Boughs and Bows (Christmas Wreaths)

I'm slowly, slo-o-o-o-wly getting the house decorated for Christmas.  The tree went up this afternoon - no ornaments yet - but I did make two wreaths. 

The first wreath is for the main floor bathroom door. 

All of the materials came from the dollar store.

I think I spent $10 total (wreath included). I love that.

I started with a plain wreath, fluffed out all of the branches, and wound red ribbon and silver beads through the greenery.  I then spaced out the pinecones and hot glued them around the wreath. Lastly I attached a sparkly red ribbon at the bottom.

  

Tom now calls the bathroom the "Christmas Pooper". 
Always classy isn't he?

We went to my father-in-law's place on Saturday to cut down some evergreen branches.  We found some pine, cedar, and a little bit of spruce - mostly from trees that had already fallen. Plus a bag of birch bark and pinecones. Tom laughed when he looked up and saw me coming out of the forest dragging a birch tree that had fallen down.  I'm no wuss.

I started the wreath for the front door by removing the leaves and decorations from the fall wreath I made in October. I hot glued  another, slightly smaller wreath to the front of it to make it more substantial. 

I took small cedar branches and squeezed them between the two wreaths, adding a spot of hot glue to the back of each branch to keep it in place.

I trimmed small pine branches from a larger branch and glued them all around the inside wreath.  I then went back and filled in the spaces with more branches, giving it a layered look.

I arranged some pinecones (spruce cones?) around the edge and glued them down.  Is hot glue not the best invention ever?

I found an old arrangement from last year, trimmed the berries off in small bunches, and inserted them randomly into the pine branches. Three pinecones were hung together and tied to the bottom of the wreath. Finally I tied a burlap bow and glued it above the pinecones.

I like the rustic look of it, and I love that it cost absolutely nothing.  I either found or had all of the materials on hand.

How fantastic is that?

Not so fantastic is my worktable right now:

I also made some new ornaments today and hope to share them later in the week. They're buried in the mess in the picture above.  I bet you can't find them.


Update: had to add one more wreath.  This one is hanging above the fireplace. I didn't make it, and I don't remember how much it cost, but in keeping with my rustic, country theme this year I wove some burlap through the branches.  It was a bit boring looking before (hence the reason I didn't post about it) but I think it looks sweet now.

~~~~~~~~

I'm linking to these great parties this week!