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Oh I just love this time of year! Thanksgiving Covid-style is in the books and we are full steam ahead in “make this a lovely holiday” season mode. Last year my winter bottle brush tree wreath was one of my all time favorites. But I had the wonderful opportunity to collaborate with ShrubBucket this holiday season and get to experience their beautiful products. All these greens came right to my door and with them, I got to work making some lovely, free-form natural holiday wreaths that just matched my heart this holiday season.

Now you could do this with artificial greens and then use it year after year. I wanted to use live clippings this year and started by gathering some fir branches, sticks, variegated boxwood and those beautiful juniper berries. You can literally make this with yard clippings if you’ve got enough variation in your yard. I sprayed each branch and leaf with a product called Wilt Pruf that I bought off Amazon and had heard good things about. It is supposed to help extend the life of the cut greens. This is the first year I’ve tried this stuff so I can’t give you an honest review yet, but I’m hopeful.  I let everything dry before bringing it inside to work. So we’ll see. I even sprayed all the live garland I used inside so I’m hoping things don’t get crispy quite as fast.

I found these wreath forms from a small shop on Etsy (love supporting those small businesses) and loved both their size and natural feel. To attach the branches to the grapevine wreath, I used a combo of tucking branches, floral wire and hot glue.

SUPPLIES

18″ Grapevine Wreath Frame

Clipped greens (different kinds of fir branches, juniper berries, cedar, pine, boxwood and some sticks)

Hot Glue

Floral wire

Wilt Pruf

Ribbon

INSTRUCTIONS

I wanted an asymmetrical look to the finished wreath. So (pretending your grapevine wreath is a clock face) I started at 5 o’clock and worked to the right and left. I used my heavier Fraser fir branches first and used a small wire to get the branch to curve up with the frame on each side of that center point. This helped it have a natural upwards curve rather than sticking out awkwardly to each side.

Next I added in some of the more delicate pine branches and moved into the variegated boxwood moving back toward that initial center point.

I used a combo of floral wire and hot glue for the smaller branches and everything seemed really firm and stable. To fill in gaps and make the center point of the wreath more lovely, I used juniper berries and a natural stick to make that spot pop.

SOME TIPS TO HELP YOU ACHIEVE A NATURAL LOOK

*Use the natural curve of a branch to your advantage

*Allow the floppier branches like pine to be the drapey element that adds movement to your wreath. These are easy to tuck into more sparse spots

*Stand back often to look at it with a wider lens

*Fill in blank spots with more greens and sticks. Only add glue or floral wire when you’re really sure of it’s spot

*Make sure to use different shades of green and different kinds of pine. In my wreath, the variegated boxwood really adds the perfect touch of “different” to make it not seem “matchy matchy” and bland. You want to see these different textures and colors

I made two and they sure look pretty on our exterior doors. I hope you’ve enjoyed this natural holiday wreaths tutorial and I hope you make them and tag me. I’d love to see how you bring some lovely to your holiday season. Make sure you swing by my friend’s posts below. The inspiration is aplenty. And thank you to Ruthie from Ruth Eileen Photography for capturing yet another holiday season.