Christmas décor : wreath making
It’s Christmas 2020!
I personally LOVE Christmas! It’s everything to do with Handel’s Messiah, church pageants, old movies, roasting marshmallow’s, spending time with my family and friends cooking, baking being loud and preparing the house for the coziest season.
My parents and I won’t be together this Christmas but I’m a firm believer that it takes a great good deal of effort to make a good life. COVID lonely or no I will be celebrating and keeping cheery by making an effort to have all the trimmings about me. My mom and I have been discussing holiday motifs and décor since October. She always has such great ideas but I try and keep the inevitable Christmas explosion in my home tasteful and semi chic. My mom is the opposite. She doesn’t understand why I haven’t replanted the garden in red poinsettias and why my bathroom is not resplendent in a cartoon Santa shower curtain and matching reindeer hand towels.
To my mother: I have a Christmas scented three wick candle in my all white bathroom mother. I think this is more than enough. I think the prancing reindeer hand towels may be on the verge of (deep breath) tacky.
My dad is equally involved but purely about his favorite subject. Namely: What’s on the menu?! His main inquiry this time of year is why must raisins appear in things? We’ll talk about and to him in the upcoming holiday baking post.
Needless to say, I’m in Christmas decorating mode! Earlier this week the living room went through phase one. Pillowcase covers have been changed. Throw blankets have been swapped from warm autumn earth tones to to plaids of red and green and fuzzy knits are displayed. The walls are being refreshed with a lick of paint. All is fresh and beautiful. On December 1, I raced home to kick off Christmas music listening and surveying the phase one decorating items with one of my favorite songs, “Christmas Eve in My Home Town” by Kate Smith (a real old school belter). I am officially ready for yuletide joy!
Making Christmas décor special doesn’t require much and actually Christmas crafting is the perfect activity to keep yourself cheerful if you are alone but obviously is made so much better with family and friends. My first Christmas crafting project is my wreath!
If you’re lucky enough to have a real Douglas or Balsam Fir Christmas tree you can use the trimmings to make your very own wreath. Indeed, my mom and I used to make our wreaths and sometimes the dinning room centerpieces from tree trimmings. In Saudi, getting a real tree isn’t so easy - although a little bird told me that THERE ARE tree’s in Dammam! Not sure if they are real or fake though. Things are a-changing!
Last Christmas, I purchased a plain, green, fake Christmas wreath which is perfect for customization. Unfortunately, without the proper hooks I never did manage to rig it up for hanging properly. This year, I’ve thought through the mechanics and have a fool proof plan for hanging. I’m ready to decorate it Martha Stewart style!
My color theme this year is ultra traditional! Red, green, white and gold! I’m using the following materials to make sure my wreath is a festive showstopper:
Battery operated twinkle lights! - I found these on Amazon and they are fantastic! My home is small and I don’t like the site of extension chords all over the place. These battery operated lights are on a green string with green battery pack that I can hide among the branches. I’ll wrap the wreath with the lights and secure with wire.
Wired Christmas Ribbon - I love ribbon! If I could have a craft room, I would have an entire cupboard devoted to the stuff. I plan to anchor my wreath with a large bow made from a cloth plaid wired ribbon like this which is 2.5 inches wide! Wide wired ribbon is not only perfect for decorating my wreath but will be used for making three additional huge bows for my staircase garland! I’ve been studying bow making using this fantastic Christmas bow making video from my favorite homemaking YouTube channel, Garden Answer.
Colorful reflective ornaments - Why not use several types of ornaments to spruce up your wreath? With the lights illuminating my wreath I think the right touch will be some well placed clusters of reflective ornaments. I’ve decided on shiny red and gold ornaments to get the most out of my lights!
Idea! Do you have little ones? Why not help them craft a wreath in their chosen colors for their bedroom doors?
Depending on how many helping hands you have perhaps mini wreaths can be made and hung from luscious 4-inch satin ribbon for each street facing window above an electric candle on the sill. The possibilities are endless!
Have questions? Need inspiration? Have a crafty Christmas idea you’d like to share? Ask a question or leave your comment/suggestion below. Live Well community let’s collaborate on making this a cheerful and crafty Christmas!
Happy decorating!