Holiday Decorating 2021

Here’s a look at some of the holiday decorating and wreaths I made for 2021. I will do a second post with all the wreaths from this year.

If you’ve been reading my blog or seen my Instagram, you’ll know that I love making wreaths and using fresh material to decorate.

Fresh Greenery

We try to limit how much stuff we store in bins so using fresh greens that go into the yard waste at the end of season does the trick…and bonus smells good too! The only place I use artificial is for a staircase garland.

I started early with making boxwood wreaths to hang in our windows with greens clipped from our yard and silk ribbons that I made (available in my Etsy shop).

Boxwood will last a good 6-8 weeks indoors, especially if it gets some moisture from fogged up windows.

Tree Alternatives

I cut branches off some of our trees and shrubs to make “trees” in the front planters, indoors and as out Christmas tree.

I have tried potted trees in the past but they need to be maintained all year so instead I use branches. That way, at the end of season to the yard waste they go.

Benefits of using branches instead of trees:

• No trees wasted
• Less maintenance than a potted tree
• Nothing plastic and bulky that needs to be stored.

Front Door Decor

The front porch area changed in the Spring with the One Room Challenge when I added seating. For winter I made a new pillow cover …maybe we’ll have a cup of hot chocolate here on a mild day.

The front door set up is similar to last year. I start setting it up in November with a winter look and then add some sparkle in December near Christmas.

After the holidays, I remove the sparkle and keep this display for the rest of winter. I added battery powered tiny lights to the trees that add a glow to the trees for the 3 pm sunset.

For the past few years I have been selling wreaths locally in December. I will share more pictures of the ones I made this year in another blog post.

To see more photos of the outdoor decorating I have a few Reels on my Instagram to get a more detailed look.

Improved Boxwood Wreath

Are you planning to make your own fresh wreaths this holiday season? It’s not too complicated and right now all of the boughs are readily available at grocery stores or maybe in your own yard.  Last year I shared how I made a boxwood wreath and this year I’m sharing an improved version.

Supplies:

Once you have the basics then all you need to add (or clip from your yard) is the fresh greenery.

• Wreath Form ( Wire or Grapevine)
• Paddle Wire
• Pruning Shears or Sharp Scissors
• Fresh Greenery (2 Bunches for a Fuller Wreath)

 

To achieve a full and even wreath the key is to make small bundles of greenery that are roughly the same size. Rather than trying to use one large branch, cut it into smaller pieces, hold that bundle and secure it to the frame. Continue layering the bundles and securing them with the paddle wire.

Also using more greenery helps too. I used two large bunches of boxwood for this wreath compared to last year when I only used one. Last year I wrapped wire around each bundle that I added to the frame but this year I skipped that step and only did one continuous length of wire for the whole wreath.

These are the basics but berries and a mixture of greens could be added too.

 

Boxwood Wreath 2015

A few photos of it finished wreath.

Holiday Greenery: How to Make a Boxwood Wreath

Have you ever been to Chicago during the holiday season? The first time that I ever noticed urns full of evergreen boughs and pretty branches was when I went to Chicago. For three years I went to that gorgeous city around this time for the One of a Kind Show and a highlight was always seeing the elegant displays on every corner.

Ever since then I’ve been working to improve my skills to make my wreaths, garlands and urns. I’m still figuring it out, but I have learned some techniques along the way for beginners.

By purchasing the boughs from the grocery store (or collecting them in the forest after a windstorm) and having a couple of basic supplies to reuse every year makes it less expensive to do it yourself.

These are very basic instructions for how I made my wreath.

Materials Needed:

• Wire Wreath Form
• Florist Wire
• Garden Shears or Scissors
• Greenery – Cedar & Pine is $5 a bunch at the grocery store and boxwood or oregonia is $10. I used one bunch, but for a fuller wreath you’d need two.

Time to complete 15 – 20 minutes.

Cut off pieces of the boxwood to shorter lengths and bundle about three together with wire, leaving some extra length of wire. Attach the bunch to the wire frame using the extra wire at the end. After you layer all of the bunches together around the frame loop, the spool of wire around to secure everything. The key is using a wreath form to work with to get the nice round shape. I have tried in the past without a form, and they were not as successful, and they were more frustrating to make.

Last year my wreath lasted more than 4 months, and when it was all dried up, I pulled out the old leaves and saved the wire to use again this year. Of course, if you like ribbons and embellishments you could add them afterward but I prefer to keep it simple.

UPDATED & IMPROVED BOXWOOD WREATH 2016 

I have an improved version of this wreath to see here:

Forest Bouquets

Living in Eastern Canada where there are a lot of bare branches for several months of winter makes me appreciate evergreens, more than I probably did growing up in Vancouver where it was always green.

After a walk in the woods after a windstorm this Christmas we collected some fallen boughs and a couple of lichen covered sticks which became forest bouquets.

This was also my first attempt at making a boxwood wreath. I used a wire wreath frame, floral wire and boxwood that was so widely available at the grocery stores in December. Maybe if I’m lucky the wreath will stay green all winter.