I do like a good craft challenge and really wanted to make my own fresh Christmas wreath this year, but I couldn’t afford to the pay the £50 that came along with some of the fab classes I had seen. So I decided I was going to go it alone and give making my own a go.
After warnings about people being arrested for foraging in my area I decided not to risk it (I did read a good post about safe foraging afterwards though which made me wish I’d gone for it!) so ended up buying a pre made blue spruce wreath from my local florists for £12.50. I preordered some eucalyptus from another local florist and they got the most gorgeous bunch which I paid £6 for, this did the wreath and filled a vase too! And I also bought some frosted eucalyptus (£3 each for 4 stems) from Marks and Spencer’s (in a panic as it was before I’d gotten hold of the florist!)
I already had florist wire from my previous jewellery bouquet making days and bought some pot pourri from our work sample shop which had cinnamon sticks, dried oranges, copper seed pods, and copper small and large pine cones. I can only find this one online though but is a similar vibe for £4. If you had patience you could also dry our oranges yourself, easily forgave pinecones and Wilkinson’s sell a pack of cinnamon sticks for £1 so it could be done cheaper too!
I spent the night wiring up the pot pourri pieces I wanted to use. I just ensured there was enough length to the wire to ensure I could attach it to my wreath and wired the rest around the various objects. For the smaller bits I used silver florist wire which is much thinner than the usual green sticks of wire you can get, and so is easier to twist around the smaller stems and pieces.
Then I set to work, having the wreath pre made meant it was much easier to just add my decoration, I wired together stems of eucalyptus and slotted them into the wreath, alternating between plain and frosted, and wiring them to the back once I was happy. I then laid out all my larger decorations along the wreath before I started writing them on, and then added the smaller decorations to fill it in. I used a big cinnamon stick to indicate where the top is but I’m thinking of adding some hessian ribbon I have lying around as a way of hanging it.
Everyone has complimented the wreath and it was really easy to make so I’d recommend it! Final cost to me was £27 and I could have definitely just used the plain eucalyptus and saved myself £6! Have you ever made a wreath before?