot. I harvest responsibly, pruning branches carefully so that I never damage the trees or shrubs I am cutting.

In the shady part of the garden, I am lucky to have quite a number of yews. Every fall they get a good haircut which leaves me with quite a bit of raw material for my winter arrangements. But even with the yew, I don't have quite enough evergreen boughs to fill all my containers, so I also buy mixed bunches of pine, fir, boxwood and cedar at the grocery store. 

To make my arrangement I am using an urn that was filled with annuals last summer. I cleaned out the flowers and left the soil as is. There is no need for fresh soil in a winter container like this. The main purpose of the soil is to hold the evergreens in place.

As an additional measure of security, I also dampen the soil in my arrangement. When it the water freezes, it holds the branches firmly in place.

As with any good container planting, use "spillers, fillers and thrillers" to create a nice arrangement of greenery and berries. 

Begin with the "spillers" that will drape down over the edges of your urn. For this, I suggest long pieces of cedar and pine. Both evergreens have soft stems that allow them to hang down gracefully over the rim of the arrangement.

Next, it's on to the "fillers" that will give the arrangement the fullness you want. 

For this, you can use almost any type of evergreen. I used pieces of boxwood, yew, spruce, noble fur, oregonia and euonymus.

At the end of step 2, the urn has filled out nicely.

Next, I like to add some colorful accents with assorted fruit, berries and pinecones. If you don't have crabapples or rose hips, you can substitute with red winter berries, which are readily available at a variety of stores and nurseries. If you can't find winter berries or they're too expensive, faux-berries would work just as nicely.

I used a mix of blue juniper berries, pinecones and faux red berries in my urn.

The final task is to add your star and the lights. I pushed the star into the centre and tucked the battery pack in behind the greenery. Then I added one additional string of lights.

I found this set of indoor/outdoor lights at Walmart for under $10. It has a green cord that disappears in amongst the greenery in the urn. This light set runs on three AA batteries.

The two battery packs get tucked in amongst the greenery at the back of the arrangement.

Here's the final arrangement all lit up at dusk. 

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Jingle Berry Branches

December is here and it's time to think about decorating for the holidays ahead. Today I am sharing a simple, cheerful little project: jingle berry branches.

To make my faux berry branches you need:

• some very fine wire

• red jingle bells

• wire cutters

• some bare branches (from your garden or foraged respectfully)

• blue ribbon for a bow (optional)

Cut short lengths of wire and pass one end of the wire through the bell loop. 

Twist the wire on your bell closed.

Arrange the branches a pitcher or vase of your choice. This will make it easier to 

determine where to place your "berries".

Loop the wire around the branches a couple of times and snip off any excess. Press any sharp ends of the wire inward with your thumb nail, so you don't end up with thorny berry branches.

I couldn't resist adding a few little bluebirds when I was done.

And there you have it! Festive berry branches that jingle.

I also made an evergreen version. 

To make the evergreen arrangement you need:

• assorted evergreen boughs (from your garden, foraged respectfully or purchased from the store)

• red dogwood branches

• red and gold jingle bells

• wire cutters

• very fine wire

• pine cones

• low heat glue gun & glue sticks

• shish kabob skewers

• faux red berry branches

• red ribbon for a bow (optional)

Fill your the pitcher or vase with fresh water and arrange your evergreen boughs. (Tips: Try to strip away any evergreen needles that will be sitting below the surface of the water. This will help the water stay fresher longer. Cedar and pine branches spill nicely, while fur boughs add an upright element to the arrangement.)

Insert the red dogwood branches, which can be cut from the garden or bought from a florist or store.

Add pinecone pics to the arrangement. (These can be pricey to purchase, so I make my own.) 

How to make the pinecone pics:

Create snow by brushing some white latex paint on the tips of your pinecones. 

Set aside and allow to dry.

The wooden sticks are just shish kabob skewers purchased at the Dollar Store.

Put a generous blob of hot glue at the bottom centre of your pinecone. Take a shish kabob skewer and twirl it in the blob of hot glue to coat the end of the stick. Shift the stick into its proper upright position and hold it for a minute until the glue sets.  

Use fine wire to tie the red "berry" bells to the evergreen bows. Use the same wire to tie gold jingle bells to the dogwood branches. (Note: These bells were one size up from the bells I used to create the previous jingle berry arrangement.)

Finally add some faux or real berry branches to the arrangement for that extra bit of holiday cheer.

Keep the water in your pitcher or vase fresh and the arrangement should last for a couple of weeks.

If you have a minute, check out the DIY holiday ornaments on my home page.