Full disclosure as we begin this post… I LOVE Christmas. In fact, I am that person. You know, the one that all of the Scrooges out there despise. As soon as Halloween is over, I’m begging to bring out the Christmas decorations. It’s not that I don’t like Thanksgiving… I do, I really do! It’s just that I love the way my house looks when it’s decorated for Christmas. It brings me so much joy that I want to enjoy it for longer than a month.

I know. I know. Bless my poor husband’s heart. But, you know what? He learned a long time ago that it’s just better all around to embrace my inner 8-year old’s need to stretch Christmas out for a couple of months. It’s become a tradition in our house. The second Sunday in November we decorate for the Christmas holiday season.

 

Isn’t that the most beautiful tree you’ve ever seen?! Sigh…

I feel like confessing all of this to you makes it acceptable behavior. I mean, admitting I have a problem is the first step, right? Ha.

Well, for as much as I love Christmas decorations, I have never been very good with knowing quite how to decorate the outside of my home.  I don’t know why really. I guess I’ve just always focused on the inside. This year, though, I was determined to share the holiday love with my front porch. So… I set off on a mission. I wanted to make the perfect holiday wreath!

Now. Hold up right there. I wouldn’t exactly call myself crafty. So really, I should say I wanted to make the perfect EASY holiday wreath.

So, off I went to Hobby Lobby…. And there I stood amidst the mesh… overwhelmed with all of the possibilities of color.

 

 

And there waged an inner war. If I went with traditional red and green colors the neighbors would hate me on January 3 if my Christmas wreath was still on display. What to do? What to do? And then it hit me… If I chose non-traditional colors it would give me the option of leaving my Christmas WINTER wreath up well into February January. So it was settled. I decided upon some gorgeous variations of purple and green. I then moseyed over to the ornament aisle. I snatched up a couple of these, figuring this was a safe way I could incorporate some Christmas flavor.

 

And off I went to the checkout counter with a cart full of fun things to make my winter wreath.

Here’s what you’ll need if you want to make a wreath of your own:

16” wreath form with soft clamp ties.
1 10 yd roll of 21” poly mesh (color of your choice).
1 10 yd roll of 21” poly mesh (color of your choice) as your accent color.
Any ornament accents you want to include; 4-6 options is plenty.
Wreath wire

At home, I enlisted the help of my two favorite people– my husband and my Maddy Cat. (Yes. I think my cat is a person.)

 

I laid the wreath form on the floor and started poofing the purple mesh. What you want to do is gather the end of the mesh together. Insert the mesh between the wire clamps and clasp it into place.

Lather rinse repeat until all of your base color is poofed. Tip: Try to keep the poofs uniform in length so that your wreath is symmetrical. When you get back to the original tie, finish off the wreath by twisting the last loop of deco mesh into the original tie.

Now you’re ready to intersperse your accent color in. Just use your best judgment. You’ll know what looks good.

Ta-da! The hubs looks thrilled, doesn’t he?! Ha.

Now, you’re ready for the wreath wire. Basically you want to use it to tie your ornaments into the mesh. Again, use your best judgment. I liked putting my ornaments and filler branches diagonal from one another. Isn’t Maddy Cat such a good helper?

At long last, my wreath was ready for the front door.

 

What do you think? Do you like my color choices? Do you think I did okay for my first wreath making effort? If you’ve made a holiday wreath, be sure to link to it in your comments to I can read about it and learn!

Now, say it with me. Hooray for the holiday season!

 

xoxo,

Rachel