This is the wreath I created for the Flair Flat. I love the personal touch of making your own holiday wreath to welcome guests into your home. I see a lot of wreaths that are just the usual circle with ornaments and a bow. Let's add some holiday flair! I want to share with you a way to create a long lasting design that combines the classic wreath with carriage swag to give you a whole new style.
Supplies
- 8 Assorted 80mm ornaments
- 6 60mm ornaments
- 3 spring of Seeded Eucalyptus
- Oasis binding wire
- 2-3 yards 5/8" ribbon color of your choice
- 2 yards 1 1/2" ribbon color of your choice
- 1 yard 2 1/2" expensive ribbon color of your choice
- Ribbon Scissors
- Wire snips
- Vines such as Virginia Creeper, Honeysuckle or grapevine, approximately five 48 inch-long pieces
- Hot glue gun
The Wreath Base
Start with a nice, healthy looking wreath with one or two types of pines from your favorite florist or garden store. To check freshness you can gently bend fresh stems and they won't snap or crackle. Check for brown spots and that the pines feel secure on the frame. When you get it home soak the wreath for approximately four hours or overnight if possible to give it a good drink and rehydrate it. Pat it dry and give it a good misting with a antitranspirant spray such as Crowning Glory. Preparing the wreath with spray and lots of water will minimize how often you need to replace it. (Oh yes, you'll be able to replace the wreath with just a few snip.....read on.)
Garland
Start by cutting up several pieces of binding wire to have ready as you make the garland.
*Pro tip: wrap the binding wire around your fingers several times and cut both ends to create several pieces in 2 cuts.
Lay 3 piece of your vine at 12 and 6 o'clock on your wreath with a width about 3 inches without cutting any length off. This will be the beginning of the garland. Where they naturally want to come together fasten with binding wire. As you bind the connecting points you'll see it starting to take on it's shape and feel it become more rigid. Let it wander as it wants to, but don't allow it to get wider. To get the desired length you'll just add more vines to the bottom. For my standard door I created a garland 55 inches long.
Marking your 12 and 6 o'clock position and moving back the pines to find the base of the wreath. Fasten a 12" piece of binding wire to the frame. Now use those pieces of binding wire to secure your garland to the wreath. We'll only add the decorations to the garland. That way if the wreath starts too look sad we can snip those binding points and put our gorgeous garland on a new fresh wreath.
Now let's prepare the decorations to be fastened to the garland. I chose plastic ornaments for this wreath since it will be outside. Pop their little tops off and put a dap of hot glue then replace the top. This will make working with them so much easier because it minimizes the chance of them popping off your design. Take a longer piece (3-4") of binding wire trough your secured tops and give it a little twist. Bold colors like this need careful placement, the colors distributed fairly evenly from top to bottom. I start by laying out all the ornaments down the garland to ensure I have good color distribution from top to bottom. I want to create a good starting point and focal area at the top and taper them towards the bottom.
When I have a good balance and all my ornaments are where I want them, I'll wire them onto the garland. To finish I added a few sprigs of seeded eucalyptus and some ribbon down the garland. I usually add my ribbons on at the end so they don't overwhelm the design.
Be sure to check back for my upcoming Holiday Home tour.