Tuesday evening MOH turned to me and asked when were we putting up our Christmas decorations as we were the only people without any. This took me a little by surprise and while I'm pretty sure we're not the only ones without decorations yet - looking across the street I can't see any - I thought I'd better start to get my act together.
Earlier that day I'd seen a tweet from Susie Watson Designs asking who was planning on making their own wreath this year. I replied saying I'd love to, but I wasn't sure it would be anywhere near presentable, but Susie promised me it wasn't as hard as I thought, and then she said a glass of wine was recommended. Well, hello - it was sounding better by the minute. I read the tips she shared - and it really didn't seem that hard.
So I took it to be fate. Especially as I'd noticed that our next door neighbour had had their evergreen hedge trimmed and some of the trimmings had fallen over the fence. Definitely meant to be.
The key it seems is to create bunches of greenery and add those to the wire ring. I popped round to the local florists for a wire ring and stubbing wire - see I've even got the lingo now - and while there I also picked up some small wired silver baubles and some dried orange slices, so after spending just over a fiver on these, I was all set.
I decided there was no time like the present so I popped into the garden and gathered the evergreen trimmings along with some holly, rosemary, bay leaves and variegated ivy - one of the few times of year I'm pleased our garden has so much holly and ivy! I wasn't sure how much I'd need and I think I went a bit overboard...
So I started by creating my bunches of greenery and then it was time to start adding them to the ring. Now don't laugh but I'd repurposed the dining room table as a temporary florists bench and for some reason I hadn't taken my gilet and scarf off from my earlier trip to the florist either - it definitely made me feel more florist-y and I'm sure helped me believe I could do actually do this.
Phew, well that seemed easy enough. And I'd forgone the glass of wine too, I thought half three in the afternoon a tad early, even for me...
So with the base greenery attached, and not looking like it might fall off - I turned it upside down to check - I moved on to the decorative leaf bunches. I added bunches of rosemary to the bottom of the wreath, with a mixed bunch of bay and holly in the centre.
I added more holly and bay bunches towards the top of the wreath - I struggled with the ivy, so decided to give that a miss even though it's variegated leaves were dead pretty. And then I was pretty much done. I picked it up again and nothing fell off - phew! - it looked fairly neat on the back I thought too.
The rear view...
Then I remembered the silver baubles and the dried orange slices. I didn't need both and with only one piece of wire and eight orange slices, I decided to use the wired silver baubles!
The baubles were actually the hardest thing to add. Not because of the wires, but just knowing where and how to position them. In the end I decided on a spotty approach, fastening them to the greenery at the front and back.
And I was done and feeling pretty pleased with myself too. It wasn't as hard as I'd anticipated and I think this passes as presentable. It's definitely going on our front door, let's just hope it lasts!
And those orange slices? Well I've so much greenery left I'm back off to the florists later on for another ring and some more wire so I can make another one, they're addictive! And maybe, I'll try it with a glass of wine too...