Fall Gatherings

This time of year, I like to start gathering things from the yard to use in my Fall decorating.
There are so many natural elements which can be used as vase or basket fillers, or any number of ways for Fall.
The things I collected from my yard this morning, are: pine cones and acorns, in different sizes, bark, twigs, moss and hickory nuts.

This is a pine cone and nut wreath I made many years ago and still use every year. This isn't a simple project, but one that's fun if you have a lot of dried material and a lot of time.

The ideas below are very quick and simple.

 If you don't have all these things in your yard, look around. Maybe a neighbor might have sweet gum balls, or perhaps there's a park near by with oak or pine trees.

Here are some of the ways I used my findings.

Tiny acorns are used as filler for a candle holder. I dried them in the oven at about 175 degrees for an hour or so,

to kill any bugs in them.

Here are pieces of bark with lichens on them.

Twigs are always good to have around. I cut these from a gardenia bush.

 Of course, I'd never leave candles burning unattended, especially with dried material in the lantern. 
 Keeping it simple, I left the pine cones, acorns, etc. in their natural state. I'll spray them later with a clear sealer.
The best part of collecting natural materials is... that everything is FREE!!

I'm sure y'all have lots of great ideas for using dried materials. I'd love to see them.
Let's join Barb @ Grits and Glamour for