Is it faux pas to use fall’s pumpkins for your winter holiday decor?  Perhaps — but not when pumpkins are repurposed into a winter wonderland mantle-scape!  I simply could not let all of my pumpkins go to waste after Thanksgiving, and I turned the white pumpkins into a friendly, au natural snowman.  Although it’s hard to see in the photos, I glittered the pumpkins to give them an extra zing of winter cheer.  This would be a great project for kids as well, giving them free reign to choose the right eyes, nose, mouth, and other snowman characteristics.

We don’t have much of a winter wonderland feel living close to the beach, but I wanted to recreate that aura inside of our house.  I picked up tree trimmings from my local Home Depot (these are the bottom branches that are cut from purchased trees and are free for the taking) and created a mini-forest amidst antique apothecary glass bottles and a birch bark vase.  Red paper cardinals from an upcycled card dot the forest, as does our family monogram, which was made with floral wire and those ever-so-useful free trimmings!   The best part is that the total cost for our holiday decor this year was $0! 

I wish you the happiest of holidays, filled with cheer, treasures, and good tidings.  I can’t wait to share 2010 with you!