DIY Advent Table Decoration

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Start the Holiday season decorating with a DIY Advent table decoration. This Christmas arrangement with fresh greenery and four candles is the perfect Advent Centerpiece for your coffee table.

For me the Christmas season starts with Advent. Tomorrow is the first Advent, so what would be better than starting this 12 Days of Christmas series with my Advent decoration. This year I made an Advent Centerpiece. It is a nice alternative to a traditional Advent wreath.

How to Make a DIY Advent Table Decoration

Want to know how to make your own Advent centerpiece? Well, let me show you the step-by-step instructions that I used to DIY this Advent Centerpiece. You will not need a lot of materials, and I am sure you will be able to get most for free from your garden or the local woods.

Somehow my Advent decorations set the tone for all my Christmas decorations, so let’s see what this one is telling me about the direction I am taking…..

The first of Advent, the first light in a dark time with the promise of more light to come……

(this was actually a ‘mistake’ shot when I hadn’t adjusted my camera settings yet. But I love it).

Ok, let’s move on to some proper photography…..

This Advent table decor is so rich and abundant with fresh greenery. I think I used at least 10 different kinds in there. It all came from some scavenger hunting in my own garden, the woods, and a bit of discreet clipping in a local park.

In the mood for more DIY Advent Decorating Ideas? Click the link and find my Advent decorations through the years.

I hadn’t made a Christmas centerpiece like that in years. I used to do it all the time. My mom really had two green thumbs and a truly creative mind, so she used to decorate our whole house with beautiful centerpieces in every shape and form over Christmas.

She started to teach me how to do it when I was about six.  Maybe even earlier, but that is where my first memories come from.

If you want detailed instructions about how to make fresh Christmas arrangements you can find them under the link.

I distinctly remember that we had a small wooden sleigh to use as a container. Of course that was my favorite. I would spend the entire afternoon filling it up with as many decorations and ornaments as I could cram in it. While my mother was clipping greens and building beautiful centerpieces specifically designed for the buffet, the dinner table, the hallway table, the coffee table etc.

After a while I started to follow her example and left putting the ornaments in until last and start building my centerpiece with the greens and the natural elements.

My centerpieces became better and better until that Christmas when I had my proudest moment.

My sister who lived out of town came home for Christmas and she couldn’t tell anymore which centerpiece my mom made and which one was mine…….

I felt so proud…. It truly was a badge of honor.

I think my mom felt relieved, because next year she handed me the clipping shears and told me I could do all the decorations that year. And I did until my parents died.

So building this centerpiece brought back a lot of lovely memories. Of kitchens filled with all kinds of greens, of the house smelling of pine and candle wax, of my mom and her able hands and of my childhood home filling up with siblings and love during Christmas.

Want to learn how to build a centerpiece like that? It really isn’t difficult. It is all about the preparations. Find the instructions of how I made this Advent centerpiece below. If you are interested in learning how to make Christmas centerpieces in more detail you can follow the link to another post with lots of details, tips and tricks and examples of fresh Christmas arrangements.

You can use that green stuff you dunk in water to fill a container and stick the greens in (over here it is called oasis, no idea what it is called in English), but you can use chicken wire too.

I choose chicken wire because I was using a shallow tray that wouldn’t be able to hold the water in, and because I had it on hand. I stapled two pieces of chicken wire to some wood and scrunched it up into two rolls. And I hammered in some big nails to form candle skewers. The wood also helps to lift the candles a bit, so they’ll look longer.

Then it was time to ……   fill her up baby!

Start at the bottom layers, and set the diameter with those. Work with small branches, clip them down if they are too big. Be patients and keep going round and round, sticking in different greens each round. Don’t be afraid to take something out again when it doesn’t work.

Use things like Ivy leaves and moss to fill up the holes and disguise the chicken wire. Stick your embellishments in last. You can of course use ornaments and Christmas balls, but I stuck with the pinecones because I found so many of those lovely tiny pinecones that were still attached to the branches.

So what is it saying about the direction my Christmas decorations are going to take?

I guess natural comes to mind, homemade, rather frugal, definitely sentimental and filled with memories, hopefully beautiful and definitely easy and simple.

Ah well I guess you’ll have to come back the next two weeks and see for yourself (and so will I, because I definitely aren’t finished yet).

Oh and before I forget. Here are the instructions for how to make faux enamel tags:

• Cut your tag shape out of sturdy cardboard
• Print your tag number (or word) out in white paper
• Glue the paper to the cardstock and cut out.
• If you want to then color the edge of the tag with a black marker
• Add clear embossing powder to the tags and heat with a glue gun
• Repeat until desired thickness and shininess has been achieved.

If you are looking for more ideas for four candles Advent decorations, Karin from Renovated Faith, made a beautiful yet simple four candle Advent centerpiece herself and she rounded up more ideas for your pleasure.

And if you don’t have time to make an Advent centerpiece like this, you might like my Last-Minute Simple Advent Decor Idea.

Another great Christmas decorating project that I found features Christmas cards on a wreath. Love it! The wreath idea ties into another Christmas craft project I dig: this Christmas photo holder would be a great under-the-tree gift.

plan it

plan it

plan it

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