Creating a wreath to decorate your home is a great way to celebrate any time of the year, but especially autumn, the season of falling leaves and ripe plants ready for harvest. Learn how to make a fall wreath using brightly colored leaves, miniature pumpkins, or nuts and berries.
Steps
Method 1 of 3: Making a Wreath with Fall Leaves
Step 1. Purchase a wire garland base
The wire bases are circular and have foldable tips to hold the garland decorations in place. They are ideal for making fall leaf wreaths, as you can twist the tips around leaf sprigs, flower clusters, or whatever else you want to use. You can buy them at home improvement and DIY stores.
Step 2. Collect the leaves
To find some beautiful decorations to make your own wreath, all you have to do is go outside and look around. If you live in an urban area without a lot of trees, go to the nearest nursery or home improvement store to look for materials like the ones listed below:
- Intense colored leaves. Choose the ones that represent autumn in your region, be it bright red maple leaves, yellow birch or walnut leaves, or plum purple.
- Branches of evergreens. Evergreen branches of firs, pines and other green trees that would give your wreath a lovely scent.
- Stalks of wheat or golden straw. Fall is the time of harvest, and the stalks of wheat and other similarly colored plants are a pleasant reminder of the change of seasons.
- Autumn flowers. Chrysanthemums are a good choice in many regions, especially those of fall colors like red, brown, orange, and yellow.
- Other foliage in the area. Don't limit yourself to the traditional symbols of autumn. Choose plants that are special to you. In some places autumn is characterized by pink and blue nettle, and in others by evergreen branches dripping with rain. If something has special meaning to you and you think it might look good on a wreath, take it home.
Step 3. Draw the garland
Now that you have a variety of materials to choose from, create your wreath arrangement. Arrange the materials in a circle to determine the final look. Consider the following compositions:
- A natural and wild look. Alternate leaves, flowers, herbs, and branches without using a particular pattern. Try contrasting colors and texture; for example, try placing a few blades of grass behind a pile of red leaves to compensate for the colors.
- Create a neat look. Alternate leaves and flowers in a circular design, or arrange objects in groups of three: bunch of maple leaves, bunch of chrysanthemums and wheat stalks, for example.
- Make a color wheel arrangement. Put all the red leaves together, then the orange ones, then the yellow ones, then the purple ones.
Step 4. Make the wreath
Start inserting the stems of the plants on the base sideways. Use bits of wire to connect the stems. Continue until the entire composition is attached to the base.
- Hide the tips of the base by twisting foliage around them and tucking them behind the other stems that have already been connected.
- Use more wire or string to tie everything tightly if necessary; simply wrap it or tie it to the base of the wreath.
Step 5. Add decorations
Wrap a ribbon around the wreath, or tie a bow and tie it to the base of the wreath. Add decorative elements such as fake birds, pine cones, ears and other autumnal things to fill in the gaps between the leaves you have collected.
Step 6. Hang the wreath
Probably on the metal base there is already a hook on the back to hang it. If not, make one by twisting a piece of wire or tying a piece of string to the back. Hang it on your door or on the outside walls of your home.
Method 2 of 3: Make a Pumpkin Wreath
Step 1. Buy 1.2m thick wire
Make sure it's malleable enough to fold into a circle, and sturdy enough to hold its shape under the weight of the little pumpkins.
Step 2. Find a wide variety of small pumpkins
They can easily be found in various colors both in supermarkets and in markets throughout the autumn season. Choose the smallest and lightest ones for your wreath.
- Try looking for pumpkins with interesting colors and looks. Choose orange, yellow, brown, green and mottled colors.
- If you want a more even garland, choose pumpkins that are the same color and shape.
- For a longer lasting wreath, buy fake pumpkins at a home improvement store instead of using perishable products.
Step 3. Thread the pumpkins onto the wire
Create a beautiful composition with contrasting shapes, colors and sizes. Choose to alternate round pumpkins with stranger ones, or do a random arrangement of pumpkins.
- To skewer round pumpkins, place the wire on one side of the pumpkin (about 3cm below the stem) and push it horizontally through the pumpkin until it comes out on the other side.
- To skewer pumpkins of different shapes, place the wire on the widest part of the pumpkin and push it through the pumpkin until it comes out on the other side.
Step 4. Fold the ends of the wire into a hook and connect them
Use your fingers or a pair of pliers to bend the C-shaped ends, then clip them.
Step 5. Add some relief points
Tie a fall bow at the base of the wreath, or add a branch of evergreen.
Step 6. Hang the wreath
Tie a piece of string or make a hook with wire and attach it to the C-shaped hooks you created to hold the wreath together. Hang it on a nail on the front door or on your home.
Method 3 of 3: Make a Wreath with Nuts and Berries
Step 1. Purchase a wooden wreath base
At home improvement stores, it's easy to find wreath bases that are nothing more than plywood pieces cut in a circle shape with a hole in the center. If you can't find a wooden base, buy one made of plastic or polystyrene.
Step 2. Collect nuts and berries
If you live in an area with walnut trees you are in luck - take a walk with a bag in hand and collect acorns, walnuts, peanuts and chestnuts. Try looking for nuts with intact shells and few cracks and stains. Cut red berries from holly bushes and other plants that have red, blue or black berries in autumn.
- You can use nuts and peanuts in shell from any supermarket if you don't have any trees nearby.
- Consider using fake berries from a home improvement store if you want your wreath to last more than a season.
Step 3. Heat a hot glue gun
Hot glue guns are connected to electricity and loaded with hot glue sticks that melt and securely fix DIY items. Heat it over a sheet of newspaper, as hot glue tends to get dirty.
Step 4. Glue the walnuts to the base of the wreath
Start by gluing a circle of nuts around the hole in the center of the wreath. Glue a second circle around the first. Continue gluing nuts to the base until the entire base is covered.
Step 5. Add the berries to the wreath
Apply some glue to the stem of a berry sprig. Stick it in the middle of some walnuts and hold it for a few minutes to let the glue cool. Keep adding sprigs of berries until you are satisfied with its appearance.
Step 6. Hang the wreath
A walnut wreath is perfect for hanging on the kitchen door. Hang it on a nail or place it on a shelf, and enjoy the festive fall wreath you've created.
