Hello beauties! Can you believe it’s almost Christmas? Seems the older I get, the quicker the year goes by! But I’m always excited once the Christmas season starts to roll in. I just love dressing up the home and making Christmas crafts and cookies with the family.
Prior to building our home I had envisioned a large wreath on the front of our house, right under the peak of our roof. Wreaths can get quite expensive, especially one this size. Making your own Christmas wreath can be SO rewarding. You get to pick out the color scheme, the materials and really make it to your personal taste. And you will likely save 30-40% or more of what a store bought wreath would have cost you.
So let’s get started…
Materials:
- 48″ Artificial wreath
- Mini lights
- Decorative ribbon (similar)
- Assortment of faux foliage (most craft store carry a big selection)
- Snow spray
- Plant twist ties
- Indoor/outdoor spar urethane
- Gold spray paint (similar)
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For my foliage I picked some beautiful burlap poinsettias, purple eucalyptus, red berries, and some mauve and pink floral bouquets. I chose gold and mauve as my primary color scheme for this wreath. Don’t be afraid of trying non-traditional colors for Christmas decor!
1. Lights, camera, action!
The first thing I did was thread my mini lights all around and through the wreath. Doing this before adding foliage helps to hide the wires.
2. Add your faux foliage
Next came the purple eucalyptus. It was one long vine. I cut it into approximately 9 inch sections. I used my big kitchen scissors. Then I intertwined each piece of the eucalyptus in the wreath, pulling some of the greenery over the purple leaves. Artificial foliage is typically made with wire. I wrapped the wire of the eucalyptus stem around various wreath parts. This wire is pretty strong, but since the wreath is being hung in a high-wind area, some parts I secured with plant ties. I altered the pattern with some eucalyptus sections closer to the perimeter of the wreath and some closer to the inside to achieve a more natural look.
I painted on a coat of indoor/outdoor spar urethane on the poinsettias to protect them from the weather elements. I only did this with the poinsettias since they were made of burlap. And not to worry, the spar urethane dried clear and unnoticeable!
Once dry, I added the poinsettias to my wreath. I only had four but they were big. I tied them on the wreath evenly around and they looked so stunning.
Next I lightly spray painted the red berries with gold paint for some extra sparkle. I made sure to leave some of the red exposed for color variation. Then I added the berries around the wreath by wrapping the stems around the wire frame of the wreath.
Once tied on, I played with the position of the berries. Some got tucked in between greenery stems. Some around eucalyptus leaves and some were left sticking out.
The pink and mauve floral bouquets came next. For a lush look, you want lots of foliage and bunches of variety along the wreath. You’ll want to avoid bare sections or patterns that don’t flow nicely.
3. Add a winter effect
Before finishing with ribbon, I sprayed a light amount of snow spray on the wreath and let it dry. I only wanted a hint of snow, but you can go lighter or heavier on the snow look depending on your preference.
4. Adding decorative ribbon
I just love the way big ribbon looks on a wreath. I found this beautiful burlap ribbon with gold polka dots. I wrapped it around the wreath making sure to tuck it in between the foliage as I went. You want the ribbon to look nestled in the wreath.
And that is it friends! Now the wreath is ready to hang and enjoy. If you liked this tutorial or if you have any questions, please feel free to share in the comments below.
And here’s a look at the hanging process. Kudos to Ronny for always being a good sport and for not killing himself while hanging the ginormous wreath!
I would love to do that! Thank you for your wonderful words of encouragement!
ARTISTA!
You are such a talented. hardworking hand womaaaan!
I wish you could come to Costa Rica and make our Christmas wraths with the herbs we have in the garden !
COngratulations on your blog.