Do you balk at the retail prices of holiday garlands and wreaths and floral stems? 
Then you need to head outside, like I do, and harvest some Christmas decorations from your yard and the woods surrounding your home.

I’m Amy from the blog, Atta Girl Says, and I’m happy to be sharing another home decor post here at seven thirty three. Kim is so kind to let me hijack her blog every month.
Because I’m a blogger and I’m part of an online Christmas home tour right after Thanksgiving, I’ve already started Christmas decorating at our house. 
This year, I’ve been very careful to not spend too much money on new decor because I already have an attic full! (Who can relate?)
But I’ve been inspired by all the back-to-nature decor I’ve seen on Pinterest and in the home decor catalogs. But I can’t see paying steep prices for what I can find on a walk in the woods.
So, today, I’m sharing with you a few easy and nearly free crafty Christmas decorations I created out sticks and pinecones and shrubbery I harvested. 

A few years ago, I had the idea that I was going to flock my Christmas tree. But I changed my mind after I bought nine cans of spray flocking.  
I decided to make use of some of that flocking by spraying some pinecones with it and adding them to my mantel garland.

Flocked pinecones also look pretty in a silver bowl mixed with boxwood.
I brought two bags of boxwood clippings home from our recent trip to the North Carolina mountains, and on a trip to see my parents, I filled up the truck with magnolia clippings.

I have plans to make a garland out of that magnolia, but I haven’t quite gotten to that yet.

But I did make a boxwood wreath to hang on the old wooden sled decorating the hearth in our keeping room. 
Have you checked out the prices of preserved boxwood wreaths? Steep!
Mine cost me about 25 cents to make, and it took about 10 minutes to pull together. I just tucked boxwood clippings into a rattan wreath form I bought for a quarter at a yard sale last summer.

Sprigs of boxwood come in handy for all sorts of things, like dressing up a gift or a serving plate. (Be sure to check out my grandma’s homemade icebox fruit cake recipe.)

On my kitchen table, I filled an antique dough bowl with some magnolia boughs, preserved boxwood balls, cotton bolls, evergreen branches, cinnamon sticks, pine cones and moss balls. It’s the perfect all-natural centerpiece, combining a few decorative items I already owned with free foliage.
Now, for my all-time favorite Christmas project from the back yard. All you need are some sticks, some hot glue and two paper cups.

And you can make your own twig deer head mount.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these all-natural Christmas decorating ideas and sneak peeks into my holiday decor.
Are you planning to use natural elements in your Christmas decorating?

Be sure you stop by Atta Girl Says over the next several weeks when I’ll be sharing my entire 2013 Christmas home tour, plus lots of holiday-themed crafts, recipes and DIY projects. I even have a Christmas cocktail recipe I’ll be sharing soon! 
Follow along on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for more holiday previews.

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