It took me until mid-November to finally do any decorating around here. Which this year meant getting out my felt wreath, a few twig stars I bought last season, my quilted table runner and some candles. We will wait until the weekend after Thanksgiving to get our tree and pull out the rest of the Christmas decorations.
But on Saturday afternoon I was itching for something new and handmade and remembered the gorgeous wreaths from the Moon Canyon workshop that I had seen on Instagram. I decided to see if I could make something similar. At first I considered scavenging my neighborhood for live plants and then I decided to just scavenge my local craft store for dried and fake ones instead. (I'm glad I went this route, but it was more expensive that I thought it would be.)
I started with a grapevine wreath and then just tucked in various plant pieces. The "secret" I learned from lots of wreath studying is to keep everything going the same direction (in my case, counter-clockwise). It also seemed important to layer things. I went with my main color first (the orange stuff I had the most of) and then added in bits of green and red in clusters, not evenly spread around.
For the most part, just tucking in the floral pieces into the wreath form was secure enough, but I did wrap a few with wire twine to keep them from splaying out too crazily. (That's a technical term.)
I think this will work well for Thanksgiving and carry on through Christmas too. I removed the art we usually have over the mantle and hung it right there. Perfectly festive and imperfectly made (which is my kind of holiday DIY, for sure).
'tis the season!
and ps... I cannot believe how much has changed since last Thanksgiving.
