christmas wreaths.

this year it's been fun having a house to decorate... we've spent the past four christmases in our married life in apartments, so i had some ideas of how i wanted to adorn our house for the christmas season. we've been a bit behind on our decorating, just getting our tree up last weekend, but we've been able to do a few of the things i've had in this little-ole-head-of-mine.

we have four windows across the front of our house, and i knew i'd love to put a wreath on each, with a bigger one on the front door. my mom, sister and i happened to hit a.c. moore whilst they were having a good sale on much of their christmas decor. *perfect*. i bought four smaller evergreen wreaths, one larger one and some berry garland for around twenty bucks. score.

so, i've made a couple of wreaths before (here and here), but none that have required floral wire so i wasn't quite sure how that would go. surprisingly, it was very easy. the evergreen was thankfully forgiving and the perfect canvas for my red berries and some pinecones i found in my grandfather's holiday stash in the garage.

this was a really simple project; just verrrry time consuming because i was making five wreaths. it probably didn't help that i had my pregnant behind seated on our hardwood floors and was scrunched over working on these things for a little over an hour. ouch. here's my quick how-to.

christmas evergreen wreaths

materials:
* artificial evergreen wreaths
* wire cutters
* floral wire
* berry garland (i used two since i was making several wreaths)
* pinecones (i used four on each of the smaller wreaths and six or eight on the larger wreath)
* wreath hanger for front door
* suction cup hooks for windows

- fluff evergreen wreath to desired fullness. if using berry garland, pull branches of berries off of the garland (mine popped right off) and being laying them out, assembling them around your wreath. there is a natural curve of the berries, and you'll want them all to curve together in the same direction around your wreath. leave an empty space for your pinecones.

- once you are pleased with your design, begin snipping your floral wire and using it to fasten the berries to your wreath. work your way around the wreath until all of your berries are secured.

- form a cluster of pinecones with your floral wire and attach.

- hang from wreath hanger on your front door, or from the suction cup hooks on your windows.

see? easy peasy. the hardest part is actually getting the time and energy to do them... with a busy toddler and a pregnant belly, those two things are much in demand these days! we still haven't gotten our christmas lights up on our front porch like we intended, and i plan on getting the spotlight out in the front yard today... that way these wreaths will be visible in the dark. but they still look pretty with the white candles we have in all of our windows at nighttime :) and the best part? they're artificial, so we'll be able to re-use them in the coming years. yesssss. one less thing on my christmas-to-do-list for next year.

i like it.

happy decorating!