Crafting for Fun and Profit: Princess Pine Wreaths

Just a little foraging in the forests of The 'Shire, a quick trip to the craft store and about 5 milligrams of Adderall and you too can craft your way to adorable little wreaths that look great on mirrors and all sorts of other spots that need a dose of holiday cheer.

Sadly I do not have a photo of me and two of my minions traipsing through the woods of Bow, New Hampshire on our hands and knees with a reusable shopping tote and a pair of Felco pruners, but it wouldn't matter anyway because without audio of Tate and Hayden whining it wouldn't really evoke the spirit of the endeavor.

Anyhoo--get a big bag of Princess Pine--it grows close to the ground deep in the woods and grows about 5-6 inches high--you'll also need a small bale of #22 green wire and a bunch of small grapevine wreaths. I use the six-inch grapevine wreaths -- two for a buck or so --because I like them to look really lush and full. If you'd prefer a leaner wreath by all means get the bigger ones--just keep in mind that the bigger the grapevine, the more foraging you'll have to do.



Spread out on a counter and get to work: Bunch together 4-6 sprigs of pine and wire it leaving long tails of wire on both ends.





Use the tails to secure the bunch to the grapevine and twist the wire to keep the bunch in place.


Keep going...

Use as many bunches as you need in order to fill out the wreath, and when you are done the back should look pretty cool too....


Now comes the fun part....


For this one I tied on two lengths of gingham ribbon and stuffed in two sprays of yellow stars, with the ends of the sprays tucked under the bow. I tried to splay out the stars and have them follow the curve of the wreath but clearly I could have futzed with this one a little longer. It's hanging in my kitchen on the back of a door.


On this one, currently wired to my monitor down at the brewery, has the same ribbon and a bunch of vintage Christmas lights--I just wrapped a long piece of wire to the screw end and tucked the wires under the bow. It looks much better than this crappy photo but I forgot my camera again today and if I wait any longer this post will be totally (as opposed to only partially) irrelevant.



This one is in my dining room on a large mirror--I added nothing more than a double bow of wired, velvet ribbon and then curled and scrunched up the ends a'la Cobblestone Design.

Each one of these takes about 20 minutes to put together, and look so much cuter than anything you can find in the stores. Well, if by "stores" you mean Market Basket and Family Dollar.

Merry Christmas!