Try This: DIY Holiday Wreath

Enlarge Image Image Gallery A simple walk through the woods can supply everything you need to make this pretty holiday wreath. Photo Courtesy Emily Thompson

Start a new tradition this holiday season by making simple—yet stunning—wreaths using natural, found objects. This is a great excuse to round up family and friends for a fun walk through the woods, or set out solo for a quiet, reflective stroll. Soak in your surroundings as you seek out branches with gentle curves that could form a circle. Gather pinecones, acorns, moss and anything else that catches your eye.

Once you get all of your treasures home, put on some music and a pot of tea and let the natural beauty guide and inspire you. “Sometimes spare lines are the most powerful,” says floral designer Emily Thompson, who made this striking wreath of rosehips, which you can find from late summer through late fall. Make your own version following these easy instructions.

Materials: 

Curved branches
Pinecones, acorns or other organic adornments (optional)
Florists’ wire
Ribbon

How To: 

1. Lay your branches on the floor or a big table and choose your favorites. Arrange them in a circle. “I like to include some branches that cross the center of the circle a bit,” Thompson says. “This gives the wreath an orientation so you can decide what is top or bottom.”

2. Bind the branches with florists’ wire, making the wire as unobtrusive as possible.

3. Bind the pinecones, pods and other adornments to the wreath by looping the wire around the objects, twisting to secure, then looping the wire around the wreath and twisting it in the back. Sometimes it is easier to bind your adornments together as a group before you attach them to the wreath.