Sorry about the lack of posts; life has been busy. Enough of the whining and on with the Christmas Decorating!
I decided that I wanted to put up a few decorations in the backyard. We walk through the yard several times a day to get to the driveway and garage. So the front yard decorations are mostly for the neighbors enjoyment. I thought it made sense to add some color to the area that we actually use. It all started months ago when I saw this image on Pinterest.
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Image via BHG
I thought well that is pretty cool. I turn my birdbath upside down in the winter and it always looks a little sad. That would be a fun and relatively easy way to add some color in the middle of winter. So the other day a made a trip over to Home Depot to take a look at the Martha Stewart Christmas decorations. They had some nice sets, but when I saw these giant ones I was sold (similar to this set but bigger). It included 9 giant (approximately 8″ dia) ornaments and was $21.99. I also stopped by the dollar store to grab some smaller ornaments to fill in.
I got out some thin green florist wire, a pine branch, and some other random materials. First I had to figure out how I was going to lay out the ornaments. I tried several different stacking methods and decided that it made sense to start with 5 on the bottom.
After a good bit of trial and error including trying to use foam blocks, I went with a half brick with wire wrapped around it for the base. I attached the 5 large ornaments together with a single piece of wire and then attached that to the wire that was around the brick. I also infilled with a few smaller ornaments and tied them to the rest. Then I repeated with the remain 4 large ornaments and a few smaller ones, being careful to attach them all back to the bottom.
I am happy with the result, especially considering it took about a half hour. It could use a little more fill in but it is not something I look at up close, so for now it is done. The ornaments are all the “shatter proof” variety. I assume this means that they are plastic and not glass. I am not sure how they will handle being outside for the season, but I decided it was worth a try.
For good measure I also put up some greenery on the back gate, along with a pre-made bow.
All told I spent about $29 for the backyard. Not too bad.