This is an easy and cheap craft if you have access to evergreen trees or shrubs. Your DIY Christmas wreath will stay fresh outside on the door all winter long (it’s like a fridge or freezer out there). Read through to the end for my serendipitous, but equally awesome, bonus craft.
I adore fresh foliage. Add pine cones, and berries, and bows and it’s a Christmas song waiting to happen (you could literally use boughs of holly). So I couldn’t resist picking up a wreath base and doing a little research on how to make my own real Christmas wreath.
It’s Super Cheap
Actually it was virtually free for me – since I had all the materials already (including evergreen shrubs in my front yard who graciously donated their limbs to my cause). I also happened to forage some pine cones years ago (no lie) so I’ve got a collection ready every year for Christmas decor. Because who doesn’t need an emergency pine cone supply?
It’s Super Easy
I was inspired by this youtube tutorial on how to make a DIY Christmas wreath, and I loved what she did. So I tried it myself, and made a few tweaks. It was simple – there are only 4 REAL steps to this (because my wire snafoo and adding a bow don’t really count).
Here is what you’ll need:
- A wreath base – twigs tied around each other in a circle
- Gardening clippers aka pruning shears- this is what I have
- Evergreen cuttings- make them longer than you’ll need so you can clip them later. Better too long than too short and useless.
- Green floral wire
- pine cones
- a bow – or some ornaments or other decoration
Instructions
1. I tied floral wire to the base of the wreath. I tried adding moss (like the video), but realized that I had so much foliage, I didn’t need it. You don’t see the base of the wreath at all.
2. I took bunches of evergreens and attached them to the base of the wreath with the floral wire, winding the wire over each bunch a few times.
3. Whenever my wire ended (which it did several times because I had gotten it all in a knot and had to keep cutting it to unravel it), I just tied it onto the base of the wreath again and kept going. (You can see all the wire on the back side).
4. I took a step back and noticed a few branches sticking out farther than I wanted so I trimmed them a bit to keep the circle shape.
5. I tied on some pine cones (wrapping the wire around the base of the cone and twisting the wire a bit to secure the cone in place. I kept the two ends of the wire separate, however, so that I could wrap them around the wreath where I wanted the pine cone. I then pulled the wire tight and twisted the ends together so I could have better placement of the pine cones.
6. I thought it needed a bow, so I took one off my Christmas tree and added it to the wreath.
Bonus craft!
PS. I had a bunch of leftover foliage. So I used the floral wire to tie the branches together in the middle. I stabilized it by tying it in a few other spots, but the green wire is pretty much invisible.
After this, I tied on 4 pine cones and a ribbon in the middle. I think the whole thing took me less than 15 minutes. I hung it over my fireplace (though I had to hang it a bit low, so I’ll just take it off when I make an actual fire). My sisters like it better than the wreath! Double score!
