HOW TO: make a Holiday wreath

When I think of holly I undoubtedly will associate it with Christmas.

Walking through the woods at this time of year, when the holly tree is just packed with glowing red berries, it’s hard not to appreciate her beauty. So this morning, during my walk, I picked up some holly branches and when I came back home, I made a wreath to hang out the front door.

Materials you need:

- 20” diameter grapewine wreath

- White chalk paint

- Holly braches

- Birch bark sheets. Depends on the size you can find. You must create 6 cm stars (2 3/8 inch) x60

- brown florist tape

- brown floral wire

Tools you need:

- brush

- awl

- scissor

- hot gun

- pencil and a piece of cardboard

Start by creating your star template from a piece of cardboard. My stars are 6 cm ( 2 3/8 inch).

Trace your star template onto the back of the birch bark and cut out your stars. I ended up cutting out 60 stars for my wreath. But of course you can cut out as many as you want. 

 

 Paint the wreath with a chalk paint. Just some simple brush strokes. Do the same on every star.

Use an awl to make a hole into the center of all your stars and thread the wire through the hole.

Tie two stars together using floral tape to stabilize.

Make small bouquets with 6 stars and tape the wire all the way to the bottom so that no sharp edges poke through.

Now you're ready to decorate your wreath.

Start by inserting the bouquet of stars into the grapewine wreath and securing it by using a glue gun.

Do the same thing throught the whole wreath.

Once you reach where you started, lift up the first stars, insert another bouquet and secure with some hot glue.

Gently add holly braches through all the blank spaces into the wreath. Don’t use glue gun, just insert the braches into the grapewine.

To hang you simply make a loop on the back with the wire and use it to hang the wreath on a nail or with ribbon.

Tips:

- Because holly dries out quickly, it's best to display your wreath outside.

- If you wish a scented wreath, you can buff holly leaves with natural cinnamon leaf oil.

- If you don’t have birch bark, you can find it at your local craft store or online.

- You can print your star template from a Google image search or create it with Word.

Happy Holidays.