Wreaths & Wrapping with a Simple DIY Project

Happy holidays, everyone! I hope you’re all surviving this busy season! I’m trying to be super organized and ahead of schedule to prevent that last minute craze, and so far so good…but we shall see how it all works out, as not only is it Christmas next week, but also my daughter’s birthday! For today’s post, I will talk about the holiday preparations of wreaths and gift wrapping. I didn’t go too crazy with do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, but I did try out a few simple, home-made embellishments to make my boring wreath and gift wrapping blog worthy. Read on and get some DIY inspiration (as if you need something else on your to do list–but trust me, I like to keep it SIMPLE)!

Wreaths

First up is a wreath from Lisa’s parents’ home. This intricate glass ornament wreath would not fall into the simple DIY wreath category. In fact, maybe a disclaimer is necessary–DIY at your own risk, as this is not tested by The Brick Nests for simplicity! It sure is pretty though, so take a look for your viewing pleasure only, unless you are a master artisan and a licensed hot-glue-gun operator. But even if you don’t attempt this holiday work of art, it does go to show you that you can think outside the box and make an unconventional wreath. No greenery required!

Now let’s do some wreath peeping at our brick nests! Here is Lisa’s wreath and front door. Pine cones and and red ornaments makes this wreath a classic.

 

And over at my brick nest, we have a very simple wreath that I spruced up with some DIY action. I added glitter spray-painted clippings from a bush in the yard to my plain supermarket wreath, which is a super simple and easy way to jazz up a bland and cheap wreath. Below in the wrapping portion of this post you will learn more about how I incorporated the great outdoors and spray-painted shimmer into my wrapping.

Wrapping

As I was inspired by my wreath peeping, I decided to incorporate some miniature wreaths into my holiday wrapping. I wanted to bring a little touch of outdoor organic textures and combine that with the bright and decorative wrapping paper. There is a wisteria plant that grows like crazy up my brick nest and is often in need of trimming, so I decided to give some of the cut vines a go for my mini wreath project.

Some of you may be thinking, “This chick has a lot of time on her hands–there is no way I’m doing that!” LOL, if only! First of all, I had to do the pruning anyway, so I thought I may as well turn a chore into a fun project. Secondly, I recruited my son to help me with my project, so he got to stay occupied by a fun craft, all while secretly helping me add a nice little touch to my holiday gift wrapping. If you want to give it a go, and don’t happen to have wisteria, ask someone who has one–I’m sure they would be more than happy to share! Or another vine will do.

Here is the very, very simple tutorial. First I twisted the vines into a wreath shape and fastened with a little green craft wire. I left some with the leaves on, but found they did wilt a little, so for some of the wreaths I removed the leafy branches and left just the vine.

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After this step, my son said “I have to admit, Mom, this is looking pretty bad!” Such an encouraging child! I almost fired him from this craft! But on I persisted with this DIY project, and spray-painted these little wreaths with assorted metallic spray paints. Then I let them dry, and what do you know–now that I added a little sparkle, my five-year-old suddenly liked how the wreaths looked! Here is one of the wisteria wreaths, spray-painted with a gold shimmer spray paint, and added to some holiday gift wrapping.

And this is the end of the complex tutorial! 🙂 I did get a little spray paint happy, and started to spray paint all sorts of interesting plant clippings from the shrubs and bushes in my yard, as well as from my houseplants (below is a sprig of ficus tree leaves). I really like the effect some glitter had on the clippings.

 

Below is another gift with two small silver metallic spray-painted wreaths to dress up the wrapping. Inside the box is this adorable pair of UGGS, which is actually a gift for my daughter’s birthday. They are a bit of a splurge, but given their quality construction, incredible warmth, and super cuteness, I just couldn’t resist! I’m excited to give them to her, so it was fun to embellish the wrapping to make the presentation a little special (even if it does appear Christmas-themed….December birthday problems!).

Now go forth and get wreathing and wrapping! It’s a wrap here, folks (he he ho ho ho)!