Twelve Days of Christmas Day 1: Creating a Wreath

Welcome to the Twelve Days of Christmas!  For the next twelve days I will be sharing ideas with you on how to get your house into the Christmas spirit.

The first thing that I like to do is to decide on a theme for my wreath.  This year I wanted to create a "snowed in" greenery outside.  Once I do that, I know what I need to be shopping for.

I wanted to find a plain base for my wreath so that I would have something solid to build on.  I found this wreath at Bordines Nursery for $17.00, which is a pretty good price for what I was looking for.

As you can see, this wreath doesn't really fit the snowed in look that I wanted so I needed to create that look myself.  To do this, I purchased spray adhesive and extra fine artificial snow in a bag.  I found both of these items at Jo-Ann Fabrics. 

To create the look of natural snow, you are going to want to do this in steps.  The first step is to lightly spray the adhesive on the entire wreath.  After spraying, sprinkle the wreath with the snow.  Make sure to sprinkle the snow so that it looks like it naturally fell rather than pressing the snow on the glue.  Let that dry for 30 minutes.  When you come back, lightly shake the excess snow off of the wreath.  Now you can decide where you would like more snow.  Repeat this process until you have the wreath as snowy as you want.

Once the snow is on and the adhesive is dry, it is time to add all of your accents.  I chose to add flowers and a bow.  Before you attach anything, lay everything out to make sure that you are happy with the way it will look.  An easy way to make sure that everything stays secure in the place you want is to attach your accents to the wreath with floral wire.

To hook the wreath to your hanger, weave the floral wire through the back of the wreath and tie that to your door hanger.  This will make it less likely to move with the opening and closing of your door.

You can also use this idea for garland on your mailbox, staircases, and interior doorways.  Have fun being creative!

See you tomorrow for Day 2!