The other day, I was having a visit with my neighbour Tanya, and I looked at her door with a wreath that was way over due for a change. I think it she put it up in April….now its September…She mentioned that she should go shopping for an autumn wreath. I said Whoah! Don’t buy anything. Leave it with your buddy ol’ pal to make one.
I didn’t want to make it a typical round wreath but what could I do to make it different…but in-expensive….mmmm.
Meanwhile….my garden looks like a jungle. We have had lots of rain and sun and this means everything had big gnarly growth spurts.
When we purchased the house we were surprised that we had 25 Rose of Sharon bushes around the backyard. That is a lot of purple Rose of Sharons. They are pretty when they are in bloom and get quite full adding to privacy along the chain link fence. However, they do attract bees and the pods open and drop seeds and grow more and more and more.
There is a lot of trimming to do….and did I mention there is 25 of these shrubs? Momma Mia that’s a lot of trimming to do this week.
I was thinking about the promised wreath I wanted to make for Tanya. But I was looking at the trimming to do…wreath….trimming….and then it hit me!! Use the branches from the shrubs to make Tanya’s autumn wreath!
Supplies I used:
- Shrubs or Trees branches
- Garden Snips
- Twine or Rope
- Wire Cutters
- Autumn Flowers
- Glue Gun (I didn’t need it but I had it handy)
I pulled off the little branches and the leaves on 9 longish branches.
I put 3 twigs in a triangle shape and located some twine.
Twine is great for tying your sticks together. I better keep it handy for the rest of the trimming that is still waiting for me.
At first, I was going to keep the ends long and staggered but I decided to trim the ends down further.
I like the rough ends but we don’t want to poke out Tanya’s family’s eyes!
Time to add the flowers. I picked up a few bunches of autumn flowers from the dollar store. I only used a few sprigs from this lovely bouquet. I could easily make a few more of these as gifts (or to put on the craft table at work…of course). I spent about $10 on the flowers and twine so if I made another 3 or 4 that would make them each costing only $3 each. Cha-ching!
I had some thick twine that I used to reinforce the corners. Ribbon or lace would look cool too. Use what ever scraps you have.
I didn’t need to use a hot glue gun because I wove the ends into the twigs and wrapped the wire of artificial flowers around the twigs. You might want to use a hot glue gun to secure short pieces to the twigs.
Since the sticks make up the base and they are free-from my backyard-this is quite inexpensive. I’ve got enough flowers left to make another 4 of these! Cool…any other neighbours with a bare front door?
So rustic and woodsy.
Now who is going to clean up the left overs and finish the trimming….sigh…better get back to work.
See you again soon!