GIY (Gather It Yourself) To Save Money

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".