I just made this pretty holiday wreath for us and it didn’t cost me a cent! Curious? You’ll see that by recycling a wreath form and ribbon every year, and using landscape cuttings, you can save money. What’s more, it will look better than store-bought wreaths! Here’s how I did it.
Start with a wreath form
I find that grapevine wreaths are the easiest to work with. I bought mine from JoAnn’s many years ago. After the holidays, I remove everything from the wreath form and save it for the next year. Although I also use it for a non-holiday wreath during the year. You can also use wire wreath forms but with grapevine forms, you just poke in your materials. You have to wire the materials onto the wire forms. I’m going for quick and easy here!
Gather your holiday wreath materials
You’ll need a small amount of floral wire to attach a bow to your wreath. You also might want some decorative items like sleigh bells, mini holiday decor, fake berries and so on. Take a walk through your garden and see what might work well. For this wreath, I used cuttings from Douglas fir and Colorado spruce trees and bird nest spruce shrub.
I also clipped branches from our Oregon grape. This is the first time I’ve used it. I’ve been wishing we had a holly bush and suddenly thought, “Duh, Oregon grape branches look just like holly!” (I’m a slow learner, I guess) Short branches of crabapples added some much-needed color accents.
Step One
To create a fluffy base, I stuffed Douglas fir branches all the way around the wreath form.
Step Two
Then I added some spruce branches on top of them, to really fill out the wreath.
Step Three
Next, I carefully added in short Oregon grape branches. I say “carefully” because they are super prickly! You definitely want to wear gloves for this part.
Step Four
It’s time to add some color to my holiday wreath. I wanted to use berries of some sort so I took a walk around our garden. We have lots of white snowberries but they are soft and would probably fall all over the place. American cranberry bush berries would be pretty but they’d do the same thing. I found several branches with crabapples on them, and selected them since they’re still firm.
Step Five
Time to make a bow. If you’re like me, you’ve got all sorts of pretty ribbons in your gift-wrapping box, right? I wanted to use a solid red ribbon but didn’t have any. Then I spotted this leftover buffalo check ribbon and realized it would be perfect. This is where the florist’s wire comes into play. As you’re making the bow, add the wire so you can attach it to your wreath.
I’m so pleased with how this year’s wreath turned out. The Oregon grape branches and crabapples definitely made all the difference. So look through your craft supplies, take a wander around your garden, and see what you can find. Your wreath will be beautiful, unique and, best of all, FREE!
I’ve made a lot of wreath-making videos over the years. You can watch them by going to this link on my YouTube channel. They are sure to provide you with lots of inspiration!