DIY Network

Christmas Decorating on a Budget Make decorative vases from recycled jars, pitchers or bottles! From "DIY Crafts" episode DIC-165

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Decorate old jars and bottles with dried leaves for the holidays. Figure A Figure B Melinda Graham decorated a glass pitcher with poinsettia leaves and petals with dramatic results. It could be used as a container for a real poinsettia. Make your own potpourri for a delectable holiday scent. Figure C Figure D Figure E

Craft expert Melinda Graham explains how to make decorative vases from recycled jars, pitchers or bottles and pressed leaves or flowers. Then she makes inexpensive potpourri from items at home.

Materials:

Glass bottle, jar or vase
Dried leaves or flower petals
White glue
Paintbrush
Scissors
Polyurethane sealer, spray or brush-on

1. Press leaves between the pages of a heavy book for about a week. Try ivy leaves, fern or poinsettia foliage or flower petals.

2. Paint the back of the leaves with white glue, and stick them onto a glass bottle, jar or vase. Overlap the leaves for full coverage. Paint over the top of the leaves with white glue (figure A).
   

3. Use scissors to cut off any leaves or petals that extend over the bottom of the jar (figure B).
   

4. When the glue is dry, coat the bottle entirely with spray- or brush-on polyurethane sealer.

• Wash jars by hand, not in the dishwasher.

Homemade Potpourri

Materials:

Large wooden mixing bowl
Sheet moss
Vanilla and cinnamon essential oils--or other scents of your choice
Dried orange slices
Dried apple slices
Dried lemon slices
Whole nuts
Acorns
Pinecones
Pine needles
Eucalyptus leaves
Whole cloves
Cinnamon sticks
Fabric squares
Wire or ribbon

1. Pull sheet moss apart into small pieces. Add about half a small bottle of vanilla essential oil--or another scent of your choice. Using your hands, work the oil into the moss, which will hold the scent (figure C).
   

2. Add dried fruit slices, nuts, pinecones, eucalyptus leaves, cloves, cinnamon sticks or whatever you have on hand (figure D).
   

3. Place some of the potpourri in the center of small squares of fabric, tie them with wire or ribbon, and put them on the Christmas tree. When guests come to the house, give them a potpourri ornament as a holiday remembrance (figure E).

RESOURCES :
Melinda Graham
Surroundings by Melinda
Morgantown, WV 26505
Phone: 304-296-3770