Every great recipe for nature-based autumn and winter home decoration starts with two main ingredients: a little creativity and a little preservation. If you have these two important appetizers, then you can cook almost anything to add some seasonal flavor to your home.

Decorative displays of pumpkins and squashes, arrangements of dried flowers, grass and corn stalks, and fresh holiday wreaths are just a few of the many cold weather decorations that you can make for yourself for free or at low cost.

Members of the Lady Slipper Garden Club arranged pumpkins for the autumn home decoration together. (submitted)

You don't need to be a professional home designer, artist, or even Pinterest master to make things you like-just start simple and take on projects that belong to your comfort zone. Projects can range from quickly setting up a pair of pumpkins on your front porch to a variety of personalized wreaths and plant-based arrangements.

"There is no right or wrong way to decorate, anyone can do it," said Elaine Bistrum and Cheryl Hammers, both experienced DIY decorators. "Don't be afraid to try."

Bistrum and Hammers are avid gardeners and active members of the Lady Slipper Garden Club in Perham. Hammers is the club chairman and Bistrum is the treasurer. They and other members of the club often use what they grow in their gardens, and what they find in the yard put together interesting seasonal decorations for their homes throughout the year.

"(Having a beautiful living space) only lifts the spirits," Bistrum said. "It feels so good to know you did this."

The decorative pumpkins of the Lady Slipper Garden Club pumpkin decoration contest are displayed together on a table. (submitted)

Materials such as hay, leaves and flowers, pine branches, autumn harvested garden vegetables, pine cones, acorns, hay bales and corn stalks can be transformed into eye-catching home decorations with relative ease. For example, last year, members of the Garden Club made winter projects out of branches and pine cones. Bistrum made a basket arrangement, and another club member Bette Betterman made a welcome gesture. Others made dwarfs out of pine branches.

"You don't need to spend a lot of money," Hammers said of collecting materials. "Use what you have and what you can collect. Keep it simple."

Finding materials is part of the fun of making decorations based on nature. This may be a single-player task that stimulates the creative process—a peaceful walk in the woods—or it may be a social experience shared with friends and other decorators. This can also be an opportunity to enjoy quality family time, especially for young children who like "treasure hunting games". Hammers said she likes to go to Otter Berry Farm with her family to collect pumpkins, gourds and squash.

Elaine Bistrum is standing next to her autumn set-up at the Lady Slipper Garden Club in 2020. (submitted)

Once you have a lot of materials, you can combine them into a workable design with a little inspiration. The Internet is a fast, free and easy place where DIYers can find a variety of seasonal home decoration ideas and operation guides. Just search for things like "pumpkin arrangement" or "pine branch arrangement" and let your creativity flow.

Hammers recommended Pinterest as a particularly useful online resource, but she warned with a smile, "(The decoration you finished) doesn't look like a Pinterest picture. But you can make it your own and start from there."

For more hands-on learning experiences, please look for courses or special decoration making activities offered through local community education programs or garden centers. The local university extension office in Minnesota is another resource, and there are gardening clubs like Lady Slipper Garden Club.

"If you are interested in (making your own natural decoration), then this is your best choice," said Betterman of Lady Slippers. "You learned a lot."

To join the club, or just to learn more, please visit Lady Slipper Garden Club on Facebook, or send an email to cherylhammers@gmail.com.

Members of the Lady Slipper Garden Club used pine branches to make gnomes as autumn decorations. (submitted)

There are several different ways to dry flowers, as well as leafy plants and long grasses, but the simplest method is usually the best: hang them upside down for a period of time.

On dry days, when there is no dew or other moisture on the plants, cut the flowers to the required stem length and remove any unwanted leaves.

Hang the flowers in small bunches or individually in the basement closet or other cool, dark, and dry place. They should be hung on the lower part of the stem with the flower facing down, using rope or twine or something similar.

If tied, use rubber bands to tie them together (the stems will shrink when dry, and you don’t want the flowers to fall and become damaged).

