The Fourth Day of Christmas

Just to prove to you all how cheap thrifty I really am, here's a post on how I made a 36" diameter holiday wreath, for free.

It started as I tried to think of a way to decorate my fireplace for Christmas.  Back in The Bungalow my favorite thing was decorating our mantel.

I never got a picture of the Christmas decor on the mantel, boo.

But since my big bohemoth doesn't have a mantel, I was going to have to get a little more creative this year.

Which is why I created this evergreen arrangement back on the Third Day of Christmas, which was really the Second Day of Christmas.

While it helped, it didn't really ring my bell.  So as we were leaving the Christmas Tree farm the other day (more on that tomorrow), I passed a stack of trimmed branches labeled "Free," and even though they were free I looked all around, smuggled as many as I could carry under my arm and yelled, "Let's go, just go" to Jason and Ryder as I ran to the car.  I'm not proud of it.

I had the plan to turn this into a big wreath for the fireplace, even though I didn't have a fancy wreath form or anything, and just see what I could do with some craft wire and floral tape that I had on hand. 

Hmmm....

Maybe......

 I started kind of shaping branches together, and wrapping craft wire around them to hold them in place. 

It would be an understatement to say that I nearly gave up on this project a dozen times.  I kept thinking, "This will never work..." but I just couldn't walk away.  It was like an episode of the Karadsians, a total train wreck that you just can't peel your poisoned eyes from.

When I had gotten pretty much a circle, I thought I would hang it up and tweak from there.  First, I needed a way to hang it, and I remembered this random S hook that's been hanging on the ceiling above our service door to the garage since we moved in.  I have no idea what the previous owners could have possibly hung up in the space, and it was time to finally remove it so I didn't have to plague myself with possibilities everyday as I left the house.  (Dog leash? A really large key ring? A really tiny purse?)

There was already a tiny hole in the fireplace panels from a nail we took out back when we moved, so I screwed the S hook in it's place as to not create another hole.

Here's where I nearly gave up the seventh time...

Whooop- whaaaaa

 But I still couldn't walk away, so I tweak and wired the branches some more.

 And a bit more...

And finally wrapped some extra wire ribbon around it.

 Not too shabby for a completely free, huge 36" wreath, huh?  I'll fill you in tomorrow on how the rest of the room came together.  Anyone else making any of their own holiday decor this year?  Or stole any "free" branches from your local tree farm?  It's a sickness.