Wildcrafting With Ila

[ila hatter]

When I was a little girl, I helped my Mother make gilded walnuts for the Christmas tree. She would slightly open the walnut shell with the nutcracker while I placed the loop of cord or old fashioned hairpin into the opening. Then we painted them gold or silver and hung them on the tree. I remembered that when my own family had a lean Christmas and there wasn't any money for a tree or decorations. Fortunately, there were pine trees where we lived, so finding a free tree wasn't hard. There was a lot of english ivy growing on the house, so I used that for "garland". With the cost of only walnuts and spray paint, we had gold and silver walnuts on the tree that had been wound with gilded ivy garlands. It looked lovely with the clear lights. And is appropriate for the "winter" look we like for New Year's decorations. You could use the silver and/or gold ivy on a mantel with white candles in hurricane globes.