OPERATION PROJECT ONE: Christmas Wreath {Kim's style} . . .

Can I say how much I love the color of red during the Christmas Holidays!! To me, red is the color of the season!! Now, I know that some of you folks love other colors during the season - such as blues, silvers, golds, etc. And those too are lovely colors during the holidays, BUT red - to me - is THE color of choice!!

Now with that said, know that the wreath can be created out of any color you choose - I just chose RED - you can find an abundance of these at any craft store!! So let's start out with some very important information. First thing {and the most important} - do not use the same size & color of berry stems for this project. Use different ones.



Here, I used

- tiny, wiry like stems
- some plain-jane stems
- sugared stems
- Large, clustered plain-jane stems
- Large, clustered sugared stems

If you were to use all the same size, your wreath will look like it was made in China!! {Or India, Mexico or where ever they get the cheap stuff made} Think about it, the pre-made berry wreaths are always made with the same size berries and you can get them for pretty cheap. The reason is because it takes time, money and effort to make a wreath with several different sizes & shapes. That is the reason you will pay some big bucks for a wreath like this if "someone" else made it!! So, please - I beg of you, use at least 2 different types of berries!!

So, let's now talk about the wreath. Just use a grapevine wreath. They are cheap, easy to use with the wire-berry picks and come in a variety of shapes & sizes. I would love to do a square one, but oval is what I already had!! So big, small - square, circle - whatever you decide is completely up to you!!

The only supplies you are going to need -

- about 30 - 35 or more {variety} berry stems and picks ($1.00 to $4.00 at Hobby Lobby(50% off) & Michael's(40% off) (- and always on sale)

- 1 Grapevine wreath (around $5.00 at Hobby Lobby)

- 1 wreath holder ($2.27 at Hobby Lobby)- I'm totally in love with the giant suction cup hook - it actually holds the completed wreath {and it's heavy!!}

- small wire cutters

THIS WEEK {November 12 - 17)

The good news = Hobby Lobby sale includes 50% off the berries AND 50% off the wreath!! Can't beat that with a stick!! And go to the website and print off a 40% coupon for the wreath holder!!

Let's get to the good part - putting this joker together!! It doesn't matter where you start, but don't completely jump around the wreath. Start in a spot and just stick a few stems in. Move on to the next spot and so on. You will need to snip off some of the wire stem - I'd say about, 2 maybe 3 inches. This will eliminate any straggly wires hanging out of the back of the wreath.
Normally with the tightness of the grapevine and the wire of the stems, they will hold in the wreath great! No need for glue or any wire other than what the berries have! But if you are having a little problem with some shifting, bend your stem in half and stick it back in. This acts like a spring {kinda} and holds the stem in tighter.After you get a few stems in place, move the berries around and adjust them to fill in any huge gaps. Then, keep moving in one direction - whichever way you choose!!

The wreath doesn't take long at all - that is the kinda of project that I like - instant gratification!! As you can see, one layer of berries need to have some filler of another type of berry. Just keep going around the wreath adding the second berry. Continue with the next type of berry and so on {uhmmm until you run out!!} Let me just say that I added 9 more stems of berries once I got it on the door!! I really think that I need to add more, but I too ran out!!

When it is through - hang it up - on your door or where ever you choose!! Stand back and look at it . . . Now, tell yourself, "Dang, I did a great job!!" That's what I tell myself anyways!!
Let me know what you guys think!! And I would love to see some of yours!! I'm thinking of maybe going through Flickr and maybe setting something up for the group so that we may post our pictures on it! That way everybody can see them all!! This is fool proof - so I know they all look great!! Just let me know if you guys are interested in the doing a Flickr group for the projects!

I'm excited to hear some feedback - POST a COMMENT . . . . . . PALEEZE!!!