• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Peggy O'Mara

family • health • justice • culture

  • About
  • Family
    • Babies and Toddlers
    • Children
    • Tweens and Teens
    • Education
    • Reviews
  • Birth
    • Pregnancy and Birth
    • Breastfeeding
    • Postpartum
    • Childbirth Education
  • Living Well
  • Making Change
  • Food/DIY
    • Food/DIY
    • Holidays
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Writer’s Guidelines
  • Store
    • Toolbox for Normal Birth
    • Your Pregnancy: Week by Week
    • Reprints
    • Privacy Policy
  • Log in

Homemade Holiday Wreaths

November 28, 2015 Leave a Comment

Holly Wreaths 3Homemade holiday wreaths are beautiful and inexpensive to make. They’re a great excuse to get outside with the family and everyone can help in their creation. Here are some step-by-step directions on how you can make your own homemade holiday wreaths.

phpYpKHaTAMWHAT YOU WILL NEED

  • A wreath frame (available at most craft stores)
  • Floral wire
  • Pruning shears
  • Scissors
  • Wire cutters
  • Pliers for wrapping the wire
  • Glue gun
  • Glue sticks
  • Large basket or bag for gathering
  • Gloves (optional, depending on how prickly your native fauna are!)

phpDHiXtSAMGATHER YOUR MATERIALS

Use what you’ve got: pine, holly, juniper… even grasses or palm fronds, if that’s what’s in season where you live. Part of the charm of these wreaths is that they’re naturally seasonal and local, because you use whatever is available in your area. Gather a variety of greens, plus small embellishments like flowers, pinecones, berries, etc.

We used a combination of juniper and piñon evergreen branches. Since they’re a fairly shrubby tree, we gathered many small pieces. However, if you’re blessed enough to live somewhere where trees grow long boughs of holly or pine, you could place them in a large pan or bathtub of water overnight. That should make them flexible enough to bend into shape around the wreath frame.

We chose juniper pieces with berries and added piñon pine cones plus rose hips and grass flowers for a touch of color.

phpVwrPUGPMASSEMBLE THE WREATH

Begin by arranging the pieces over the frame to get a general plan of how you’d like it to look. Once you have a general idea, you can start attaching the branches to the frame, one by one.

  • Starting on the top side of the frame, begin attaching branches using the wire.
  • Cut a piece of wire about 2-3 inches,
  • Fold the piece of wire in half and place it over the branch and through the frame.

phpEM1AxDAM

Turn the frame over and use the pliers to twist the wire to secure it to the frame.

phpsw6GYwPMTrim the remaining branches as necessary, and  use wire to attach each to the frame, as above.

Layer the branches over each other. Work your way around, layering branches and attaching as you go, until the entire frame is covered.

phpSmJOuUAMIf possible, attach flowers and embellishments with wire. If the pieces are too small, use the glue gun to attach berries, pine cones, or flowers to the greens.

Some of the leaves or berries may drop off over time. A fixative spray is available, but I think it’s a great excuse to make another one! The wreath frames are reusable, all you have to do is cut off the wires (being careful not to damage the frame) and you have a fresh canvas for your next masterpiece.


MelyssaHolikSanta Fe native Melyssa Holik earned a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design and photography from New Mexico State University. She currently writes and photographs for  localflavormagazine.com as well as for her own site, holikdesign.com. She loves food (growing, cooking and eating!), art, travel and adventure.

Related

Filed Under: Featured, Food/DIY, Holidays Tagged With: Holidays, Home and Garden

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Newsletter Sign Up

Get Your FREE Postpartum Checklist when you sign up for my biweekly newsletter.

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Email

Top Posts & Pages

Birth in the Squatting Position
Birth in the Squatting Position
Homeopathy In Labor
Ayurvedic Postpartum
Acupressure for Colic
Birthing and Nursing Toys
The Very First Birth Film
Marijuana for Hyperemesis
Homeopathy for Childbirth
What is Natural Breastfeeding?
ECOlunchbox: Earth-friendly Lunchware and Bento Boxes

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Footer

About

peggyomara.com continues the journalistic tradition of thought leader, Peggy O’Mara, who has been curating exceptional editorial content for over 30 years. Articles on the site are carefully chosen to bring you provocative ideas, excellent writing, and moving photography, all to help you make better decisions.

Archives

Search

Categories

Babies and Toddlers Breastfeeding Childbirth Education Children Culture Education Family Featured Food/DIY Holidays Home and Garden In The News Living Well Making Change Movies Natural Family Poems Postpartum Pregnancy and Birth Recipes Reviews Tweens and Teens Uncategorized Videos

Recent

  • Halloween Candy Dilemma: Sugar
  • How to Cloth Diaper with Organic Cloth Diapers
  • How to Feng Shui Your Home
  • Families Need Direct Payments Now
  • Find Help with Breastfeeding
  • Philosophies of How Children Learn
  • Primer on Ayurveda for Healthy Digestion
  • Get Help for Postpartum Depression
  • The Lives Of Student Parents

Copyright © 2021 · Magazine Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in