Hello everyone and welcome back to a very festive and crafty Tea Cozy Kitchen! Today's post is going to be a crafty one. I'm going to share with you how I made my Christmas wreath for absolutely no moneys, nada, zilch, FREE! I always love festive wreaths but I find that every year they just get more and more expensive, they just end up dying anyway. So, this year I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my very own unique wreath. Anything that can make Christmas that wee bit cheaper is a win in my book. Let me tell you, it was so easy and only took up about an hour of my time (you can probably tell from the look of mine, it's a tad shoddy! ha!).
First things first, the main reason that this was free is that I just foraged in my garden for foliage that I could use. I was going to go to a forest but chickened out as I thought it could be considered stealing from nature ( I know i'm paranoid!). But if you're braver than me ( let's face it you probably are) then by all means forage for branches and foliage etc. in your local forest. Just be careful you're not stealing from other people's gardens! Also, let me just say I am no expert, this is just how it worked for me!
The best kind of foliage for making a wreath is some sort of bendy branches to make the shape, bushy but bendy foliage, like pine to fill it out, ivy to wrap around the wreath and hold it together and pretty decorative plants like, holly, eucalyptus or in my case, dying hydrangea. Other decorative items like pine cones, berries, bows, dried fruit and ornaments are also a good idea. I wanted to keep my wreath quite simple and traditional (for this, read FREE!) so I just used whatever I could find in the house, these ribbons were from last Christmas. I think mine looks very Victorian (for some reason best known to myself!). I love the colours in the hydrangea and how it ties in so well with the ribbon.
Here's what you will need:
A wire hanger
Green thread or string
Your foraged foliage and decorations
Here's what to do:
1. Bend your hanger into a circular shape and attach both ends together so it forms a wire loop.
2. Bend your bendy leafless branches around the hanger so it holds the shape. You might need to do about two or three layers round the wire until the shape feels sturdy.
3. Slot your pine branches in between the bendy branches to your preferred fullness. Don't worry if it's a bit messy we will neaten it up at the next stage. I think it's probably a good idea to go fuller than you might think here.
4. Wrap green thread around the shape two or three times, pulling in any stray pine branches and neatening the wreath.
5. Tuck your ivy branch into a secure spot and wrap around the wreath a couple of times, attaching the end of the ivy branch securely. This also helps to neaten up the wreath AND ivy leaves are pretty! You might want to another layer of thread here if the wreath feels a bit loose or untidy.
6. Slot your more decorative plants in your desired spots, making sure that they are neat, secure and you can see them well.
7. Attach your bow and any other decorative pieces and hang on your front door! There you go, a pretty festive wreath for free! Ta-da!
There's still time if you fancy making a wreath before Christmas, it's the perfect thing to greet people as they arrive to your house for festive celebrations. If you have made a wreath before please let me know any hints and tips that helped you as I will definitely be doing this again next year! Also, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below! I really enjoyed making this wreath, even if it isn't the prettiest, I love it because I made it (and it was free!). You could even get your friends round and have a wreath making night with festive drinks, that would be so much fun! I will be back soon with another foodie related post and maybe even a sneaky recipe! As always, thanks for reading,
Rachael xx.
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