THE CAVENDER DIARY

Have y’all ever shopped for silk pine garland and been severely disappointed by the poor quality?

Yeah, we have too.

That’s why we have a few inexpensive tricks that we use to “beef up” that thin crappy garland the stores sell.

Here’s what we got from Michael’s, or Jo Ann’s, or Hobby Lobby…wherever….same crap.

At least it was half off. So it was only $3 a package.

I don’t want to bore with too many tedious “in process” photos, so here are the condensed garland step-by-step photos.

1. Single garland strung along the doorway on nails (pretty wimpy looking)
2. A Second garland pulled over the top of the first (I know, cleaver and better already)
3. B-lights and Red pearl lights woven through both (not bad, but it gets better)

I think y’all get the idea.

I’m crazy about these vintage punched tin reflectors.

They fit over C-7 lights. C-7s are the “old-timey” screw-in outdoor lights your Grandparents used. Not the great big ones, those are C-9s. These are slightly smaller (and NOT LED – these reflectors won’t fit LED’s because they don’t unscrew).

See where this is headed?

Next, I wove in a strand of clear C-7 lights with the vintage tin reflectors.

Remember those scrap branches the Christmas tree lots have? The ones we made that beautiful wreath out of? They will give them away if you ask. FREE

We brought home a carload of them.

My garland will look less “shaggy” if all the branches are about the same size…….So I trimmed everything down to about 10 to 12 inches long.

Starting from the bottom, I just inserted the branch pieces into the garland all aimed in the same direction. Just like when I made that wreath. Overlapping and hiding all the heinous cords is the goal.

The wire in the garland helps hold everything together….I use the crappy garland like “twist ties” to keep the fresh pieces in place where I need to.

I made sure to pull the lights through the branches as I went. A few tucked away will give a soft glow, but most of them should be exposed to “air” if possible.

The finishing touch was a handful of plastic berries from the craft store….just tucked in randomly.

Done….

Now isn’t that Way, Much, More Better than that thin craft store garland?

Nothing says “Christmas in Texas” more that a wreath with a dead animal on it.

In the cool shade of the front porch, our pine garland will stay pretty fresh for the next couple of weeks. It’s the heat for the indoors that would dry it out in a few days.

And Yes. We did paint the door red just for the holidays.

Martha Stewart “Barn Red”, (Same color on the Big Barn Wood Star)

Thank you for noticing.

Now go make a garland…….