Hiya (rein)dears! Before I explain my stupendous Sunday activity, let me just throw out this disclaimer – I am no wreath-making expert. I’m not even that great with home decorating. My idea of interior design is taping 12 old Calvin & Hobbes comics together along the top of a wall. With that being said, please enjoy this Holiday How-to Guide: Christmas Wreaths.
Step 1: Gather the greens! Two things are important here – variety and quantity. Find some woods with ample coniferous trees. Clip from a variety of evergreens (we used White Pine, Spruce, and Thuja Green Giant) and keep clipping until you have more boughs than you think you’ll need. You will likely get rid of a lot of volume to get the prime pickings.
Step 2: Trim! Using a good pair of pruners, trim the boughs to manageable pieces – 6-10 inches worked for us. Keep a few inches at the bottom of each piece clean of offshoots in order to function as picks.
Step 3: Arrange! I’m pretty sure you can bind boughs together with only some floral wire and plenty of determination, but we used a 12″ wreath frame. You can find one at your local craft store. Lay the greens on the frame with a consistent bough gesture. What I mean is, decide to either point all the ends in one direction or all downward so that the wide ends create a sweeping flow. Continue to intertwine pieces, layering with different varieties for depth and color variance. If you’re lucky enough to have a frame with clamps, you may simply bend them over your base branches. Otherwise, tie with wire and secure.
Step 4: Decorate! Now is the time to get in touch with your inner elf. Also available at your local craft store are wintery picks. Pine cones, cranberries, jingle bells – go for the gold. Literally. We layered gold sparkly things with a red bow and secured everything with wire. This is the creative part! So pick an aesthetic and go with it.
And that’s that. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. Thanks for reading! Go get Christmassy!
Green thumb and most labor provided by my mother, Cathy Zell.
Heidi Zell Photo 
Oh, how we remember this time of the Christmas Season and how challenging it became when we made a list of all that had to be accomplished before the 24th. Never mind that this also became a very busy time at the “office” and I became noticeably absent when the chores were being attended to. However, much to my surprise, everything was finished, trees trimmed, baking done, cards sent, plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, gifts wrapped, snow shoveled, drives plowed, and then the “phone” would ring. Although we enjoy the freedom from the cold and snow down here in Florida, the sites and sounds as well as the smells are still locked in our memories and we do miss them, as well as being able to spend the time with ALL of our family. One benefit that never changes is the opportunity to worship in our church services with our extended family and for that we are blessed and give thanks to our Heavenly Father. Merry Christmas.
LikeLike
Awesome ‘How-to’! Espe
cially good because I know the MOTHER.
LikeLike