Making a Traditional Holly Wreath Christmas Decoration
Jean Rennick

Defined Tag: Christmas Wreaths.

Hanging a wreath on one's door around the holidays is one of the most common yet festive decorations seen around Christmas time. With a bit of preparation and a few simple supplies, you can easily put together your own holly wreath from scratch.

The first step in making our wreath is to cut enough 6-inch long holly branch trimmings to fill roughly a large shopping bag. If you do not have access to fresh holly, you can also purchase artificial trimmings at various craft stores around the holidays.

The next thing we need to do is to create our own frame or purchase a pre made wire wreath frame. To create our own frame we can use a simple metal wire coat hanger that can easily be fashioned into a circle by unbending it from its standard shape. This also makes it quite easy to hang our finished wreath from the built-in hook of our coat hanger.

We will now need to attach some paddle wire, which is also known as #24 floral wiring all along the frame of our wreath. Next, we need to gather a couple of our 6-inch holly branch stems and bundle them together with each stem positioned towards one particular end.

We should also try to place any stems that have berries still attached them along the top of our bunched up bundles of holly. Next, we need to position our first bundle along the top portion of our frame right where our paddle wire is attached. Now you will need to hold your bundle of holly in place while you begin to wrap the paddle wire around both your wreath frame and holly bundle in one single loop. If you have a hard time holding both items and keeping everything in place, ask someone to hold together the frame and bundle for you while you do the wire wrapping.

As you begin to make a second pass around your bundle of holly and wire frame, start to pull the wire tightly in order to lock the frame and bundles in place and make sure everything is attached securely. Next, gather another batch of holly and create a new bundle. Make sure, when you place this new bundle along your frame that the leaves will cover the visible stems by overlapping the first bunch of holly. Also, be sure to keep all stems from both batches facing in the same direction.

Continue this process with as many batches as necessary making sure to overlap each bunch properly as you go along your frame attaching each bundle; also be sure to make at least two passes when securing the holly to the frame. Keep doing this until you completely cover the circle frame. When you have reached your last bundle, gently lift the first batch of holly you wired into the frame then flap the end of the last bundle underneath it. Now tightly twist the wire from the last bundle and create a not into the base of the frame, but be sure to leave about an inch of wire so you can easily hang your completed wreath if your not using the built in hook. Lastly make sure to cut off any excess wire with a pair of pruning shears or wire cutters.

Now would be a good time to add some additional bows, berries or bells to spice up the look of your Christmas wreath.

Jean Rennick is editor of www.GetCelebrating.com, where you'll find articles and information on seasonal holidays, and everyday occasions.