Inexpensive Magnolia Centerpieces

It's no secret that I love magnolia branches!  They are so pretty and classically southern.  I'm determined to plant one in my yard one of these days.  But for now, I'll keep picking up other people's clippings on the side of the road. :)  

I was driving in my parent's neighborhood and saw several large magnolia branches by the curb.  I made a quick u-turn and loaded them up in the back of my car.  I was in the middle of trying to make budget friendly centerpieces for an event and knew I could use these.  You can't beat free!

Simple magnolia branches in a vase are beautiful, but I wanted to do something different this time.  

I shared these on instagram (@dwellingsbydevore) but thought I'd share here too in case any of you missed it.  

I started with foam wreath forms from the dollar store.  Then, I took all the leaves off of the branches.  I found, through trial and error, that cutting the base of the stem at a diagonal to form a point, made it easier to poke them into the foam.  

I was in a hurry, and needed to make several of these, so I skipped preserving the leaves.  However, if you want these to last longer I would recommend preserving the leaves first.  

We put a mason jar with a candle in it in the center to make a centerpiece, but these could also be used as wreaths as well.  Wouldn't it be pretty with a simple black and white striped bow on it?  I also mixed in a few sprigs of seeded eucalyptus from Trader Joe's to add some variation.  The best part is these only cost $1!  

While I was grabbing the foam wreaths at the dollar store I saw these other inexpensive centerpiece ideas and thought I'd share them as well.

This is super simple too.  Start with a glass taper candle holder.  Then take two frames and use hot glue to glue the back sides of the frames together.  If the frame has a stand on the back you'll probably want to rip that off to make the frames fit together more seamlessly.  Then hot glue the frames to the top of the candle holder.  You can put anything you want in the frames.  Some thoughts I had were, black and white photos, prints with inspirational quotes, table numbers, etc.  Total cost, $3.  I would probably surround these with tea lights to make it seem more substantial.

I also saw these cute little mirrors that could be used with a simple chunky pillar candle.  I would probably spray paint them a solid color, maybe gold, but loved the modern look of them.

I'd love to hear any ideas you have for inexpensive centerpieces!  Do you use dollar store items as well?