Decorations for Christmas - make your own Gold Holly

Holly, with its glossy red leaves and it's red berries, is a universal decoration for Christmas.  This post will show you how to make your own Holly to use for Christmas decorations. Once made it can be used for door decorations table, table decorations or across the top of furniture within your house. Any flat surface will do.  

Materials needed.   Gold spray paint, Holly, drop cloth.  

First, cut or buy enough Holly to cover the areas that you want to decorate.  Holly trees have variety that obly have green leaves but no berries, this is a good for filler,  volume and background. Holly trees also have the variety which will have the red berries. Make sure that you have enough of this Holly to be on the top and the front of your decorations.   

Second, spread The drop cloth outside in a garage or shed or backyard or balcony. Place the Holly front side down and spray the back of the leaves with a very strong coat of spray paint. Let dry.  

Third, turn the Holly branches over and do a very light dusting of the spray paint to the look that you desire.  You may want to do some leaves completely gold, you may want to only have a hint of gold so that the green leaves and red berries are present.  

Fourth, when dry place holly leaves holly branches in a bucket of water to keep them fresh. Keep them outside while the spray paint fully dries and the fumes release, about a week or two.

Finally, bring the branches inside and trim to fit the space that you are decorating. For example on dinner table decorations decorations you will want longfin branches that you could arrange down the center of the table and illuminate with battery-powered LED. For A credenza table decoration you will want branches that are more full.  

Hint: place your LED lights down first.  Put the holly in place.  pull the LED lights up through the Holly to illuminate it softly, put gold balls and gold ribbon woven throughout the Holly.  

Hint: it is best to spray paint the folly three weeks before Christmas and leave it outside for two weeks to get rid of all of the fumes from the spray paint. 

Hint: if you are using Christmas lights to illuminate your display of Holly, use the LED lights that stay cool.