By making your own decorative wreath with interchangeable seasonal elements, you can decorate your home all year long. This type of wreath is fun and beautiful without being tied to any holiday. That means you can use it any time of the year to bring a little color to your front door, wall, or any other part of your house.
How to Construct A Seasonal Wreath
This simple design is based on a grapevine wreath, available for purchase at any craft store. You'll embellish the wreath a bit and then create pretty elements to celebrate each of the four seasons. The whole project will take you about two hours.
Things You'll Need
- Grapevine wreath
- Gold craft paint
- Bouquet of artificial daffodils
- Bouquet of artificial small white flowers
- Several stems of artificial pink berries
- One pink and ivory artificial rose
- Several stems of artificial fall leaves
- Three stems of artificial fall-colored flowers
- One stem of artificial orange or red berries
- One large stem of artificial pussy willows
- One large stem of artificial red flowers
- One and a half yards of one-inch-wide soft green satin ribbon
- One and a half yards of six-inch-wide copper-colored organza ribbon
- Floral tape
- Floral wire
- Foam brush
- Paper plate
- Scissors and wire cutters
Making the Basic Wreath
A grapevine wreath is pretty on its own, but it's fun to add a little extra embellishment to make it special. Dry-brushing it with gold paint glams it up a little bit without stealing attention from the seasonal decorations. Here's how to do it:
- Squirt a small amount of gold craft paint on the paper plate. Cover your work surface with plastic.
- Dip the foam brush in the craft paint and then paint several strokes on the paper plate to remove most of the paint from your brush.
- Drag the brush over the outside layer of branches, distributing just a little gold paint as you go. When the brush is no longer applying paint to the wreath, dip it again and wipe of the excess.
- Continue dry-brushing the wreath until you've covered each branch in a very thin layer of paint. Pay special attention to the inside and outside of the wreath as well.
- Allow the wreath to dry overnight.
When the wreath is completely dry, cut a small piece of floral wire. Thread it through the back of the wreath to form a hanging loop.
Creating the Spring Wreath
You can celebrate the coming of spring by adding a seasonal decoration of daffodils. For many people, they are the ultimate spring flower, and artificial daffodils are easy to find in your craft store.
- Cut eight daffodil stems from the bouquet of artificial flowers. Also cut five stems of the small white blooms.
- Remove one daffodil flower head from the stem and set it aside. Discard that stem.
- Begin arranging the daffodils on the wreath. Place four daffodils in a staggered arrangement up the side of the wreath, starting at about the four o'clock position. Place three daffodil stems across the bottom of the wreath in the other direction.
- Intersperse stems of the small white flowers to fill out the arrangement.
- Starting where the bottom flowers and side flowers meet, begin taping the stems together with floral tape. Continue until all of your stems are securely held together.
- At the place where the stems meet, bend one stem outward. Slip the daffodil flower head on this stem to cover up the spot where the stems are taped together.
- Use floral wire to attach the spring element to the grapevine wreath. You'll need to secure it in three places to make it sturdy. When you're ready to change to the next season, you can simply untwist the wire on the back of the wreath.
Creating the Summer Wreath
This summer wreath decoration offers a sweet pink and ivory element that celebrates roses in full bloom. It's easy to create this seasonal style.
- Arrange several stems of pink berries at the nine o'clock position on the wreath. Most of the stems should point up, but there should be two or three pointing down as well.
- Wrap the stems securely with floral tape.
- Make a bow out of the green ribbon and some floral wire. Use the floral wire to attach the bow to the spot where the stems of berries join together. Trim the tails of the ribbon so they hang long and are slightly uneven in length.
- Use more floral tape to attach a large rose in the center of the joined area, covering the wire and floral tape.
- Cut two pieces of floral wire to secure the summer decoration to the wreath. You'll want one piece at the center of the decoration and a second one higher up to keep the berry stems snug against the wreath. When you're ready to change seasonal decorations, simply untwist the wire from the back.
Creating the Autumn Wreath
Nothing says fall like beautiful maple leaves, and there are many very realistic leaf options in the artificial flowers section of your craft store. Add fall flowers and berries and a pretty bow, and you'll have a beautiful autumn decoration.
- Gather up your artificial leaves and sort the stems by color. You'll want to alternate shades or create a random pattern to give your wreath a natural appearance. Overlap the stems of leaves along the top and left side of the wreath to give the impression that the wind blew them there.
- Attach the stems of the leaves to one another using floral tape.
- Place three stems of fall flowers together and add a stem of berries on top. Wrap all the stems in floral tape and lay this bouquet on top of the leaves, near the left side of the wreath. Use more floral tape to connect the bouquet to the leaves.
- Make a bow out of the organza ribbon and some floral wire. Wrap the wire around the bouquet to cover the tape.
- Using three more pieces of floral wire, secure the decoration to the wreath. You'll need a piece near the bow, a piece at the top, and a final piece near the end of the leaf spray. When you're ready to change your decoration for the next season, you can detach the wire from the wreath.
Creating the Winter Wreath
Winter wreaths don't have to be about the holidays. Leave off the bow and any holiday-specific decorations to create a wreath that you'll be able to use long after you put the other decorations away for the year. Using red flowers and pussy willows gives your wreath a natural look and provides a pop of bright color in a season that can be bleak and gray.
- Cut the large stems of red flowers and pussy willows so you have several branches of each.
- Place the longest stem of red flowers at the right side of the wreath, starting at about the five o'clock position. Bend the stem so that it follows the shape of the wreath. Add a stem of pussy willows on top. Continue adding and bending the stems until you have only three or four of the smallest stems left.
- Arrange the small stems so they are going the opposite direction, along the bottom of the wreath.
- Use the floral tape to connect the stems together. Starting with just two stems in the pattern you've arranged, begin wrapping the tape around and around. Add more stems as you go until you've created a secure decoration.
- Use three pieces of wire to attach the flowers to the wreath. You can remove the wire from the wreath to change your seasonal decoration.
Welcome Each Season
With interchangeable seasonal decorations, you won't have to store your wreath when the weather changes. Instead, you can simply store the decorations you've made, switching them out as a fun way to welcome each new season.
