Decorating with Nuts

From Midwest Living

Varied colors and textures make these brown beauties a natural choice for fall decorating. Grab a sack at the grocery store, and go a little nuts.

Harvest vases

Add fall flavor to a tabletop or mantel with cylinder vases filled with nuts and wheat. Roll coordinating scrapbooking paper into decorative cuffs that slip inside the vase.

Walnut photo holder

Give nature photos, family pics or place cards a seasonal lift. Drill a small hole in the top of a walnut. (Pick nuts with flatter bottoms so they stand up easily.) Cut a 6-inch piece of 18-gauge wire. Wrap one end of the wire twice around a wide marker. Remove the marker, and pinch the loops together. Insert the other end into the nut. Slip a photo or card between the loops.

Nuts and fruit

Create pretty accents with nuts and fruit. Hot-glue nuts to a pillar candle, then secure a circle of twine. Mix clove-studded fruit with nuts in bowls for a mix of fall colors.

Mixed-nut wreath

Turn a crafts-store wood frame into a harvest wreath. Hot-glue Brazil nuts, hazelnuts and acorns to the frame. Hang with a chocolate-hue ribbon.

Nuts and roses

Roses add a pop of color against nuts. Tuck a small glass bowl of rose heads inside a larger container of mixed nuts.

Nuts and leaf wreath

Use a variety of inexpensive fall materials to create this autumn wreath. Just hot-glue artificial leaves, walnuts and hazelnuts (or other hard-shell nuts) in a ring around the front of a grapevine wreath.

Hues of autumn

Footed glass containers show off ribbons, beans and nuts in fall hues. The copper tray adds shiny sophistication and makes the arrangement portable.

Candle accent

Nuts anchor a candle inside a hurricane lamp.

Stack 'em up

Show off your walnut photo holders (slide 2) in a set of stacked containers holding nuts and leaves.

Warm glow

Place nuts and a small votive candle inside glasses for a super-easy centerpiece or accent. Battery-powered candles are also an option.

Vase change-ups

Using the same technique to create the harvest vase in slide 1, change out the look with different toppers: Flowers, branches, snips of any pretty leafy plant from your yard.

See more at: Midwest Living