Organic Ideas for the Festive Season

DIY Organic Decorative & Gift Ideas for the Festive Season

I love to bring nature into my home. With organic elements around me, I feel connected to the beauty of the natural world. It begins with a wander through a forest, the beach or mountains. It keeps me grounded and connected. Each season has an array of colours and raw materials that can be used in creative ways around the home.
As Thanksgiving and Christmas are on our doorstep, designing your own decorations and gifts adds a beautiful personal touch. I love giving handmade presents - not just because it's such a joy to see the receivers face light up, but also because it's been a creation of love and consideration.
​Keep in mind, it needn’t be complicated or difficult. It may just be creative wrapping or an extra ornament that you made yourself attached to the gift. Keeping it simple is important and also for those who don’t have hours to spare before the festivities begin. Let’s face it, for some people Christmas can be a little stressful. I know, while I'm being creative, it also connects me to the reason I'm creating - to give, share and express beauty and love with others.

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DIY Creation Ideas
Try out these ideas below or create your own!
​Any or all of the Elements of Nature can be used in your creations.

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Wall hanging
The hanging (or drape) is designed not just to feature on a wall, but also to hang in a specific area (e.g. corner of a room) or anywhere where you feel it will compliment the space.
Along with your raw materials, you’ll need some wire, leather or string to tie your materials together. Choose your styles, colours and theme (a classic is an ocean theme for the bathroom - accentuating it with a Christmas-twist can make it interesting!). Leave a loop at the top to hang your design from a hook. Either tie knots or thread the string/cotton/leather through any holes in the items you choose to use. Threading beads can also help hold the objects in place.
Wall hangings can be large and chunky or fine and delicate depending on the effect you are envisioning.

Some alternative hanging designs:

• Use an entire branch, big or small, (which can be hung from the ceiling or a rail, etc) and other objects and items can be tied from the branch limbs.
• ​Large pieces or strips of materials and beads (Festive or Fall/Winter colours) hung from a long piece of wood.

Christmas Ornaments
Designing Christmas ornaments can be highly creative, and can also depend on family customs. A little sparkle can go a long way and it doesn’t take a lot of time to paste some glitter onto pinecones, feathers or dried leaves. Another idea is to paint or draw lines, dots and shapes in symmetrical patterns on stones or other organic items; and again, choose your theme. Although a lot of families pass along ornaments and decorations from generation to generation, it’s also a beautiful touch to include something new, artistic and hand-made.

Frames
Box frames are particularly good to visually accentuate the 3D look. Frames don’t necessary only have to have prints or photographs. Your favourite greeting cards can be framed or in this case, a collection of stones, feathers, intricate bark formations or everlasting flowers. You can also experiment with painting the frame itself.

Pouches
Handmade leather pouches are a beautiful way to give gifts (such as necklaces, perhaps smaller more delicate gifts or sacred objects). Make your design as simple or as elaborate as you wish! A hole-punch may be needed if you're using leather to create holes for sewing (with cotton, leather or sinew).

1. Choose your material (e.g. deer, elk, etc)
2. Cut two identical pieces of your chosen leather to the size of your liking (small, medium or large)
3. Sew both pieces together around the edges (leaving the top section un-sewn as an opening)
4. Turn pouch inside out
5. Bunch the top of the bag together and wrap with a leather strip 1/3 of the way down

Organic gift wrapping
If you feel like giving your Christmas experience even more of an organic edge, wrap gifts in recycled paper (using pages from an old map, book or calendar, etc) with string and a sprig of wild lavender, sweet basil, rosemary or wild flowers. For that extra mile and artistic look, flick a small amount of paint from a paintbrush onto the middle section of the wrapping paper. Make sure you let it dry before you wrap  :)

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Elements of Nature

Asking permission is the most important element before going on an adventure to find pieces of nature for hangings or designs. Please check and make sure you have permission to remove those items from that area or space. Some areas, such as National Forests have protection laws forbidding people from removing anything from the preserve (such as stones or shells from the beach, etc). Some feathers are also only allowed to be collected by native peoples. Out of respect for nature, it is always a good thing to ask the land if you can take (whatever the object is) to share it’s beauty in your home.

The objects or items are another important aspect. Firstly, because the process of finding the pieces connects one to nature. For me, I often find things that come across my path when I am exploring; on a trek, just wandering by the beach or perhaps even on a spiritual ceremony. 

• Wood: Branches, bark or pieces of wood can have amazing texture, shape and so many variations of uniqueness.
• Stones & Shells: Stones are also beautiful for decoration; pebbles or shells from the beach, stones in the garden or unpolished crystals.
• Feathers: Like most things in nature, there are so many different forms of feathers and also different ways you can enhance them (e.g. with glitter or hand painting colours and patterns).
• Foliage, seeds & nuts: Leaves, acorns, pinecones, seed pods, etc. Pressing flowers and leaves. Pressed maple, elm, oak and aspen leaves can be glazed and then designed into hanging ornaments.
• Everlasting flowers & mint family plants: Mint family plants include: mint, lavendar, sage, rosemary, thyme, sweet basil (and many others). These can be used to put in pouches or tie them in bunches to hang or to add as decorations to gifts.
• Beads: There are all sorts of beads that can be used in order to help secure the feathers or other objects to your hanging or other creations. Beads are also aesthetic ways to add beauty to your art. 

Colours ​

Thanksgiving
Arranging fall colours together adds variety and contrast. Offsetting the arrangement with black, gold, bronze or silver also adds more dimension and an elegant look.

Christmas
For me I love the colours of blue and white for Christmas, however in our culture, red and green are predominant. Some of you will no doubt follow family traditions, and there are ways to bring in natural elements into the designs to add that organic look and feel. Pinecones, wreathes and the Christmas tree itself are all traditional and natural so there is already a great foundation to design from.
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​Enjoy, create and discover.

Happy Festive Season!

Blog written by Laura Naomi
© Laura Naomi, 2017