DIY Christmas Crafts with Interior Designer Alice Arnold

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The holidays are not only a special time of the year, but they’re also a great opportunity to gather friends and family together at home, here in Vancouver.

As you’re all sitting together near a roaring fire (we’d like to think), what activities will you enjoy together to pass the time? Furthermore, how will you create that magical holiday environment for those special moments?

According to Alice Arnold, from Marcon Urban Design Group, it’s all about bringing lush nature, colours and textures inside your house.

So, without further ado, in this week’s blog we learn about holiday crafting from Alice, one of Vancouver’s top interior designers. Alice is an absolute expert in holiday decoration, showing us how to create three luxury but inexpensive Christmas pieces for the home.

Project 1: DIY Affordable feature floral arrangement

Supplies:

  • Floral tape: ¼ inch wide, invisible, from any craft store or local garden center
  • Greenery: Branches of Douglas fir, cedar, huckleberry, and flowers such as rose stems – chosen based on the selection available at your local florist.
  • Clear cylinder vase

Step 1: Make a grid on top of your vase using floral tape. Ensure that water is already inside the vase for your arrangement.

Step 2: Take excess foliage off your plants. This means any extra leaves that will simply rot in the water.

Step 3: Arrange within your grid, placing heavier blooms on the bottom, and smaller on top.

This arrangement will brighten any table, or counter in lush, holiday style, just don’t forget to change the water!

Project 2: DIY tabletop wreath arrangement

Supplies:

  • Straw wreath, spray painted green
  • Greenery and blooms: fresh flowers, branches of cedar, pine, or Douglas fir
  • Twine
  • Water picks

Step 1: Cut greenery into five inch pieces

Step 2: Tie twine around form, incorporating bundles of greenery, layered on top of one another

Step 3: Leave space on form for a tie if you want to also hang the wreath

Step 4: Place blooms in a water pick, and then tuck into the greenery, to ensure they last in your arrangement

Ta-da! Place your arrangement on a table, for all of your holiday dinner parties, or hang it on your door. You can even nestle a candle or two into the middle of the arrangement.

Project 3: DIY large, lush entryway arrangement

Supplies:

  • Assortment of greenery: Huckleberry, fir branches, thin birch logs
  • A tall container, garbage can, or box
  • Sand, soil, or rocks to place at the bottom of the container for weight

Step 1: Beginning with your heaviest greenery, start arranging your greenery within the container, using your sand, soil, or rocks as anchors

Step 2: Add daintier greenery to at the end–like stems of berries!

Now that your large arrangement is finished, place it beside your front door as an inviting touch for guests.

You can gather co-workers, friends or family members to take part in the creation of one or more of these holiday crafts as they serve as great bonding activities…and decor for later! Plus, they’ve been vetted by a local interior designer already–so you know they’ll impress your guests.

What are your favourite local activities that you like to share with family and friends that bring you closer during this time of year?

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