Kelsey Harper founded Flower Girl Los Angeles in 2012 with focus on offering clients natural items that are bespoke, chic, and organic to the eye. Kelsey always uses what is fresh, in season and local, ensuring unique arrangements with a relaxed California feel, drawing inspiration from all aspects of nature and art. Today, she is sharing a wreath DIY with you all that will last throughout the holiday - and it’s even doable with your little one wrapped up close! Learn about Kelsey’s process and the materials needed below.
The smell of Noble Fir instantly brings all of those warm holiday feels right back to me and getting to spend Christmas with a new baby in the house is a gift in and of itself. To celebrate the incoming of the holiday season, I wrapped on my sweet baby Phoenix in my Solly Baby wrap and spent the afternoon in my studio making some holiday wreaths so that they are all ready to go up when we get back from Thanksgiving travel. He started out very interested in what I was doing, then very quickly fell asleep as he usually does when I wear him in the wrap.
For this wreath I used a mixture of dried grape vines, fragrant eucalyptus, curly willow branches, bougainvillea and fluffy cotton which are far less traditional than a typical Douglas fir wreath. Experimenting and mixing elements like these with pine is so fun, and also a great way to use things around your yard or for me, things leftover in my studio. Finding things that look great fresh and that dry beautifully as well is the trick in making a beautiful wreath that will last throughout the holiday. These make great gifts and are simple, cheap and easy to make.
Materials:
+
Pre-made grapevine wreath base from Michaels, or you can use leafless branches from a tree nearby or curly willow for a more wild look, which I used for a few smaller wreaths pictured on my studio wall.
+ Noble fir swag (can use trimmings from the tree lot or off the bottom of your own Christmas tree)
+ Cotton
+ Wax flower in white
+ Bougainvillea (cut from my neighbor’s tree which hangs into my yard)
+ Olive branches
+ Dried eucalyptus in sage and brown
+ Dried lotus pods from Michaels
+ Pine cones
+ Silver brunia
+ Brown wrapped wire from Michaels
+ Clippers
Instructions:
Step 1. Begin by getting all your materials out and separated to make it easy to grab while you’re working - this is especially helpful if you’re working with your little one wrapped in your Solly Baby wrap.
Step 2. Lay your wreath base down and start laying out the noble swag branches cut down a bit as your base.
Step 3. Once you have your base in place, wrap the covered wire around and twist until the branches feel securely attached.
Step 4. Next, add some willow branches and cotton to give it a little less manicured look. Attach them by tucking them under the wrapped wire anchor where the noble swag was attached.
Step 5. Continue to tuck in different dried floral options until your wreath looks full and festive.
Step 6. Cover the center of the wire (which I used as an anchor for all of my floral choices) by tucking in some large lotus pods, bougainvillea, brunia and some fluffy cotton and to make sure the wire is hidden.
A few tips:
Make sure the bottoms of your floral or branches are free of any leaves or greenery, run your thumb and pointer finger down the base of the flower to clean it down to the stem. This makes it easier for the flower or branch to tuck into your anchor wire.
Since the grape vines have space in between, tucking your florals into the base is really quite easy and everything holds really well so long as the bottom of the stem is clean and tucked under that anchor of wire you used to attach your holiday swag to the base.
Photography:
Tyler William Parker; DIY:
Kelsey Harper
