Making a Wreath

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By Becky Pederson – An old-fashioned holiday tradition is to hang an evergreen wreath on your door to welcome family and friends.

Wreath making is quick and very inexpensive.

Materials needed:

• Wreath frame (An ordinary, metal clothes hanger works for a frame. Bend the hook to make a loop and attach a string for hanging.)
• 24-gauge green floral wire
• Scissors
• A bow
• Optional pinecones
• White craft paint
• Artificial red berries

In late October, I cut balsam or spruce pine boughs. The balsam is soft and fragrant where the spruce is quite prickly to the hands. Gather some pinecones. I prefer the Norway pinecones.

From the pine boughs, cut six-inch pieces of pine. Gather up seven or so pieces and wire them together tightly. The correct side of the pine is what faces the sky.

Use a 10-inch piece of wire to tie the pine together then lay the bundle on your frame. Wire it tightly to the frame.

Next, take another pine bundle and overlap it onto the first bundle. Secure it with the extra wire from the first bundle. Keep going around the frame in this manner until you have a beautifully shaped wreath.

If you have a wreath frame larger than the clothes hanger size, cut the pine pieces longer to make the wreath fuller.

Embellish the completed wreath with a bow and pinecones, if you choose. If using pinecones, wire three together and touch the tips with white craft paint. Adding little red berries adds a colorful touch. I save my wire frames, pinecones, and red bows from year to year.

Hang up your creation and enjoy it during the holiday season.

Originally published in the November/December 2019 issue of Countryside and regularly vetted for accuracy.