I love the in-between times of year. Especially the space after the holidays and before the snow melts, filled with anticipation. Those of us in the land of snow stare longingly out the window having appreciated the snow for its winter fun, but ready to see the green grass again. On a trip to my favorite craft store (in the middle of July last year, to be honest!) I came upon a selection of clearance items that inspired me to make a wreath for our house for this favorite time of year. While the main items were on clearance and probably hard to find again, I will give you some tips on finding similar items. Hopefully I can inspire you to create a wreath of your own.
The Supplies
As you can see, there are not a lot of supplies needed, but feel free to add anything additional that strikes you. The wreath was one of the items I found on clearance, as you can see, the base is a small diameter branch wreath which has sprays of pussy willow branches attached to it. It would be easy enough to replicate this is you cannot find a similar product. Start with a bare stick wreath, then add pussy willow sprays using floral wire in brown.
I like to feature birds in most of my wreaths, and this little guy encapsulated my feelings about the time of year perfectly. He was also on clearance, but snowy owls are fairly popular so you may be able to find one like him, doves would also work well as a messenger of spring. Otherwise, you can select any other type of winter bird, a cardinal might also look very nice with this wreath.
I struggled with what to add to the wreath next, I had looked through the entire clearance section and didn’t find anything that created the feeling I wanted. I did spend some time with some horribly clashing pearl sprays thinking that maybe if I found the right color it would work, but it did not, at all. I continued my wander up and down the aisles of the store hoping something would jump out at me.
Then I came to the area where they display the crafting lights and found exactly what I was looking for, and it wasn’t available. Typical for the wreath inspired by clearance finds right? I did find the next best thing, a small string of warm white lights. Originally, I wanted these lights with a bronze cord, but ended up having to get the silver one instead. I use this brand of lights all of the time for crafts and highly recommend them. They are great for décor as they have an option to set a timer so they are off during the day and on at night without having to do anything, and they come with a remote to select different settings. Just make sure to keep an eye on the batteries as mileage may vary.
Finally, I wanted to add a small wood sign and decided on this “Believe” blank I found. You can pick any word you like, not only is this a favorite motivational word of mine, but I also felt like it was how this time of year feels. Believe the spring will come, believe it will be warmer again soon, believe things will be different. I decided to paint it matte white with just a touch of glitter dust sprinkled on it while it was drying. Make sure it is fully dried before assembling your wreath, you do not want the paint to transfer to the wreath because you went too quickly.
Bringing It All Together
Assembly of this wreath will go faster then it took you to pick out your supplies! The only tools you will need are some hot glue, floral wire, and wire cutters. I started by carefully removing the tags and packaging from everything. Next, I create a small harness out of the floral wire for the battery box of the lights to sit in. This will sit at the bottom of the wreath on the backside, so now is a good time to decide which part of your wreath is up. I just attach it to the base of the wreath so that it doesn’t show on the front.
Once the battery pack is safely attached, gently wind the lights back and forth across the front of or around the wreath. Depending on the length of your lights you may go around a few times. I always do this with the lights on to help me see what it will look like and make sure there are no empty spots.
The final step is to decide where your word and bird (see what I did there?) will be placed. I prefer diagonals personally. I placed the bird in the bottom right corner of the wreath and the word in the opposite corner on a slight diagonal. Depending on the supplies you have, you can either clip the bird on if it comes with a clip attached, or use glue or wire. Then glue the word down, make sure to really anchor it well to the wreath so it doesn’t fall off. Depending how you want to hang your wreath, you may need to add a loop of wire to the top to hang it by. Mine came with a twine loop the tag was on that worked perfectly for me. If you are adding a loop, make sure to secure it very well so it does not fall down once you hang it up…not that that’s happened to me.
The Finished Project
And there you have it! I hope you like your wreath as much as I like mine. The warm white lights are never a favorite of mine but I think they really provide a warmth to this wreath you can feel all over, like sitting in front of a fire. I also like that the details are all white so it really calls to mind snow and winter, but not the holidays. I look forward to the in-between time to hang up my wreath to mark my anticipation of spring. Let me know what you decided to use for your wreath and how it turned out below.