Leave the flowers in place until they feel dry and stiff to the touch. This may take days or weeks, depending on the type of flower.

Some types become very fragile after drying; a light spray of hair spray can help prevent them from falling apart.

Carved pumpkins can be stored for a week or two, while uncut pumpkins can be stored for a month or more. Keeping pumpkins hydrated and mold will extend their lifespan. Here are some tips on longer lasting pumpkin lanterns.

Choose local pumpkins. Pumpkins that have been transported by hot trucks for miles may be over-ripe or beaten. Pumpkins grown nearby may be fresher, so they will last longer after carving.

Choose a sturdy pumpkin. Check the pumpkin of your choice carefully, looking for gouges, spots, and holes. Even a small flaw can quickly expand into a mushy mess. Choose a pumpkin with a uniform color and firm flesh, and make sure you don’t feel the pumpkin soft when you press on the skin.

Don't carve too early. It may be tempting to carve a pumpkin lantern once the calendar reaches October, but the finished product is unlikely to last until the end of the month. Horticulturists point out that the shelf life of pumpkin lanterns is about 5 to 10 days, but particularly cold weather will further shorten their life expectancy. If you want your carvings to welcome trick-or-treating people on Halloween, please wait until a few days before the big day.

Use dry erase markers to outline the design on the pumpkin surface to reduce errors before cutting.

Don't cut off the stem. Pumpkin carving experts say that removing the top will cut off the vine, and even after cutting, it can provide nutrition and moisture to the pumpkin. A hole on the back of the pumpkin can still easily enter the lamp without cutting off the stem.

Dig everything out. The inside of the pumpkin contains seeds, which can be taken out and roasted to make a delicious snack. In addition to removing the seeds, be sure to remove all the pulp. The pulp left in the pumpkin will be moldy, which will shorten the life of the pumpkin lamp. Try to scrape the pumpkin wall very thinly, about an inch thick.

Avoid using candles when lighting the inside of a jack-o-lantern. Candles seem to be the most realistic and weird way to illuminate the inside of pumpkins, but the heat generated by burning candles can shorten the life expectancy of pumpkin lanterns. Battery-powered LED lights will not dissipate too much heat and will provide adequate lighting.

Paint the pumpkin. Commercially sold pumpkin fresh-keeping products, such as Pumpkin Fresh, performed well. Soaking and spraying carved pumpkins with bleach and water solution can also retain the design.

Embossing can keep them for many years and turn them into flat decorative pieces, which are very suitable for framing and hanging or casting with resin.

Although flower lovers may want to buy an embossing machine, other heavy objects can also be effectively embossed.

First choose a flower that is still budding or just blooming. Place the flower between two sheets of white untextured paper. Then put everything on the pages of a book. Depending on the size of the book, you may be able to press more than one flower at a time. Put other books on top to lower the book with flowers inside.

Replace the absorbent paper every few days. After two to three weeks, the flowers will be completely dry and flat. Use tweezers or fingertips to carefully remove the flowers.

During the festival, wreaths hung on doors, windows and fences can be seen everywhere. Here are some ways to make them:

One of the easiest ways to make a wreath is to design it around a circular floral foam shape. The materials needed to make the wreath include evergreen twigs, ribbons, floral threads, bows, and artificial berries or dried berries. Working around the foam form, arrange the branches of the evergreen tree and use floral threads to wrap or fix them on the foam. Keep the number of layers until you get the coverage you need. Decorate with ribbons or bows.

Another way to make wreaths is to make wreath jigs. Cut the bottom of a dollar store laundry basket from the top ring to make a template. You can place wreath-making materials on it to keep them round. Use floral thread or natural jute rope to tie the materials together. Try fresh evergreen trees, branches, holly branches, or any material of your choice.

Thick cardstock can also be used as a garland template. Use strong adhesives to fix dried flowers or vegetables, snow spray, decorations or other items on the cardstock ring.

If you don’t want to start from scratch, many craft shops sell garlands made from natural vines that are strung together in a circle. You can buy one of them and use it as a starting basis for other decorations of your own.