Building A Holiday Wreath from Scratch

Christmas is right around the corner and we are decorating our house for the first time! Last year we had just moved in, with no couch, no rugs, and definitely no room for decorations. Now I feel more settled in I busted my Christmas box out of storage. Honestly the older I've gotten the more plain I've become. I used to like snowflakes everywhere, neon Christmas trees, and intense Christmas music blaring every second of the day. Now I find myself more drawn to the natural  aspects of the holiday like live, lightly-decorated Christmas trees and handmade wreaths.

The longest part of this whole project was getting the clippings. Some of them came from our Christmas tree farm but some came from the neighbor's giant cypress trees that hang over our yard.

SUPPLIES
Clippings (Cypres, Douglas Fir, Fern, Spruce, Mountain Laurel - literally anything green can work)
Floral wire
Scissors

1. Gather and separate your clippings. You can either make a wreath with different types of clippings or you can just use one which is as equally beautiful.

2. Pre-cut some floral wire. I found the easiest way to put all the pretty clippings together in a quick way was to snip a few pieces before starting.

3. Build a strong base. Lay clippings in a circle, but make sure to measure it as the inner part of the wreath! From here on out you'll be filling in the bare spots and the outside will get significantly bigger. Since I was using several different types of clippings I picked the strongest one, the spruce, to make a stiff base.

4. Layer in more clippings. Now layer, layer, layer! Depending on how stiff your base is, you may have to secure the layers with floral wire or you may just be able to weave it into the base. Make sure you equally spread out the different types if you are working with more than one type of clipping.

5. Add special touches. Ribbons, flowers, berries, pinecones, the posibilities are endless. Luckily, while we were at the tree farm I grabbed some pretty cedar branches with the cutest tiny cones.


6. Hang it up!

Pro-tip: If your wreath starts looking stiff or colorless through the season, just sit it in some water for a few minutes to freshen it up.

We hope everyone is having a great holiday season! Things will be busy for the next month but our Panama/Costa Rica trip in January keeps me going. Do you have any annual holiday projects that keep your house looking festive?