Making Your Own Christmas Wreath

The Christmas wreath is quite possibly one of the most traditional and iconic images of the Christmas season. Despite, or perhaps because of, the fact that wreaths evoke thoughts and feelings associated so closely with the Christmas season these items can set you back quite a bit financially. The cost of a Christmas wreath is going to run from around $10 to $200 or more, but on average is going to be around $55.

Why not save some much-needed money by making your own wreath instead of using it to purchase a wreath. It's an easy and fun project that anyone can undertake and accomplish. Here's how you can make your own Christmas wreath.

Materials:

• Wreath frame (wire)
• Paddle of #24 floral wire
• Garden shears
• Bows
• Pine cones
• Brass and silver sleigh bells
• Scissors
• Clothes hangers (wire)
• Garden trimmings (real or artificial cedar, pine, holly, fir, berries, etc.)

Process:

1. Make the frame. Begin your process by either making your wreath frame out of an old wire hanger, or using a premade or manufactured wreath frame. To make the frame from an old hanger, all that you need to do is simply unbend the hanger into a circle, and better yet you can later even use the hook to hang the finished wreath.
2. Attach the wire and foliage. Take the paddle of #24 floral wire and attach some of it anywhere on your circular frame. Tie it to the frame and unspool it as you attach the foliage. Simply collect some of the foliage into bundles and attach the bundle by wrapping some of the wire around the bundles and the frame. Repeat this as often as necessary until you have created a ring of green. Wrap the bundle with the wire by pulling it tight, but hide each of the locations for attachment by overlapping the needles or leaves.
3. Attach the accessories. Accessories are going to be attached in a similar manner as the foliage. Wrap some wire around either the base of a pinecone or the middle of the bow, or even the loop of the bells. Since not everyone is going to like the same amount of decoration, only use accessories according to your personal taste.
4. Wrap it up. It is now time to wrap up your project. To do this, you need to lift up the loose end of the very first bundle that you attached to the frame. Under this loose end you are going to place your last bundle and twisting some of the #24 floral wire tightly around your final bundle. If you are using a pre-fabricated frame, then you want to leave roughly one inch of wire so you can hang your wreath. However, if you are using an old hanger then trim the wire enough so that you don't see any excess.