A storm a couple of weeks ago blew branches from nearby evergreen trees into our yard. We gathered them up for the trash but with the holidays around the corner, I decided to put them to use as free exterior decorations.
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| Pile of branches gathered on the deck |
I gathered a pair of garden gloves, some needle-nose pliers, twist ties and cable ties and got to work. The twist ties were actually salvaged from previous birthday gift packaging. Ever notice how some kids toys are tied to the package? I saved those plastic-coated wires thinking they'd come in handy some day. Well this is the day!
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All the equipment needed to make the evergreen garlands
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| The tree that dropped many long droopy branches, just perfect for garlands. |
To make the garland, I overlapped the beginning of one branch with the end of another branch and used the cable ties to hold them together. The needle-nose pliers do double duty to pull the cable ties super tight and then to cut off the extra tail.
It took about 6 branches to make this piece which was long enough to cover an iron support on the front porch. Take a look at the porch before, during and after. I used the plastic coated wire to attach the garland to the support.
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| About 6 branches attached and ready to hang. |
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| Boring iron support before |
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| Getting better with the garland. |
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| I added some wire edged ribbon to take it up a notch. |
When I finished with the garland, I still had some branches left so I wired them together, added some fake berry sprigs, pine cones from the yard, and a bow. I hung this next to the garage on the other side of the front porch.
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| Homemade swag made from branches that fell into the yard. |
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