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:
shibangdesigns.wordpress.com 