Like I mentioned over the weekend, I made my own Christmas wreath this year! I really wanted a square boxwood wreath for our front door, but didn't want to pay a small fortune. So, I went to a local farm and bought 25 feet of boxwood garland for $14.99. What a steal!
How do they make boxwood garland, anyhow? How is a plant that grows at a glacial pace (about 1" of growth per year!) capable of providing this much foliage? Are they harvesting one branch from hundreds of boxwood? You aren't supposed to prune boxwood in the fall, so are all of these boxwood kept in greenhouses? As you can see, I'm amazed by this. If anyone can provide some insight to this confused blonde, I would love to know how they make boxwood garland possible. :)
Ok, so I had my boxwood greenery. Now, all I needed was a wreath form. I went to 3 different craft stores and came up empty handed. No square wreath forms. Then, I found
these inexpensive forms online at the Maine Wreath Company, but I didn't want to wait for them to ship it to me.
I'm impatient and after all,
Christmas is a mere 11 days away! So, I decided to get creative and make my own wreath form. I found some scrap wood in our basement, and cut it to size. Then, I screwed all four pieces together, primed it, and painted it green.
Our front door has a large glass panel, and I didn't want to see ugly scrap wood from the other side. The green frame blends in quite nicely.
materials needed:
25 feet of boxwood garland
square wreath form (mine is a DIY and measures 15" square)
floral wire
wire cutters
floral clippers (not pictured above)
Start wrapping the garland around the frame, tying it onto the frame with floral wire as you go...
Keep wrapping and wrapping until all 25 feet of boxwood is used up...
Then, with your floral clutters, trim the excess so that is starts to resemble a square...
To hang my wreath, I bought 4" wide, white satin ribbon from Michael's, and 5/8" black twill tape...
To create a look inspired by this black and white piping...
the FABULOUS wrapping at Williams Sonoma Home (my favorite store in the world)
I trimmed the white ribbon with the black ribbon. I don't have a photo of this step, sorry. But, it's simple. Just hot glue the black ribbon to the edges of the white ribbon to create a "piped" look (like the gift boxes above). Loop the newly piped white ribbon through the wreath and...
Voila! You're done.
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