I went to the local nursery with my Mom on Monday with the intent of getting some mini-pumpkins for decorating the thanksgiving table. I should know better—going to the nursery always = big money. You always end up spending more than you’d planned.

Mom convinced me that I needed spruce tips and red berries and ribbon and I NEEDED to make an arrangement for my front stoop. Whoa, hold the phone. Thankfully she also convinced me that we could do this for super cheap. We went back to her house and took out the saw and started cutting down evergreen branches, picking up pine cones, spray painting sticks and hydrangeas, and in the end, the only thing we bought was a few berries and a little ribbon.

Voila. A holiday arrangement for my front stoop for less than 20 bucks and a sliced finger.