Better Homes & Gardens Hacks

I thought the December issue of BH&G was fantastic.  As I flipped through the pages, 
I spied several ideas that would be easy to duplicate.  


This is what my magazine has looked like for the past few weeks (torn scraps of paper marking pages...the original version of Pinterest!):

I've worked through the projects I bookmarked one by one and here's what I came up with.  

I loved the wreaths hanging over the pictures in this photo.  I hung mine over my old window that was previously on my fall mantel.

The trees in the urns caught my eye in this photo, along with the ring of green apples around the base.  I spray painted an old urn black and used faux pomegranates around the base.

This snowy bird's nest was adorable.  I pulled everything out of my craft drawer, assembled the bowl, and cut a few sprigs off of my neighbor's holly bush.  Done.

The pine cones strung with a beautiful ribbon on the chairs (but how gorgeous is this whole setting?)  I dusted some pine cones with white spray paint (actually, I think it was just primer!  All I could find at the moment...), hot glued the end of the ribbon to the bottom of the cone, and  used a little piece of floral wire to secure the knot to the chair.

One more project I want to do but haven't yet-this couple cuts a slice off the end of their Christmas tree each year and makes an ornament to commemorate the year.  Such a sentimental keepsake!  We don't do a real tree, but I have some aspen logs that I want to slice up and make personalized ornaments out of them.

I already had everything for all of these projects, another reason they were appealing to me and I knew they would be simple (and free!) to accomplish.  Look all around for inspiration.  You don't have to do things exactly like you see them in a magazine or photograph, just use what you have, put your own spin on it, and get your creative juices flowing!




I'm linking up to Debbie Doo's Holiday Copycat Challenge and Centsational Girl.  Come see all of the great craft projects!