Natural Christmas Tablescape

This whole decorating with nature thing is blowing my mind.  It has challenged me to think outside the box, to use what I have, and to let the outdoors inspire my Christmas decor.  And when I say outdoors inspire my decor, I don't mean the the real stuff you have to buy at the grocery store.  I mean the real stuff that is free in your yard, park, and neighborhood.

I am pretty sure I saw a woman on a bike the other with a baby carrier behind her cutting off a branch on the side of the road and putting it in her carrier.  I don't condone cutting down things that don't belong to you (picking up off the ground or picking off something small is a different story) but it made me laugh and smile all at the same time.  A girl after my own heart.  Use the nature that is around you!

For my Christmas tablescape this year I used pine tree clippings from our yard, pine cones I had collected for my Thanksgiving tablescape, and cut off stumps from Christmas trees my mom got for free from our local hardware store.  I collected all my supplies and filled vases, serving platters, and my candlesticks to create this little centerpiece.

To continue with a natural color scheme, I put together old music sheet paper as place mats (I also did this with doilies for my birthday tablescape this year).

My new gold frames in the background got filled with music sheet paper to continue with the theme and temporarily fill in the empty frames.  It also ties in well with my music sheet trees on the hutch nearby.

Little bottle brush trees and red striped straws add a bit of playfulness and color.  I don't like anything too stuffy around here so it adds just the right amount of whimsy that I like.

Apparently when you buy a Christmas tree they cut off the bottom part of the stump.  While my mom was in the garden section of the hardware store she saw a bunch of these and picked them up for me as they reminded her of my previous natural themed tablescapes.  They make perfect little place settings and coasters.

I saw this cute idea from For Chic Sake where she has the tradition of saving the stump from their own Christmas tree and writing their initials and the date on the bottom.  Though we didn't buy our own tree the initials on the tree seemed like a cute decor idea so I added it to our display.  I think I will try to make it into an ornament for our tree.

Linking up to Rhoda's Christmas vignette link up party.