By Dee Archibald

I love the simplicity of these Christmas decorations. They look great strung up inside a window frame. Use fresh leaves or go artificial if you want it to last longer.

You will need:green-wreath2

  • 3 medium sized branches of fresh or artificial leaves
  • String/ribbon or twine to hang
  • 30 pieces of florist wire, cut in half
  • A roll of florist tape
  • Wire cutters

Step 1: Cut your branches into small pieces. Bend the tip of a piece of wire and place at the end of a small branch. While holding the wire in place (about an inch up) wrap the longest wire around both the wire and stem 2 times then pull it straight down.

Now for the tricky part! Using floral tape is all a matter of practice so don’t give up after the first couple of tries!green-wreath3 Wrap the start of your tape around the steam to get started and then stretch it as you wrap it around (stretching it makes it tight as elastic and creates a vacuum pack, which if you are using fresh leaves will keep the end of the stem from drying out as quickly). As you get better at this you will be able to roll the stem through your fingers in a twisting motion, stretching the tape as you go.

Step 2:

Continue Step 1 with each of your little branches. Place one branch on top of green-wreath5another overlapping them so that the tip of your top branch starts around the middle of the bottom branch. Tape the two together using the same technique as above. Start to add consecutive pieces taping each one to the growing garland.

Step 3:

You will end up with a long straight garland which will need to be bent around to create a round shape once you have the size you want. I made three wreaths in total and made each a different size.green-wreath6

You will need to bend the last of your wires past your first branch and tape them to the original stems to complete the circle.

Step 4:

Tie some ribbon on the top and hang!

Happy Crafting and Merry Christmas!! X