Tuesday

Stairway Post Swags From The Woods

Usually before the snow flies I go to the woods and gather some raw product for making porch decorations, boughs and to hang on the stairway rail inside.

Bliss-Ranch.com Natural Christmas Greens

I like to line the outside window ledges with all the things I can find in our woods, wrap them with white lights and have no cost decorating, even though on a snowy year none of it is visible.

Bliss-Ranch.com Natural Christmas Greens
This time of year the yard has a bounty of dogwood shrubs with more than enough red leafless branches to add a red festive touch.

Bliss-Ranch.com Natural Christmas Greens
Dogwood branches look particularly nice on the porch sprinkled with a little glitter and coupled with an old sled.

Old Sled Bliss-Ranch.com

But I didn't do that.  The snow came early.  The sled is bare.

I didn't hunt and prune in November because it was too darn cold, and the optimist in me thought the early snow would surely melt and I would gather branches then.

Wrong.

For the past 20 years I have wrapped a stairway with lights and greens, but that early snow didn't put me in the mood to stomp through the cold to get at what I needed.

Bliss-Ranch.com Natural Christmas Greens

So instead I cut only a few greens, and a few reds that were easily accessible.  I gathered old bows and put together some simple swags with what I had on hand from the yard and from bins, and hung them on the stairway posts.

Bliss-Ranch.com Natural Christmas Greens

I wanted just a touch of white frost and Dollar General had cans of spray snow for $1.75 each.
The last time I bought spray snow it was almost four dollars a can.  That was because there were no dollar stores conveniently located.

Dollar General isn't the kind of store where everything's a buck, but I considered $1.75 a better buy than almost four dollars.

Bliss-Ranch.com Natural Christmas Greens

I also wanted a flocked Christmas tree and the tree farms around here don't flock.

What's up with that?  Guess they figure if I want the snowy look I can stand my tree in the yard.

While the canned snow will work decent on a small area like the post swags, unfortunately it won't give a nice thick flocking on a tree, but we gave our Christmas tree a dusting of it anyway.

Bliss-Ranch.com Natural Christmas Greens

I think next year I'll put up a tree flocking sign at the end of the driveway... maybe flocking trees will be my claim to fame and how I make my millions.



Linking up with the 3rd annual all things dollar store @DebbieDoos


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24 comments :

  1. I can see the sign now. Get flocked here!! I use greenery, pinecones and berries from my yard to decorate the outside planters but I haven't brought any of it inside. Silly me! Since we're not doing a real tree this year, I should cut some branches to bring in so we at least get the smell near old fakey. I thought the snow on your windowsill was very realistic looking faux at first! Wow!!

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  2. beautiful! i love using natural elements. all of the pine in my tour was clipped from my own yard. next year maybe i will be ambitious and make my own garland. i thought i would this year but ain't nobody got time for that.

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  3. It all looks so pretty. You have done a great job and it feels so Christmasy!

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  4. I think it looks great. It's a different kind of year. It seems colder faster and can't get as much done.

    Hugs from Oklahoma,

    Valerie
    Cottage Making Mommy

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  5. That is beautiful, Bliss...so nice you can use things from your yard, With the early cold and snow we have done very little outdoors this year, but I've heard it is going to be warm this weekend...maybe I'll cut some greens and dogwood sticks from our yard!

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  6. I love the look of a flocked tree. May have to get something next year.

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  7. So pretty! I love what you did and that you used natural elements. Why don't I ever think of borrowing from nature?

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  8. Everything you make is unique and from your home...I wish we had snow! It makes things look so beautiful. The winter landscape is still fairly green down here.

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  9. I love fake snow!!!! I used it really, for the first time this year. Long ago, I recall dusting window glass with it, but this time I used a 5 cent can I got from an estate sale (for the vintage can). It totally still worked! I like your idea of snow VS. tromping around in it! Smart lasy :))))

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  10. How great is it to be able to take a walk and gather your own evergreens? Well, not when it's freezing or 6 inches of snow out there. We used to have a few evergreens in our backyard but the roots were doing a lot of damage to our pipes so we had to have them removed. I used to cut branches to use at Christmas in various ways.

    Now the self-flocking (as in not having it done at a nursery or wherever...and not to be confused with flocking your own "person"), I never heard of this canned stuff. I have to look for it. It looks very pretty, Bliss!

    Happy Holidays!

    Jane xx

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  11. You're so resourceful, Bliss! Love those swags... and I love me some canned snow, too. What's a preschool bulletin board without canned snow?? ;-) Stay warm!
    xo Heidi

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  12. I've been flocking this year. I sprayed some thrift store wreaths. They look pretty good. One year I sprayed the snow around my big picture window. NEVER again. It dried on there, took forever to get it off. We hardly ever get snow here...maybe this year.

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  13. I took down the fall decor from my front porch, then my November was similar to yours, too cold too quick. There is still zero winter stuff out there. Perhaps my neighbors think I moved out....
    You may want to reconsider that sign at the end of your driveway. You may end up drawing some clientele with limited vocabulary skills and a misunderstanding of what you're offering.

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  14. Very clever idea Bliss! Looks beautiful. Glad you shared it at the Dollar Christmas party. XO

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  15. I have found some good flocking spray at the Hobby Lobby that stays on my fake trees for about 6 years. That's not bad. Check with a florist for the flocking - that's who does flocking around here.

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  16. I would love to hunt and gather my own twigs and swag material. Not much of it around here though. Your swags look great.

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  17. I can see the sign now: Bliss the old Flocker.

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  18. Love them!! I got my flocked tree out of a box from Walmart ;)

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  19. I had to google "flocked Christmas tree." No lie. I love your swags. They're very swaggiful.

    -andi

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  20. I lucked out and my mother's friend gave me a huge bag of fresh cut greens this year. I totally agree with you, November was way to cold to be out there hunting and gathering. Your swags turned out pretty and I like the flocking you did. Tree flocker. Sounds naughty.

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  21. Beautiful!!! I love the image of the snow on your creations!!! I'm all about flocking this year!

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  22. I didn't hang greenery on my stair case railings either. I like your alternative though. You did such a professional looking job. I've used that canned snow before on wreaths and pinecones. It really does a decent job. I get it at Walmart for about a dollar a can. I guess the snow will stick around there for a while huh? Hope you can still get around in it.

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  23. My goodness. Your home is one people dream of for Christmas. All your thoughtful decorations look beautiful even if this year it's a bit more bare. It's still so lovely.

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  24. I hope you and yours are ok Mrs. B. I'm the blogger who doesn't blog much, and you're the blogger who does so I'm a bit concerned about you.
    I hope that you are just busy and I hope you have a lovely Christmas xx

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