Make Your Own Winter Wreaths

Have you ever seen a beautiful Christmas wreath, only to be turned away by the price? Here’s the good news: you can make a very attractive wreath using natural materials that cost absolutely nothing.

The late autumn landscape is filled with fascinating textures and hues. Take advantage of nature’s bounty by gathering the materials yourself and fashioning them into a wreath. Here are some suggestions for making beautiful holiday wreaths for yourself, friends, family, and so forth.

1. Pinecones

-Small pinecones, such as hemlock
Are you familiar with those little round pinecones that seem to be everywhere in the fall? Gather a small bag of these and use a hot glue gun to attach them to a large ring cut from cardboard (use those holiday shipping boxes) or a styrofoam hoop.
-Large pinecones, such as white pine
These can be glued to a circular backing as well, once again using a hot glue gun. Obviously, you won’t need as many, but large pinecones tend not to fit together as snugly as the little ones do. Fill in the gaps with small pinecones, acorns, berries, or even leaves.

2. Yard trimmings

-Ivy
This rambling vine can become troublesome, so using a bunch for wreaths could be a help to the property owner. Twist and weave ivy vines into a ring around a base ring made from cardboard, styrofoam, or wire. You can also use a home-made twig wreath (below) as a base.

-Juniper, Yew, Boxwood or other garden shrubs
Late fall is an excellent time to prune shrubs, as it promotes vigorous spring growth with minimal stress to the plant (they are partially dormant by that time). These trimmings can be used alone or in combination to produce a stunning wreath. Gather the trimmed pieces into bunches and secure them with wire, then mount the bunches to a backing using wire or a hot glue gun. If you are using a twig wreath as your base, you can weave and tuck the shrub trimmings in amongst the twigs without wire. It’s a good idea to wear gloves, especially if you are working with juniper.

3. Twigs

A twig wreath is lovely in itself and also makes a good base for other wreath materials. Grapevines and other vines can be used to make these simple wreaths, but make sure you do not use vines that are hairy or growing tightly to tree trunks – these could be poison ivy and even in winter they can cause a rash, blisters, and itching. Long, flexible twigs make the best material. Gather them into a bunch and lightly twist and bend them, adding more twigs are you go until it makes a circle and you can tuck and weave the ends together.

4. Nuts, berries, and miscellaneous tree fall-out

Acorns, rose hips, holly berries, maple keys, sycamore pods, and teasels are just some of the decorative items that nature provides. If you have enough of them, they can be glued to a cardboard or styrofoam base to make a wreath on their own. Or you can use them to add texture and color to an existing wreath.

Making your own wreath is an affordable and fun way to celebrate the holidays. They make pretty, meaningful gifts or they can be made in miniature and attached to gift packages. The whole family can get involved and create not only a lovely product, but memories as well.

photo credit: alicia rae

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