Wreath Making Without a Frame

Another thing I did this weekend was make a couple of wreaths. I’m forging ahead with my “‘good enough’ is good enough” strategy and it’s working. Letting go of the desire for perfection is liberating. I’m doing things I haven’t done in years (like making wreaths) and even if the results aren’t magazine perfect, they are still homey and festive. (You’ll get better with practice!)

The hardest part of making a wreath is building up the courage to ask the person at the tree farm if you can have the branches. While we were tree shopping, I picked up lots of branches that were lying all over the ground and as were bought our tree I just asked, “Would it be alright if I kept these too?” You sound less weird if you do this while you’re actually buying something. It also helps them because then they don’t have such a hard job cleaning up at the end of Christmas tree selling season. (We bought our tree from police officers who were doing a charity sale. Because all the workers were volunteers, I think they were happy not to have to do any extra picking-up work.)

When you get home, all you need are clippers and wire. I used 22 gauge silver wire because that’s all I had, but if I was buying something new, 24 gauge green wire is better. It costs less than $5 at the hardware store and is enough to make dozens of wreaths. It is also helpful to have needlenose pliers, but I couldn’t find mine, so I can attest that it’s definitely possible without them. Start wiring your branches together and when you get a long-ish garland (about three branches) loop it around to make a circle (or in my case a triangle and an oval.) Tie on a ribbon from your stash. That’s it. You just made a wreath for free.

We’re still trying to figure out where to hang our’s. Right now they’re just on random closet doors, but hopefully in the next day or two, as we’re putting out our other decorations, we’ll get it sorted out.

Linked to DIY Day.