Autumn Wreath Tutorial

I love autumn, and I love decorating for autumn. One of my favorite places to shop for fall decor is Hobby Lobby, and in a recent shopping trip there, I was looking at the wreaths they had for sale since my fall wreaths were looking very worn out. Much to my dismay, the wreaths were not inexpensive - even the ones that weren't that attractive. Since our family is very much DIY, I thought, "Why not make my own? How hard can it be?" Turns out, not that hard. In fact, the hardest part was choosing my materials. I made several trips to Hobby Lobby switching pieces in and out, but finally found the combination of elements I really love. The steps below show how I made my wreath. I purchased all of the elements, except for the wreath itself which I already had, from Hobby Lobby. Best of all, but shopping the sales, I made this wreath for just over $30. The version closest to the one I made sells at Hobby Lobby for over $80.

Step one:

I purchased a grapevine cone and bent it into a cornucopia shape. I then wired it onto the wreath using floral wire.

Step two:

After wiring the cornucopia, I glued the largest of the 3 pumpkins I had into the opening of the cornucopia.

The smaller two pumpkins were floral picks, so I was able to easily stick them into the wreath. Once I had them positioned the way I liked, I used just a bit of hot glue to keep them from shifting out of place.

Step 3:

I took some berry picks and cut them into individual branches. I tucked the branches around the pumpkins and secured them with hot glue.

Step 4:

Next I took two floral picks that were a combination of leaves, acorns, pine cones and berries. I centered these on the left hand side of the wreath opposite one another. Once I was satisfied with their placement, I glued these into place. It is very important to not glue right away. Often I placed them one way only to change my mind once I stepped back and took a good look at the overall composition. This placement was especially important since it would be the starting place for the remaining elements.

Step 5a:

Originally when I got to this step, I used one giant bundle of leaves mixed with acorns that I bent into an arch over the top of the wreath since the essence of fall is falling leaves. It was a huge time saver and very easy, but I felt like it made the wreath look like it had a mohawk, so I removed this part and decided to go a different direction. Here is what the original version looked like:

Step 5b:

After I removed the leaf mohawk, starting from the left, I wove in branches with leaflets that I made from cutting down a much

larger bunch.

The branches were wired, so I was able to bend the branches to help achieve the gentle curve I was after.

While this part isn't obvious in the final product, it does help add dimension.

Step 6:

Next I tucked in berry sprigs. These berry sprigs were slightly different than the ones I used by the pumpkins and reminded me of little pomegranates. Once again, I started by cutting down a large sprig into 3 smaller ones. I used sprigs that were uniform in color first, and then switched to ones that were a multicolored version of the first to add variation.

Step 7:

I placed one of the pomegranate bunches "upside down" on the bottom half of the left side. For a bit of flair and to keep the wreath from being completely round in form, I added two small sprigs of dark brown berries and two picks of pheasant feathers, one each to the top and bottom of the left side, each originating from the cluster of leaves and acorns. While I'm not usually a feather kind of gal, I really like the effect. Once again, I placed everything before using any glue so that I could make sure I was happy with the balance and placement.

Step 8:

The last thing I did was to thread a bit of floral wire though the back of the wreath to act as a hanging loop. Once that was accomplished, all that was left was to hang the wreath on my door.

I'm really pleased with the result and was surprised at how simple it was. I will say that working with a twig wreath is easier in some ways than working with a grapevine wreath, which is what I've worked with in the past. My next project will be making a wreath featuring hickory nuts from my grandfather's farm. I saw a variation of this in Living a few years ago and have wanted to try it ever since.