Christmas Evergreen Wreath tutorial

Today, I thought I would share with you a evergreen wreath.  I actually made this wreath last year, took all the pictures, and then never got around to sharing the full tutorial.  So since it is hanging on my front door again (at least for now, would love to make a white/neutral one this year, but not sure if it will happen), I thought you could still enjoy this tutorial.

Many people tell me that they have no clue how to make or adorn a wreath and honestly, I don’t know that I KNOW how to do it the professional way but decorating a wreath or making a wreath is one of my favorite things to do.  I have been making my own wreaths since we were first married.  It is SO much easier than decorating my mantel (I always feel like I am tweaking and changing things to get it just right), decorating a room or a vignette, or even deciding on colors, décor.

Here is the wreath I made 4-5 years ago and we hung on our front door for several years.

Last year with the added inspiration that Pinterest, other blogs, and writing my own blog brought, I had a vision to change it up.  I actually created a wreath for a friend that looked very much like this and loved it so much I wanted one for myself!   Ever do that?  Buy something or make something intending to give it to someone and then you like it so much, you keep it?

One of the MAIN ways that I get a vision for what I want to do with a wreath is to find inspiration.  I have taken pictures of wreaths at Michael’s and then bought the stuff to make my own (much cheaper than buying their wreaths!), seen wreaths on other people’s doors and recreated my own version, and of course a quick search on Pinterest or even on Etsy can yield lots of inspiration.

So I removed all the stuff off my faux evergreen wreath and fluffed it all up.  You can find these wreaths everywhere.  I love to buy them on Christmas clearance for the next year.  But I do suggest not getting the cheapest $2-3 one at Wal-mart – you want a fuller, prettier wreath.  One in the $10 or a little less range should be fine.

The first thing I wanted to do on my wreath was add some pinecones (collected from my in-laws yard).  And I wanted them to have that “snowy look.”

There are several ways to get that look – spray them with spray snow, buy them premade, or paint the tips with white paint and sprinkle on Epsom salt.  (You can find Epsom salt in the pharmacy area of your local grocery store, by the way.)

So I painted the tips of the pinecones white with some craft paint and then sprinkled on the epsom salt.

Look how pretty! Epsom salt is big crystals that will look sparkly in the light and just give a pretty effect.  Regular salt will not look the same

Then I let my plate of faux snow-covered pinecones dry.

I wired some floral wire around the base and put 2-3 pinecones in a cluster and then wrapped the wire around the wreath to secure them.  See how I spread them out evenly around the wreath.

Then I had these little sprays of greenery/berries/pinecones that I picked up at Hobby Lobby.

And I tucked those stems of greenery next to the bunches of pinecones.

I also tore apart a stem of red berries and a stem of white berries and tucked those in as well.

My inspiration came from quite a few wreaths that I saw on Etsy that had plaid ribbon.  And fortunately I happened to have this red plaid ribbon in my ribbon stash (bought at Hobby Lobby several years ago but I think they still carry it for Christmas).

If you noticed I was leaving blank sections in between in each grouping of pinecones/berry sprays and that is where I wrapped the ribbon around.

I also made a bow and added it to the top.  You can do the bow on the top or bottom of the wreath – whatever is your preference.  I do both depending on the wreath.

Here it is hanging on the back of my front door since it photographs better on a white door.

The only thing I bought was the 4 picks of greenery/pinecones/berries from Hobby Lobby and everything else was from my stash.  I love the contrast that different greenery gives.  If you have fresh greenery in your yard, you could even add some holly sprays or some thing like that to a faux wreath to really add to it.

If you had to buy everything right now at full price or 50%, it would probably cost $15-20.  If you wait till after Christmas and pick up supplies you can probably get it all for under $10.

I always try to pick up an extra wreath, extra ribbon, extra décor on clearance each year so I have new things for the next year and don’t have to buy them at full price.

And here it is on my front door.    I am still working on decorating my front porch.  Trying to do some things different out there (actually I just don’t want to stand on the porch railing to install icicle lights by myself).  I have a bench to work with this year too so going to try a different look.  I even asked for advice on facebook last night, so if you have some ideas come help me out.

Hopefully this little tutorial helps you feel like you can make your own wreath.  I promise it isn’t hard!  Just find an inspiration picture (or several), gather your supplies, and start sticking/gluing things in the wreath.  But if you make it intending to give it to a friend, still give it away and make yourself another one, don’t keep it, ok? 

Check out Christa’s post today in our “A Homemade Christmas” series.  She is on the ball with lots of inspiration on how to wrap gifts.  I still need to BUY and make some things before I can start wrapping!  How about you?  Making any wreaths this year?  Got your shopping done or haven’t even started yet?