If I were a cuter person I'd title this one "Darlin' Garland", but I'm not, and I can live with that

When the Holiday season rolls around (or, as it does around here, pulls up shrieking and smoking from excess speed), I tend to step into the studio (hahahahaha) and say to myself, "Self, there's got to be something festive and moderately attractive somewhere in this mess." This year visions of soft blue and white decorations on the mantel danced in my mind--maybe something like frosted jars and mercury glass filled with blue glass ornaments and delicate snowflakes, accented by peacock plumes for panache. I know: expensive tastes. But it's no good having foie gras wishes on a bologna budget. So I entered the "creative zone" with an open mind.

The first thing I saw were some pine cones gathered from under the pine tree in the yard. "Seasonal," I thought. "Workable, could be a jumping off point.) And then I spied a jar of beads from a garland given to us fourteen years ago--which split asunder ten years ago, and which has been waiting in that jar for just such a moment. A plan hatched itself somewhere in the depths of my imagination.

Ultimately my materials list became:

• pine cones 
• beads 
• white spray paint (left over from another, non-studio, project)
• green felt (originally intended to be made into a bag, but not enough yardage left after various projects through the years)
• wire ( Left over from making corsages a couple years ago. Not even eleven wrist corsages can use up an entire spool of florist's wire.)

I sprayed the pine cones with the paint to make them frosty looking--because when one lives in a desert one's white Christmas is limited to what one can create artificially.

When they were dry I wired them together in groups of three, adding wired red beads (also in groups of three) to each group. (The odd-shaped objects in the jar and on the work surface are "hunny" pot beads, It had been a Winnie the Pooh garland at one point. Someday I'll find a use for those things.)

I cut the felt into wide strips, then persuaded my son Jay to "feather" them--cutting from the sides toward the middle. When he was done I used a long running stitch with embroidery floss to loosely gather the felt into a long strand. When I was finished, I "smushed" the garland in my hands to separate the feathered edges and to produce a more natural look (Well, as natural as one can be when suggesting fir with felt.)

I wired the pine cone and berry groups more or less equally along the length of the emerging garland, then added additional berries in between groups. (And tucked the wire ends underneath--much neater looking than the picture, taken before said step, suggests.)

That was it. Once it was hung by the chimney with extreme care, it looked pretty good. A fun project with a great price for my favorite time of the year. (The "mirror" there on the mantel is another fun "studio story". Thrift store frame, aluminum foil, dish soap, and black shoe polish. Faked my sister out the first time she saw it.)