Sunday Flowers…Time for Wreaths

Today is wreath day and I’m making some dried herbal wraths for Fall display. I really love how these wreaths incorporate flowers and herbs to create a pretty display that can be enjoyed throughout the Fall season. Welcome to the Blog today, Friends, as my Sunday flowers expand into wreath making.

I’ll start with a suggestion for making your own wreaths. Although wreaths are not super expensive they still cost money that you could use on something else. I was cutting back some willow bushes today and thought I’d try my hand at turning them into a wreath or two. I cut pretty long lengths (about four feet) and stripped them of leaves and extra branches. I used four to sixth lengths per wreath. I cut them all the same length and then intertwined the lengths to give it a twisted look. Then I bent the lengths into a circle and fastened the ends with wire. My Hubby helped with this part. It’s really a two person job. They turned out great. I’ll let them dry out a bit and then get them ready to decorate. I love the natural look of these wreaths and the light green natural color.

My next task was to make a couple of cloth roses.

I used cloth maple leaves for this project. You can actually use real leaves that have fallen from the trees but that’s not happening right now. You fold the leaf in half then start at one end and roll it. Then fold a second leaf in a different color and start at one end rolling it around the first leaf. You can continue this process until your flower is as large as you like. I just used two leaves. Then take a piece of florist wire and wrap it around the flower securing the ends. You’re done.

I made a simple bow and attached the flower to the center with a bit more wire. I used a wired gingham check ribbon for the bow.

I gathered some herbs and dried flowers from the garden and started to assemble my wreath. I don’t usually use a hot glue gun as I reuse the wreath forms a lot. So wire is my attachment device but you could use hot glue. For these two wreaths I used rosemary, thyme, Russian sage and some oregano along with the dried hydrangea.

I spent some time playing with the various materials until I settled on a design. Then I build the wreath from the bottom up adding the herbal materials first and adding the bow and hydrangea last.

It takes a bit of time but it’s quite fun.

The wreaths are similar but not identical. I like them to have their own character.

The last step was to select a ribbon to use for hanging the wreath. I used a white organza ribbon that wouldn’t show too much in the window.

Here’s the wreath hanging in the window. I have so much light coming in these windows, it’s really difficult to take a front-facing picture that is not in shadow. They look really great in the room. I’ll be enjoying them throughout the Fall. I hope you give this craft a try. I think you will love the outcome for Sundays and for every other day of the week.

A couple of pictures of the wreaths hung in the windows that were taken at night.

This last one is a natural thyme wreath. I used the same ribbon and some purple hydrangea to complete the wreath. It’s built using one of the willow wreaths I made. It smells wonderful. The fresh thyme will dry right on the wreath with no problem. Your options are only limited by the garden material you find.