I couldn't decide whether I wanted to use fake or live garland. I love live greens in decorations, but I was worried about it ruining the wood on the table. I then searched the local stores for fake garland, but I couldn't find anything I liked that was reasonably priced. Then, after seeing a Pinterest post about making your own boxwood wreath, a light bulb went off...we have boxwood shrubs in our backyard! So I quickly took the girls outside with a pair of scissors, which I ended up having to replace with gardening shears, and gave our boxwood shrub a good pruning. The branches were fairly dry, so I didn't worry about moisture ruining the wood table. The only issue now is that they seem to be getting too dry. Maybe, I'll have to get some fresh clippings to replace the dried out ones mid-December.
I made the glitter trees last Christmas using craft styrofoam cones, glitter scrapbook paper and pushpins. I wish I could take credit for this idea, but alas, I found it online. This was before Pinterest, though, so I don't have a link to where I found it. For the hurricane candle holders, I wanted faux cranberries. After searching all over town and online to find out no one sells fake cranberries, I had to get creative. I thought about buying the twigs with berries intended for wreaths and floral arrangements and cutting the berries off one by one, but that seemed like too much work for not many berries (not to mention, those branches can be pricey when you need a large quantity). Anyway, I hit the jackpot when I found some red wood bead garland at Target. At $4 for one garland, I couldn't go wrong. I simply filled the base with faux snow that I also found at Target and cut the string on the garland to fill around the candle with beads.
