diy christmas wreath and garland

DIY Wreath

In past years, we have been to wreath making workshops and the cost of these really adds up! Last year Sam took yard scraps and made her own wreath and his year we decided to host a workshop at Sam's house. Everyone just had to bring their own grapevine base like this one and then we stuck in clipped greenery from our yards. If you want to do this on your own it is super easy! All you really need is the grapevine wreath, greenery, some ornamental pieces from Hobby Lobby and shears! We went to Hobby Lobby when they had 50% off all Christmas items so most of these pieces like the berries and pinecones were $0.30 - $1.50 each. Steps below:

You can choose to either leave some of your grapevine wreath showing or only decorate a small half like we both did here.

It is nice to have a table set up, but we had so many ladies come that people were wreath making on the floor and couches as well, which was fine!

When you buy the add-ons at Hobby Lobby they usually have a bendable end or a pointy end, which makes it really easy to stick into the grapevine.

I just went out with shears and trimmed my tree. Aim for 7" - 10" pieces and you can always trim smaller if you need a smaller wreath piece.

You want to make sure to start high and keep building your wreath by layering. The grapevine makes it really easy to stick anything in and hold the greenery stem. So I started with this large curved piece of arborvitae and keep layering over it while working down clockwise.

Karissa kept hers all in one direction I started to weave mine in both directions so I could add the garnishing right at the bottom. I had to redo my whole wreath this morning. I had my wreath hanging on the front door which faces the sunrise and in only 4 hours of sun this morning all the greenery turned brown and died! So PSA don't put your wreath on your front door if your house faces the sun! I'll keep mine inside now on our laundry room door and the greenery will stay fresh until at least January. It will also smell amazing!

I don't have pictures of all the last steps but after the greenery, we just stick in all the extras and played around with how it looked.

The below wreath is Karissa's-

The below wreath is our friend Ashlee's!

Garland & Greenery Pots

We went to the tree farm to get our fresh tree this weekend and when we trimmed our base I just kept that large piece and took it home for free. I decided to make some thin garland to weave around our candle centerpiece on the dining room table. I

From this base I started trimming some 10" pieces and laying them out.

I took wire cutting scissors and floral wire to string them together.

It's so easy your husband can do it! We cut 4" strips of the floral wire and wrapped it around with about a 2" overlap on each piece of greenery. If you wanted a thicker piece for your stairwell you would just make the greenery double wide. Since my was going on my dining room table I wanted to keep it thin.