2 December 2014

Let's Make a (totally free) Wreath


Wreaths are beautiful! And I made this one completely for free. Its December, so you should totally give it a go. It is extremely simple and really customisable, you can use whatever you have to hand.  All the plants I used are from my garden, and the decorations are from my regulars christmas decorations. Wreaths make pretty good gifts too; I'm planning on making another one for my Mum. You can use them as a table centre piece with a huge white candle in the middle or just hang it on your door! This is the very first wreath I have ever made and I am so unbelievably proud of how it turned out. 

All you'll need is:

         - The Foliage* - A pliable long branched plant, something like ivy! This will be what you use as the main structure. Or, you can use a branch! Providing you can twist it into a circle it'll work perfectly. Then, you can use anything else you like the look of/can find! I used conifer because I love the way it looks, its evergreen (so should keep its colour longer) and smells pretty good too. If you can get anything with berries on, than perfect! Give everything a watch and a pat try to get rid of any bugs.
           - The Decorations - Use anything you like! I used pinecone tree decorations that I've had for a couple of years, they have wire hooks so are really easy to attach to my wreath. And scraps of gold ribbon. You could use jingle bells, beads or baubles. Artificial flowers would look pretty good too.
           - The String - Common garden string would look the best, it blends in really well so you can hardly tell its there. It holds the whole thing together! You could use ribbon though if you like, thin wire would work well too.

* If you're going to forage your foliage think about what you're taking. Always leave more than you take and be sure you know what you're picking!


Start by building up your main frame, twist strands of your ivy together, tucking in the ends where you can. Don't worry too much about which way the leaves are facing, you'll have chance to mould them later down the line. Just make sure no leaves are crushed. And don't be scared to cut bits off if it doesn't quite fit, or any damaged leaves. Build up a few layers until you have a pretty thick coverage like the above.

Decide where the top of your wreath is going to be and tightly wrap string around that point. Then, going around the entire wreath, look one strand of string, pretty tightly until you get back to the top. Tie it in place. It should look just like in the second photo below. This will pull the whole wreath together. Start adding in the rest of your foliage, threading each piece from the back and using the string to hold it in place.

^^ I actually reaallly love how it looks at this stage! ^^

You should be able to arrange individual leaves (if you have them) now that its packed out a little.  Tuck them behind branches of the strong. When you're happy with how it all looks start to add in your final decorations. I didn't go too crazy with mine, but like I keep saying, do whatever you want! I wanted it to look natural and simple. Just a bit of gold (I realllly love how the dark green and gold look together) and a couple of pinecones (You can get them from Wilkinsons; here). Red or white could look super cute too. Add a final loop of string so you can hang up your finished wreath. Ta daaa!! Super cheap, super easy Christmas wreath. What do you think?

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1 comment:

Thank you so much for leaving your thoughts. I love to hear what you all think and I do read every single one soooo if you have a question, feel free to ask!

chloe x

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