How to make a beautiful floral wreath

A beautiful wreath hanging on your front door is a good way to say welcome to anyone passing by or coming to visit. Designing a wreath with dried flowers and greens from your summer garden or with flowers from your local weekend market is a fun and practical project which will take up very little of your time.

Silk flowers and other fake flowers may also be used. You could buy ready-made flower wreaths at craft shows or gift shops, but they are pretty expensive. It is much cheaper to make your own. The materials needed are not very costly and the wreaths are easy to make. This project utilizes very basic materials, including some that you may find around the house.

Besides flowers, and greens, you will need a frame to attach your flowers to. You can make your own frame or use store bought rings made of straw, Styrofoam, grapevine, oasis,or other materials. For this project, we will make our own frame with wire coat hangers. In addition to two wire coat hangers, you will need wire cutters, light weight florist's wire, florist's tape, flowers and greens, a sharp pair of scissors or flower cutters, and a hot gun. Since we are using wire coat hangers, you will have a redi-made curve at the top of your frame to hang your wreath up by

The first step is building a beautiful flower wreath is to decide what kind of flowers and greens you want in the wreath. You may use fresh, dried, or fake flowers. As you pick the flowers you want to use, be sure to keep a color scheme in mind. If you want a ribbon on the wreath, make sure you buy a a color and a fabric which will compliment your flowers. Fruit and berries may also be used.

When using wire hangers for your base frame, the first thing you will have to do is to bend it into the desired shape. Follow directions for wreath below:

1. Bend both hangers into a circular shape and wire together with florist's wire. Cover with florist's tape.
   
2. Cut several 8-10 inch long branches of greenery; such as eucalyptus, lemon leaves, magnolia leaves, holly, redwood, pine, fir, etc.
3. Secure the branches to the base of the wreath with lightweight floral wire.
4. Keep adding stems until the wreath is fully covered.
5. Secure leaves with hot glue.
6. Cut largest flower stems to 2-3 inches.
7. Hot glue in place around the wreathe. Add fruit, if desired.
   
8. For final touches, tuck in smaller flowers (like baby's Breath) and, if you desire, tie a ribbon at the top. You may also add berries and other small decorations at this point.
   

Let wreath dry flat on your work table for a few days. Hang and enjoy.

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