ADD NATURAL ELEMENTS TO YOUR DECOR WITH A NATURAL EVERGREEN WREATH. A SIMPLE TUTORIAL USING ALL NATURAL MATERIALS TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL WREATH.
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WHY YOU’LL LOVE NATURAL EVERGREEN WREATHS
A few years ago, my husband began a tradition of sending me to wreath making classes for my birthday each year. After the first class, I was hooked and it became an instant tradition carried out every December.
Natural evergreen wreaths are beautiful, smell like a Christmas tree, and have limitless potential depending on what elements you choose to incorporate.
Our evergreen wreaths typically last into the spring season when kept outdoors. So, expect your wreath to last the same!
FRUGAL, ECO-FRIENDLY CREATING
So far this season, I have made two wreaths and only paid maybe $5 in supplies (if that). There are many wreath tutorials on the internet, but I don’t think there are any quite this frugal!
Artificial plants and greenery are pretty readily available from craft stores, however they can be costly once it’s all said and done.
Using fresh elements from your yard is a beautiful, frugal way to gather the items needed to create a beautiful wreath.
FORAGING FOR ELEMENTS
Your beautiful wreath starts with a walk outdoors. As you walk, notice what is around you. Are there any plants, trees or shrubs that could use a trim? Is that some princess pine you just passed? Could those sticks look beautiful in a wreath?
Anything can make a beautiful wreath with just a touch of imagination. Most of the materials used to make the wreaths pictured were gathered with my boys and I out on a walk. The kids took turns carrying a big brown paper bag as we clipped and walked around our property.
I then struck gold when my Aunt sent me a message that she had just trimmed a large Spruce tree and would drop off the clippings. She brought me a massive box of beautiful clippings, complete with little pinecones. My Grandmother also shared some of her Holly cuttings, and before I knew it – I had quite the workstation of elements to choose from.
TOOLS NEEDED TO MAKE A NATURAL EVERGREEN WREATH
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For this wreath we will be using primarily natural materials. However, wire to wrap the greens to the base are necessary. I explain how to make a wreath base in this post, but if you aren’t able to make a natural wreath base, wire circles are inexpensive and work very well.
- Wreath base: I used bittersweet vine, which is an invasive species in our area. Bittersweet is extremely flexible, making it excellent for bending into a circle.
- Zip Ties: to hold the base together, twine could also be used.
- Wire: used to hold the wreath together.
- Wire nippers: to trim wire
- Pruning Shears: to trim greens to the desired length
- Assorted greenery, sticks, dried grasses, pine cones, etc.
STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO MAKING A NATURAL EVERGREEN WREATH
To make a natural evergreen wreath, you’ll need plenty of space to lay out all of your different types of materials. This will make it easier to see what you have and what you’d like to work with.
STEP 1: CREATE A NATURAL BASE
To make a beautiful evergreen wreath, you first need to make a base to work from. Take whatever supple branches or vines you’ve collected, and gently bend them into a circle. An extra set of hands is definitely useful for this step, then zip tie or use twine to secure the circle you’ve made.
If you are making a wreath alone, a simple way to get a round shape is to use a basket or laundry basket and line the inside of the basket with your vines/sticks to form the proper shape. Then zip tie or use twine to secure as you normally would.
For the larger wreath pictured, I braided the bittersweet vines to make a sturdier wreath. The smaller, princess pine wreath is just one vine of bittersweet.
STEP 2: MAKE BUNDLES
Begin to make small piles of the elements that you like, these first piles should be the longest pieces of your wreath, and have strong firm pieces as well. These pieces will be the skeleton of your wreath so to speak.
Form about 6-8 bundles and set them aside, making sure they are roughly the same height and contain the same number of elements.
For the wreath pictured above, I used 2 sprigs of Pine and 3 pieces of Spruce per bundle.
If you are making a wreath with just one type of green like the Princess Pine wreath (with Oranges) like the picture below, just make more of the same bundles. For example, to make the Princess Pine wreath I used bundles of 3 pieces of Princess Pine over and over until the wreath was complete.
STEP 3: MAKE MORE BUNDLES
If you are using only one element for your wreath you can skip this step, otherwise …
Make smaller bundles of different materials and set them aside. These bundles should be shorter than the first, and be your pops of color/texture/etc. Make the same number of large and small bundles.
Now, you’ll want to stack your small bundles on top of your larger bundles and make sure you like the way they look together. Nothing should be wired at this point.
STEP 4: WRAP BUNDLES TO WREATH
Here’s where the fun begins. Use the wire to wrap around the base of your wreath making a secure starting point. I usually just wrap it around a few times until I can firmly pull on it without the wire coming out.
Now, grab your large bundle and place the smaller bundle on top of it. Place it on your wreath base and begin to wrap the wire around several times, pulling it tight. The key is to wrap the wire continually for this entire process. Don’t worry if the wreath’s shape isn’t perfect, we can fix that later.
We’re going to repeat this process over and over, until the wreath is jam-packed. The second bundle should be placed very close to where the first bundle starts to wrap to the wire. It’s worth playing around with for a few minutes before you actually start wiring them on. Once the bundles are in a good position, wrap the wire around a few times and pull tight.
The last bundle will be hard to place, and that’s a good thing. It’s beneficial to have an extra set of hands to place the last bundle in it’s position. After the last piece has been wrapped on, loop the wire around the back of the wreath several times to secure.
Before clipping the wire, make a loop for easy wreath hanging later.
STEP 5: ADD FINISHING TOUCHES
For the princess pine wreath, I decided to add some dried oranges that I had saved from my eco-friendly fall decor. Of course, you can use anything – berries, pine cones, ribbon, dried citrus, etc.
Many elements can be wired to the wreath at this point, or use a hot glue gun. It really depends on what type of element you are adding and the texture.
Before adding anything permanent to the wreath, I suggest hanging it up somewhere and just admiring it first. During this whole process, you’ve been very up close to the wreath. By hanging it up and taking a step back, we are able to see the whole piece and make a better determination as to what it may need (or just leave it as is).
PIN IT FOR LATER
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