Christmas Wreath Making

As you can see, my sister and I decided to make some fresh Christmas wreaths today. I had been wanting to make one ever since I read about someone's wreath-making efforts on another blog last year, and we finally got around to it.




We each made our own wreath, one for the front door, and one for the side door. The first and last pictures of this post are my sister's, and the one on the red door is mine. They both turned out really beautifully.

My sister and I began by walking around the yard, cutting boughs and branches, and picking dried flowers from the flower beds. We came in with all sorts of branches including cedar, pine, and burning bush branches with red berries on them. We also gathered pine cones, as well as dried black-eyed Susan's, columbines, and a very fragrant flower that I don't know the name of.

I had read a little bit on the internet about making fresh wreaths, so I followed some of those instructions and did a few things differently. Although it seems to be normal for someone to buy a wreath ring and some floral wire to make a fresh wreath, we decided to simply use clothes hangers and twist ties. I read somewhere about using clothes hangers that you can bend in to a circle, and later use the hook of the hanger to hang the wreath. I liked that idea so much because it doesn't cost anything;we already have a lot of spare hangers around the house. Further, you don't have to worry about how you're going to hang the wreath. I figured the twist ties would work just as well as floral wire too, and it looks like the branches are secure on our hangers at the moment; I'll have to wait and see how the wreaths hold up over the next few weeks to know for sure whether this was the best option.

One definite problem with using the twist ties is that they show up on the wreath. I found I could resolve that problem by sticking the dried flowers such as black-eyed Susan's in the already tied twist ties, which helped to cover the ties, as well as some other strategic placement of the decorations.

All-in-all, making the wreaths was definitely worth the effort, because it didn't cost us anything and it wasn't that difficult. It almost seems silly to buy one at the store. Above all, they smell like Christmas and they are extremely beautiful!