Taking Home Some Holiday Decorating Tips

As you probably know by now I am always looking for free and fun things to do which is why I scout the area libraries' calendars to see what fun and interesting programs they are offering each month. I have been to several events at the various libraries but I do have favorite libraries that I would prefer to visit. One of the events that interested me was Decorating for the Holidays at Little Chute. Even though the hubby is a Grinch when it comes to holidays, I do love the holidays and decorating.

This event was part of the Master Garden Series offered by the KimLit Library and the Outagamie Chapter of the Master Gardener. I am not a garden nor do we have space for garden so I have never attended any Master Gardener event. However, this one seemed to be more my speed.

Well... I was more my speed but way more work than I would consider doing for the holidays. Dumpster Diving or Curb Shopping isn't really my thing even if it's just to steal my neighbor's pine branches... wait I live an apartment that isn't going to happen. I'm not about to cruise random neighborhoods looking for other people's prunings. I'm pretty sure the hubby would think I'm nuts anyways.

The program was done by 2 master gardeners that own a shop downtown Appleton... I'm horrible at remembering names and names of stores. My little bit of Googling didn't get me very far. We first learned different ways to decorate for fall even though it was a week before Halloween.

The one takeaway I may use in the future was white pumpkins. They can be used solo, with other pumpkins, or even as a planter. However, they are not easy to carve to make the planter. Maybe I will just stick with painting them.

The second half of the program was the Christmas season. 

I learned all about chalk painted mason jars -- this is something I could handle and might even try in the future. They are cute, relatively cheap, and very versatile and you make paint them any color.

I also learned how to make my own planter with the "stolen" pine branches. You want to make sure you have a variety of color and textures (great more houses to try to steal these branches from). Then it was just a matter of trying to stick them a big pot that you can stick outside.

 Again we don't have much space outside.. definitely not for a chair and a fence board.. maybe some old school skis though or a sled...

We can use some of those same stolen branches to make a centerpiece for the chalk jars or any other Christmasy looking vessel. Based on our living space, this might only work best on the mantle. It did give me some good ideas to store away in the memory bank.

Since I would have leftover branches from my nightly neighborhood excursions, I would use them to make a wreath too and tie a pretty bow on it.

I honestly thought most of this was way too foo-foo for me and especially the hubby. I like minimal, classic looks. When I showed the hubby the pictures of some of these projects, he actually thought some of them were not too bad. He did like the greenery centerpiece and the chair outside. Some days he surprises.

Will I go out foraging the neighborhood for pine branches this fall? Probably not. If I spot some I might consider swiping them in hopes that I might have some creativity in me to fix the mantle up for all the (non-exist) visitors we get every year.

Overall it was a very informative night. I am not sure how much of my new knowledge I might use. If I was more of a gardener, I probably would attend more of these Master Gardener programs. They are great community outreach programs. Maybe one day I will find another that will work for me.