You probably already know how to do this, but in case you don’t, here goes:

1. Get a reusable wire wreath form (I have used the same ones for years–you can also use an old coat hanger, untwisted and shaped into a circle and re-twisted at the end to close), clippers for trimming your trimmings, and wire–I used 26 gauge floral wire. You may also want ribbon or a pre-tied bow. You could also tie dried grasses into a ribbon shape for a natural look.

2. Gather more cuttings of evergreens, etc. than you think you will need. I scrounged mine from the cuttings bin at a home improvement center for free, and from my yard.

3. Cut sprigs of the greenery with your clippers to form smallish bundles. You can use several kinds of greenery in each bundle, or make the majority of them with one kind of greenery and intersperse them with “variety bundles”–your taste will dictate.

4. Take a length of wire about 8-12 inches long and wrap individual bunches tightly together, about a third of the way up from the stem ends, wrapping the wire snugly around the bundle about three times, leaving several inches of wire on either side to tie around the wreath form.

5. Lay the bundle along your wreath form and use the tails of wire you left on your bundle to wrap around to the back. Pull the wire tightly around to hold the bundle on and twist the tails of wire together several times to secure.

6. Continue in this way, overlapping the bundles about halfway until you have met the top of the first bundle with the end of the most recently tied bundle. Take another bundle, pick up the top of the first bundle, and nestle a final bundle underneath the first bundle.

7. Examine your wreath. Prune out any sprigs that don’t seem to want to behave. If there are sparse spots, wire up additional bundles to fill out any gaps and to even it up. If you want to wire on some pine cones or bunches of extra berries, now’s the time.
8. Add your bow. If you need help tying one these instructions may help.
9. Hang up your wreath. One neat way I found to hang a wreath without tears is found here.

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