A fun and festive way to decorate is to make a seasonal wreath. These decorations are easy to make and can work for any season or occasion.
To start making a wreath, you will need the following supplies:
A plain, grapevine wreath. Any size works, but consider where it will be hung and how much money you want to spend before picking any size.
A hot glue gun and glue sticks.
Scissors and wire cutters
Silk flowers, plants or other decorations. You can also use live flowers and plants, but realize that the wreath will only last for a week at the most.
Wire edge ribbon – coordinated to match any flowers, plants, or decorations you’re going to add.
Florist wire or chenille stems
Once you’ve gathered your supplies, lay the wreath on flat work surface – you may want to cover the surface with some newspaper to protect it from the hot glue and loose pieces from the wreath.
Cut the flowers and plants from the plastic stalk. Place the flowers around the edge of the wreath. You can cluster them in certain spots or space them all around the wreath. Try to make the arrangement look natural by varying the lengths of the flowers and by not making the flowers look too symmetrical. Weave the stems of the flowers and plants through the openings in the wreath, so they hold pretty well on their own and then glue them.
Unroll a few feet of the ribbon, glue one end of the ribbon on the underside of the wreath, and then wrap the ribbon around the wreath – you can either wrap it loosely, leaving gaps between the wreath and ribbon, or you can wrap it more tightly. It’s all about your own preferences. Try to go between the flowers and plants. Glue the ribbon to the wreath while you wrap. Once you get to where you initially glued the ribbon, cut the ribbon, and glue the end to the other.
From this point, you can start to get really creative – add any other decorations with the hot glue. You can also add some more ribbon or bows. You can attach the bow with hot glue or by wrapping florist wire around it and the wreath. Finally, use some more florist wire or a chenille stem to make a loop and attach to the back of wreath to hang it.
There are so many options to customizing your seasonal wreath to fit with a particular season or holiday. Be creative and open-minded in gathering ornaments and plants for your wreaths – you’ll be surprised at the many different ideas and things you’ll come up with.
The first holiday that comes to mind when making wreaths is Christmas. You can use natural elements like evergreens, poinsettias, red berries, or pinecones. Other decorations could include candy canes, Christmas-themed cookie cutters, bells, cinnamon sticks, glass ball ornaments, or battery-operated lights.
While most people expect Christmas wreaths, you can make wreaths for the fall. One unexpected holiday wreath you can make is a Halloween wreath. Give a wreath a spooky touch by using black flowers. Can’t find black floral? Buy some red roses and spray-paint them black, leaving just hints of red to make them look dead. You could also stretch some cotton spiderwebs around the wreath, adding plastic spider rings here and there. If spooky wreaths aren’t your taste, you can make an autumn wreath by just adding fall foliage, gourds, small pumpkins, or ears of corn.
You can also make a spring or Easter wreath by weaving in pretty spring flowers like tulips or daffodils. Bunny figurines, wooden carrots, or Easter eggs add a nice touch also.
A summertime wreath could include summer flowers, like daisies, or have a beach theme using seashells. Another summer theme for a wreath could be the Fourth of July, using red, white, and blue ribbon, along with flags and wooden or metal stars.
Wreaths are such versatile decorations and you can use them year-round. The possibilities are endless, as long as your imagination is, too.