Christmas and Southern Magnolia Decorating

Living in Texas

we enjoy our gorgeous Magnolia trees

and especially at Christmas time.

About mid November

we trim our Magnolia trees where needed

to shape them before the winter.

I then save those branches in

a bucket of water outside to keep them fresh

till it's time to work with them.

Today was a warm near 80 degree day

but tomorrow we are predicted to

have ice and very cold weather.

So while the weather was nice,

I brought the branches into the garage

and began designing a wreath

and a few garlands.

To begin, I lay out all the branches

and gather the size of leaves I'll need for the wreath.

I use a simply green Styrofoam round  wreath

from the Dollar Store.

This one is about 14" round.

Next, I begin to cut the leaves and stems

and hot glue them on the wreath.

Going in one direction, I hot glue the leaves

to the top, front of the wreath

 and around the sides and inside area.

Moving the leaves up and down for interest and a natural flow.

Once completely covered, it looks something like this.

The bottom leaves are placed in a cluster of three, 

where I plan to place a simple silk ribbon.

This is the backside.

No need to glue leaves to the back.

Just place enough around so you do not see the wreath.

The hot glue works great with

these strong thick leaves.

Once complete and the ribbon in place,

I hung it over a picture in our family/library room

using an over the door hanging hook.

Some years ago

I found these darling little flower light covers

and place them on the mantel spray.

This room is home to many vintage ornaments

on my skinny tall tree, displayed in a vintage bowl

and a few under this cloche.

Remember that cloche stand?

I shared in a post HERE repurposed from

an old lamp.

For the garlands,

I left the rest of my branches in place

 and wired them to evergreen garland

for a full lush style.

This hutch is across the room from the

mantel.

In our dining room,

I add the leaves to evergreen atop the hutch.

Tiny little lights tucked in the garland.

In the entryway,

I add more of the garland on this old curio cabinet.

So there you have it.

My decorating with Magnolia branches and leaves for Christmas.

Easy, fun and free,

except for the wreath, which was a dollar!!

Hot glue and ribbon already in my stash~

 And in a few weeks when the holiday is over,

they will be dried out and I'll simply throw them away.

The inexpensive wreath and all.

****

Oh and for one more thing~

A new use for a vintage mixing tool.

I bent back the wire leaving the last wire flat to stand.

And now I have a card holder or mail keeper!

Thank you for stopping by.

Think of us as we face an ice storm.

Hopefully we won't lose power.

When I grew up in Michigan,

we used to say,

"wait a minute and the weather will change"

Well, we say the same thing here in Texas.

One day it's 80 degrees and the next,

ice and freezing rain!

~~Have a special December Day~~

Hugs,

from the Lone Star State!

Celestina Marie