Spring Wreath Tutorial

Finally got around to dressing up my front door this past weekend!  It took the neighbors asking me if "Christmas was over" for me to realize it might be time to take down my holiday wreath I still had up! Ha. It was cute - what can I say!?

Alright so here's the down and dirty. This is a messy project but it's mildly quick, pretty cheap compared to buying one at the store, and if you're good at it you can make one for every season...eliminating the chance of an embarrassing encounter with the neighbors!

Materials Needed:

(2) Grapevine Wreaths $3.99 a piece.....$8.00
(20) Varying Strands of flowers from Michaels - Hopefully 50% off like I got them..... $26.00
(1) Super cute bird with feather tail....$2.99
Green Floral Wire......$1.99
Scissors
Hot Glue & Gun (optional)

So for around $40.00 you can make this wreath on your own and save yourself from spending a ton on a pre-made wreath that's only half as cute from the craft store! Let's get started.

I chose to buy 2 grapevine wreaths because just one seemed a little small.  I wanted my wreath to really stand out once it hit the front door! Notice how plain my red front door is with nothing on it....UGH! Once you have your 2 wreaths picked out make sure they match up in shape... you don't want one oval and one circle because when you stack them it will just look goofy.  Wire the 2 wreaths together with green floral wire in 3 to 4 spots around the wreaths. Tuck the wire ends into the grape vines when finished wrapping...hint, twist the wire like you're putting a twist tie on a garbage sack - it's that easy!

Now that I had the "Meaty" wreath look I was going for it was time to start in with the flowers.  Let me give you a little tip...when shopping for flowers always look for ones THAT DON'T LOOK FAKE. I detest fake flowers, and always have live beautiful ones around my house, but for the outdoors you want fake ones that will last...AND LOOK REAL.  The way to do this is find flowers that have ragged edges, look a bit torn, have leafy flowing branches that move in the wind.  The more it looks real next to fake plastic ones, the better it is.  Also buy filler flowers, plastic grasses and berries pass as real all the time, along with moss and branches! So let's get into applying the flowers.

I like to start slow, build up a background for my "Feature" flowers. I chose a pallet of yellow, orange, red and white for a pop in order for the wreath to stand out against the door.  Take the color of the flowers and also the season into consideration when picking wreath items. I stuck this yellow grass like sprig in between the two wreaths and ran some wire through it to hold it in place.

Each time I add flowers, I will set the wreath back away from me and make sure it looks balanced and full. You want the flowers to look as if they're growing up the side of the grapevine...it should follow the curve of the wreath and have a central focus at the bottom center where the "feature flowers" are placed at the end.  The two photos above took about 25 minutes to add all of these flowers...once you get going its a cinch! For the flowers wrapping all the way up the side of the wreath I just wired the entire branch in.  For the white tulip and yellow flower in the front I cut them off of the wire stuck them in the wreath and added a dab of hot glue to secure them in place.

After taking this image I felt like it was almost finished but it needed just a bit more green in the center where the white tulip juts out and the orange berries are a bit overwhelming.

Adding a few tulip leaves fanned out and a couple sprigs of yellow flowers it finally felt finished! See below for images of the wreath happily hung outside! Nothing like a spring wreath to warm up the front of my home...now if only the temperature would do the same!