Christmas Needn’t Cost the Earth. Part 2. Natural Decorations
Natural Decorations
Christmas Needn’t Cost the Earth. Natural Decorations
Christmas decorations that are sustainable, homemade and natural have got to be winners in our book, and when they look as good as this Christmas star and are easy to make it’s a no-brainer.
I hear that pampas grass is having a comeback in interior design. I remember when pampas grass in a front garden was code for swingers living there, but we’ll not cast any assertions on our farming neighbour who most generously lets me trim his pampas before winter sets in.
Christmas Needn’t Cost the Earth. Natural Decorations
I went on a gathering mission earlier in the season and tied bundles in the shed. Gather dried grasses, seed heads and anything you think will look good for decorations when the weather is dry and store them in a dry, cool place ready for use. Make sure you only take what you need, as when the weather gets cold seed heads to provide valuable food for birds.
Natural Christmas decorations
We love growing honesty, and its random way of self-seeding guarantees these silver discs are in plentiful supply. We get ours from Ben from Higgledy Garden. Just rub the brown casings off with your thumb and forefinger to reveal the treasure. I love how a small sprig of honesty and a fir cone make this charming little angel. I used a glue gun to stick a ready-made felt ball on top of the fir cone and added either an acorn cup or a small sprig of dried lichen as hair. Suspend with a piece of thread and there you have a very cute, natural tree decoration.
Back to our star!
Natural Christmas decorations
The framework for the star is quite simply a block of dry oasis with a garden cane threaded through and then tied onto the window handles. You can experiment in your house to see where it could hang. If it can’t hang, make a standing decoration – place the oasis in a dish and tie it on, taking the string right around the oasis and dish.
Natural Christmas decorations
Now it’s just a question of arranging your grasses, teasels and seed heads. I started with teasels to give structure, my memory going back to my mother doing the flower arranging in church. It’s all about balance – Then simply build up your sculpture – make sure you add depth by allowing some to come forwards. The oasis is finally covered using bits of old man’s beard that had gone fluffy in the airing cupboard.
If your finances allow the cost of the electricity, a few soft white lights threaded through to bring this alive at night and make a fantastic window piece. However, it still looks great without the lights.
Easy peasy, making good use of what we have and reducing the drain on our planet’s precious resources.
ice sculpture. natural decorations
I’ve been loving seeing your ice sculptures. Haven’t we been having the perfect weather for them? It’s forecast to be -8 here tonight. Here’s one from Ann in Northumberland who shared this on Twitter (@suereedwrites) and tells us that she’s getting all her sisters to make them. Apart from the one in Australia!
Christmas Needn’t Cost the Earth – Ice Art.
We are giving lots of homemade gifts this year and Tim has his Papa Elf hat in and is beavering away in the garage, but I can’t tell you what he’s making – walls have ears! I’m off to bottle the sloe gin earlier and boil up some fudge for friends’ gifts – I’ll write more on sustainable gift-giving later. Do let us know what you are making for Christmas, and remember, Christmas really doesn’t need to cost the earth.
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You might enjoy some of the writing and ideas in other sections of this website, as we look towards leading more sustainable lives by growing our own food and creating dishes in line with seasonal eating, or head to our handy ‘Month by Month’ guides to find out what we have been doing here at Bridge Cottage as the months go by:
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