Holidays at the homestead

Well, it is that time of year again! Thanksgiving has come and gone and the shopping frenzy has started. We have been on our homestead for 2 1/2 years and although things have not progressed as fast as I would like, we are slowly making progress.

We have made do with a small tree the last couple of years and this year I decided I wanted a better tree for Yule. Micheal's ran a sale on a 4 ft pre-lit tree for $20 which is a good size for our limited space. Of course getting a new tree meant getting new ornaments. I decided I wanted to do a country theme so I ended up making most of the ornaments for the tree.

I bought these pine cones last year because they were scented but now they have a new purpose. Of course if you have access to some pine trees you can pick some up for free. For these I used a paint brush to paint the tips with Mod Podge which is a type of glue. Then I sprinkled glitter on them and hot glued a loop of red cord so they could be hung on the tree.

 As we all know, cinnamon is used in many Yule treats and in decorating. At the craft store I found cinnamon sticks that were sold in bundles. I bought some of these and put them in groups of three. I took some red raffia and wrapped it around the bundles and tied a simple bow on top and then used the ends to make the loop. I thought they turned out pretty well!

Bells are an integral part of Yule decorations and this time of year you can find them in many colors. I bought a container of the brown rustic looking bells and simply used some gold cord to tie them together. I found the red bows with all of the mini Christmas tree decorations and they were the perfect size to use with the bells.

I found the idea for the last set of decorations on Pinterest. I found the wooden spools in the wood craft section of the craft store. I found some country looking Christmas ribbon that fit the spools and cut off just enough to wrap around them. The hot glue gun came in handy for this part too. I hot glued these together and added the red cord. All of these decorations were pretty simple to make and thought the tree turned out really well.

Here is the finished product. I even made the tree topper bow thanks to a tutorial I found online. I hope you guys enjoy the pictures and have a Happy Yule!