Magnolia Wreath Tutorial – Under 5 Dollars

Today I was sidetracked – again!  The Christmas decorations are still boxed up and in the attic.  I am on a tennis team and was on the court a little longer than expected.  I do have to admit, I wish we would’ve been on the court longer.  My doubles partner and I were so close to a third set, but couldn’t pull it off.  Yep, we lost, but we gave it a good fight.  Next time…

I do, however, have a project to share with you.  After visiting the Southern Living Idea House, I decided I had to have the beautiful magnolia wreaths that were hanging everywhere inside and out.  Only problem?  How could I do it myself without paying a pretty penny in the process?

If you missed the Christmas Southern Living Idea House tour, see it here, here, and here.  I loved it so much I posted 3 times about the Christmas decor.

That’s when I thought… living in Georgia there are magnolia trees everywhere.  There has to be leaves somewhere that have fallen.  I found the perfect tree by the tennis courts.  The kids love to climb this tree, so I thought this would have leaves for sure on the ground.  It did!  If you look at the wreath above, it had an abundance of leaves.  I knew I couldn’t achieve the same look, but, would try to create a similar look.

Here is mine…

I am happy with the final result and the cost was under $5.00.  Much better than the magnolia wreaths I have seen online and in stores. 

First, I gathered my supplies…

Cloth Stem Wire – Dark Brown

I searched all over for Dark Brown and found it at Jo-Ann’s.

$1.99

(Wire cutters are needed to cut the stem wire).

Grapevine Wreath – This one is 18″

$2.50 with 50% off coupon.

Magnolia Leaves.

Free!

It was a pretty simple process…

Grapevine Wreaths are super strong with thick vines all around. 

1. Push the wire under the thicker vines and place the stem of a magnolia leaf over the vine. 

2. Cross the wire over the stem and twist until the stem is secure.  This may take a few twists.  (This is the tricky part, you may have to experiment to see what works best for you.  I was twisting, looping, cutting etc. until they were very tight).  After the leaf is secure, cut the wire with wire cutters.

3. Continue to layer the leaves until the desired look is achieved.

Below you see layering of leaves and how they were connected using wire and twisting.

You can see how I layered the leaves here…

 4. Hang your wreath and enjoy.  I used jute webbing to hang mine. 

I like the look of hanging the wreath with webbing

and had some left over from a stocking I made last year.  

The total cost for this wreath was $4.49.  (Excluding the cost of jute webbing).

I thought about spraying the leaves silver or gold. 

Then I decided I liked it, for now, just the way it is… natural.

Are you using anything from nature for your holiday decorating this year?  Let me know what you are doing, I would love to hear.

Believe it or not… I still have roses blooming.

 ENJOY!

Angie