I love dressing up my home for the holidays and that includes creating my own winter container for my front stoop. From grocery stores to garden nurseries, there are plenty of places that sell already-made containers at a reasonable price, but for some reason I just like to design my own (maybe it's the DIYer in me!). It's really not that difficult to do, and I'll show you here how easily I created mine. I've been hitting up Sobeys for the past couple of years for my greenery because it typically sells four bundles for $20 (you can mix them up, too), which is more than enough for a good-sized container. This year I got pine, cedar and boxwood branches. I went with a monochromatic look this season, creating interest through the different textures in the greenery. The first thing I did was insert a black metal obelisk in the centre of the container (which was already filled with soil from my summer arrangement). Here's a detail of the obelisk. I also filled the inside of the obelisk with large pinecones so it wouldn't just be an empty pit in the middle. Then I filled the perimeter of the container with lots of pine and cedar branches, making sure they were evenly mixed throughout. Once I created the base layer with the pine and cedar branches, I filled in the gaps with medium-sized pinecones and layered in sprigs of boxwood. To add a highlight, I placed a few mini faux green apples near the front of the container so they would be visible from the sidewalk. Always make sure to step away every now and then to see if you need to make any adjustments. Here's a bird's eye view of my creation. Note how I also made sure to fill inside the obelisk with extra greenery. It's that easy!