How To: Make a Fresh Garland or Wreath

Today I have a little tutorial on how to make a beautiful and fragrant, fresh garland for your house. Growing up I always loved how my grandparents took random things from their yard and turned them into beautiful and useful decor for their house- whittled bamboo sticks turned into wind chimes, large plant leaves as serving platters, and painted pine cones during Christmastime- my Grandmother was the queen of using what she already had- and I always loved that she could make something so beautiful for zero amount of money.

Well, I wouldn't say my garland could win any awards. But the fact that I was able to add that little extra to our house during a time when we're on a very tight budget made me happy.

All you need are:

We have a pine that's experiencing severe overgrowth in our yard so I just sawed off two of the low branches and then sawed them into lighter, workable pieces.

Next, just start overlaying branches. I pretty much lined each one halfway up the other and then tied & knotted it a bunch with some twine. (I used green twine from the dollar store but you can use a brown one as well).

Because my branches were sort of heavy. I did the top layer of the garland first and secured that up. They apparently make great hooks that make hanging garland easier, but I wanted to use what I already had lying around. So I used a staple gun to secure a few staples along the top trim, laced twine in between them, and then tied the twine around the garland. This worked great and my garland hasn't fallen out of place once.

I then attached each of the sides from the top (letting them hang freely to the ground). Look how great the green twine blends in- you can barely see it

And you're done! Cheap, easy, and fast. I'd say the most difficult part was hanging the garland so ask someone to help to make it go faster- but still- if I can do it on my own- anyone can :)

When we got our Christmas tree, we had leftover branches so I used the same steps to make a wreath. Just instead of hanging the garland, I twisted it into a circle, tied if off with twine...

And then hung it with ribbon inside our cabin.

Let me know if you take this on yourself or have any questions!