recycled wreath

Here's the wreath I made for the front door this weekend!

It wasn't fast, but it was super easy and I didn't have to buy anything to make it.  If you want to make one of your own you will need:

-a ton of magazines and catalogs (gardening magazines work best (lots of green) so it helps to have a friend who has a flower shop who'll give you some.)

-a cardboard wreath form (you could just as easily cut your own ring out of an old box or something, but I had the wreath form already so I used it.)

-some glue 

First you have to make a million leaves. Make a paper template of a leaf shape that you like, making sure to have a little stem at the bottom, and use all the green you can find in the magazine to start cutting.

Don't worry if there are spots of other colors mixed in with the green, little flecks of color are what makes the wreath look nice.  If you run into giant text or something else you really don't like, just make sure it's on the stem side of your leaf and it won't show.

Once you've cut a million leaves (I honestly have no idea how many, but it was a lot) it's time to glue them up.  I am sure using a glue stick or even hot glue would have been faster, but I didn't have those things around so I just used regular old glue and it worked just fine.

Make groups of 3 with the middle one on top and set them aside. 

Once you have a ton of them, it's time for the fun part, making the wreath!

Put them in a little v shaped pattern, quite close together and continue around the form.


When you get to the end, just lift up the first leaves and stick the last ones underneath.


And Voila!  A lovely, recycled, recyclable, and absolutely free wreath!