Seasonal Decorating: Interchangeable Wreath

I celebrated the Autumnal Equinox by making an inner harvest wreath, and as I made the wreath out of sticks I found around the farm, this idea came to me: Make an interchangeable wreath that I can decorate for the seasons! 

So I got to work on the wreath, which is made from branches of a willow tree that will soon be taken down. (I wouldn’t normally cut so many branches from a living tree.) Wreaths can also be made from fallen sticks and branches—I’ve found that flexible willow branches work well. Or you can simply purchase a grapevine wreath from a craft supply store.

To start the wreath, I used a piece of yarn to secure the first branch to itself and get the oval shape going. After that, I just wound the branches in and out of the oval, around and around, tucking the branches in as I reached the ends.
 

For seasonal decorations, I chose pinecones and fallen leaves. Since this wreath is going to be decorated differently for every season, I had to find a creative way to attach the pinecones so they can be removed. You can try wire or yarn. I chose to string my pinecones together with twine to form a garland, and then wrapped the garland around the wreath. It took some finagling to get the pinecones to sit in a way that’s visually appealing—I fought the serious urge to bust out the glue gun.

Then I marched out to our sweetgum tree and picked up the brightest yellow and red leaves from beneath it. I just stuck the stems into the wreath and wound them around a branch or two in hopes they’ll stay. The whole thing is a little precarious—when I hung the wreath on the wall I had to rearrange some of the leaves and pick a few up off the floor and start again. Using wire in or around the stems could have helped, so I’ll try to remember that next year.
  

I love celebrating the seasons by decorating and bringing the outdoors in. For winter, I might decorate my wreath with pine branches trimmed from our Christmas tree and a felted bird from Little Felted Animals with a little bird’s nest made from sticks and dried grass.

As each season begins, I’ll share my seasonal wreath ideas. If anyone out there makes an interchangeable seasonal wreath, blog about it and let me know!