You can save yourself so much money in decorating if you have access to yards, woods, vacant lots even to gather natural elements to make big impact in your decor. Even greenery and branches that others are throwing away can be a good resource. The December 2012 issue of Martha Stewart Living had a very twiggy wreath on the front cover that was pretty in its simplicity. An article in the magazine had the cover wreath and more wreaths using natural elements After seeing those wreaths, I wanted to try to incorporate some of that look in my yard Christmas decorations along with the snowflake themed items that have been in the attic for a couple years now. For the urns by the front door, I wanted really tall branch and foliage arrangements with lights and some snowflakes (that were going to be repeated in the yard too). Lucky for me, a magnolia tree was in our yard when we bought our house. It has been a good foliage resource. These large branches were rescued from the curbside and spray painted white as a primer coat then silver. The white paint is cheaper than the silver and keeps the silver from seeping into the wood as much. It could be expensive to buy these 4' and 5' branches. The magnolia leaves were also spray painted. I could have left the natural elements their natural color but I thought they would go better with the snowflakes if they were white and silver...and be a little more festive. The magnolia leaves added some visual "weight" to the big arrangements. I think it is hard to find really realistic faux greenery. I do keep my eyes open for the silvery faux foliage pieces on sale to use at holidays. I added the silver foliage I have collected to the urns also. Lots of types of real foliage accept silver spray paint if you like that look at the holidays (I do.) The lights that look branch-y are some that I had gotten at Target in past years. Since nothing but the branches and magnolia was new, the only cost for the arrangements this year was for some spray paint. Now, the wreath IS new this year. After telling you how much money you can save by gathering your own branches, I have to admit the wreath was all "store-bought"! You know the saying, "I have more time than money"? Well, this year I was really short on time so I spent a little money. These wreaths from Jo Ann's had that twiggy look I was after for this year. They were 2 for $28. I had intended to put one on the front door and one on the back door but to get even "twiggier" I stacked them on top of each other and wired them together. "But wait, there's MORE!" The now-double decker wreath looked like it could stand to have even more twigs so I used a coupon at Michael's and got a VERY twiggy wreath to put under the two snowy wreaths. Don't poke you eye out coming in the front door! We just opened the door really wide when going in or out. Here's how the wreath looked from the back: So, altogether, the wreath was about $40. The very twiggy wreath can be taken off of the snowy wreaths and it will be a pretty Spring wreath. You certainly CAN make your own twiggy wreath...here is a tutorial I found. The inside edge of the now-triple decker wreath looked unfinished so I added some silver balls I already had. What started me on my plastic snowflake "collection" were a few really nice snowflakes that I got super cheap at a Hobby Lobby after-Christmas clearance. They are still my favorites but I have not seen them at HL since then. I supplement the snowflake look with ones from the Dollar Tree...which for a dollar are pretty good! Some of the snowflakes were hot glued onto purchased dowels but that got expensive. As an alternative I now cut the straightest branches off my crepe myrtle trees, paint them silver and use them instead. I used the "Buffalo Snow" from Jo Ann's to make my patches of snow around the mail box and in a couple of flower beds. Is that tacky or not? Sometimes I wonder. Oh, well, the neighbors get a kick out of it. (p.s. I live where it almost NEVER snows) I put strands of white Christmas lights up under the batting-like "snow" so that at night it is all twinkling. Last Christmas, almost all my decorations were from gathered greenery (My Holly Jolly Christmas) but I gather stuff all year long to save money. One of my best finds was discarded Springtime flowering pear branches (Roadside Rescue). When I do wedding flowers, I try to gather most of the greenery for those too (DIY Bouquets and Flowers For A Small Wedding) to help the bride with costs. OK, now what follows is totally not about decorating... it is a REAL tangent but I thought it was funny. Click away now if you are hip and understand internet slang and acronyms...you will do a big eye roll if you stay. When I was thinking of a title for this post, I thought the "GIY" (gather it yourself) would be a play off of the popular and well-know acronym "DIY". To be safe, I thought that I should find out if "GIY" meant something else...maybe not so innocent. What I found was that it commonly stands for "Grow It Yourself", "Gross Initial Yield", "Greatness In You", and "Google It Yourself". Hmmm....I looked further into the "Google It Yourself" and found that if someone writes/texts "GIY" to you that they think you have asked a stupid question and you should use the internet to find the answer yourself. A couple or variations on this are "lmgtfy" means "Let Me Google That For You" (for all those who find it more convenient to bother you with their question than taking time to "google" it themselves) and "giyf" or "Google Is Your Friend" ("why are you asking me when you could look it up yourself"). There is even a website www.giyf.com . If someone directs you to that site, you will see a google search box and Bart Simpson writing on a school board "I will use Google before asking dumb questions". So, just FYI, it's not a good thing when someone writes/texts you "GIY".