Front Step Decorations

I took advantage of this long holiday weekend and finished the planter for our front steps. I found the planter at the goodwill for $10, gathered branches from our yard, some berry accents from Michaels, fake spruce tips and a couple of decorations from the goodwill. Using white and glitter spray paint I gave the branches a new look. The previous owner left us a couple bags of paver base in the garage so I placed a decent amount in the bottom of the planter to help hold everything in place.

After assembling everything in our utility room, I moved the planter out to the front steps. I'm pretty happy with the final outcome, but think I could use some more 'filler' next year. Either more branches or more spruce tips...but for everything in this planter the cost was about $25 and all I will need to do next year is gather some new branches as I can re-use everything again next year!!

-Amy

Holiday Center Piece - and sister bonding

After living in Colorado for two years, us Jes sisters were long overdue for some quality sister bonding time. So while my husband was out of town - it was our perfect opportunity to have quality bonding time at my new house! We fell asleep just after 10:00 and were up at 6:00 am on Sunday so we made the best of our day together.

After some coffee, coupon clipping, and a trip to Michael's we decided to start on some crafts. I had a couple of projects I wanted to work on and my sister had something in mind as well. So I got started. I've seen a project on pinterest where you put rubber bands on vases and spray paint them white to use as candle holders (http://pinterest.com/pin/177258935303090407/).

Well during a recent trip to the Goodwill, I found three bottles that would work perfect as a centerpiece during the holiday season. There is no room for candles in these bottles so I needed to make them work. At $2 a piece, I couldn't pass them up, I was going to make them work. During a trip to Michael's - I found some berry garland that I figured I could intertwine within the bottles in the center of the table. Below is the final product - total cost is under $15 for bottles and garland (spray paint will be used among multiple projects)!!

Thank you Pinterest for the great idea for a fun, inexpensive, festive centerpiece for the holiday season!