How to make a Fresh Holiday Wreath

Every year, my friend and neighbour Kate and I have a tradition of making wreaths together. We call it our own workshop where we have coffee while making some holiday decor.

This year we added juniper berries and dried eucalyptus (from the wreath I made last year) to our base of blue spruce from the tree in our front yard.

Here are some photos from the process.

This is the tree that gives so much to us!

Materials Ready

Creating little bundles with your greens in the secret to getting a cohesive look.

Layer the bundles of green over one another as you go around the wreath form, wrapping with paddle wire.

In a couple of months when the season is over, save the paddle wire to use again next year after you pull out the old greens.

Here it is at the front door — where it stayed for a couple of weeks until I had an idea that involved making a second one and bringing them both inside. More photos of that to come later but in the meantime, there is a sneak peek in my Instagram feed.

 

More Fresh Wreath Tutorials:

Boxwood Wreath DIY

 

Eucalyptus Wreath DIY

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Fresh Eucalyptus Wreath DIY

 

Every holiday season I love to make wreathes, each time trying something new. This was my first attempt at making one out of only Eucalyptus.

For the wreath form I used a smaller 10 ” wire frame and 3 bunches of Seeded Eucalyptus from the grocery store.

It took me a few days until I started making the wreath and in that time some of the leaves had started to dry out even though I had kept the stems in water. I started with the dried pieces and made small bundles in the same way that I made the boxwood wreath last year.

These leaves worked the best. When there were so many seeded pieces it was difficult to work with.

Here is the wreath one week later, it dried out within 2 days of making it. Hopefully it will last the whole winter and won’t need to be constantly cleaned up like cedar.

Update:

This post has been getting a lot of traffic which makes me think that people would like to see more examples of Eucalyptus wreaths so I’ve added a new post with others I’ve made.

Baby Blue Wreaths – 2019

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.