How to Decorate Winter Grapevine Wreaths
With a few well-chosen decorating materials, you can transform a basic grapevine wreath into a winter work of art, to enhance your home inside and out. Mount decorative winter grapevine wreaths on exterior entrance doors, in windows, on fences and the garage for instant curb appeal. A winter grapevine wreath lends rustic charm and elegance to the indoors as well, strategically mounted over arches, on doors, in windows and over the fireplace mantel. Let the natural beauty of the winter landscape inspire your design; incorporate seasonal colors, textures and shapes that complement your home's style and color scheme for the best effect.
Things You'll Need
- Colored pencils
- Large sheets of plain white paper or drawing tablet
- One or more basic grapevine wreaths
- Hot glue gun
- Glue sticks, plain or silver sparkle
- White acrylic paint
- Silver glitter paint
- Gloss spray sealer, nontoxic
- Jeweler's glue or BeJeweler tool
- Dogwood branches
- Small pine cones
- Curly willow branches
- Dried milkweed pods
- Pine needles
- Dried cranberries
- Cinnamon sticks
- Clear crystals
- White acrylic beads
- Mirror-coated acrylic beads
- Acrylic beads in colors that complement or contrast your house color
- Silver-colored wire
- Metal-wired white satin ribbon
- Battery-operated light strand (optional)
Instructions
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1
Stand back and look at your house. Note the colors, shapes and style of your home. Determine how many winter grapevine wreaths you will make and where they will hang. Purchase a plain grapevine wreath or several in different sizes, depending on your plan.
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2
Gather dried plant materials, such as pine needles, small pine cones, red dogwood branches, curly willow branches and dried milkweed pods, from your own backyard or a park, or purchase materials from a plant or tree nursery. Purchase white acrylic beads, mirror-coated beads and beads in colors that complement the color scheme of your house -- in a variety of shapes and sizes -- from a craft or jewelry-making supply store. Purchase silver-colored wire from a craft or jewelry-making supply store.
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3
Assemble all the materials. Place like items in piles. Design the winter grapevine wreath by visually working with the materials at hand to construct a pattern you like. Draw at least two or three different designs; choose the best or all of your designs to work with, depending on how many wreaths you are making. Consider making spokes with the curly willow or dogwood; break the branches in lengths to suit your design.
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4
Load a glue stick in the glue gun and preheat. Paint the dried milkweed pods with white acrylic paint and set them aside to dry; when dry to the touch, paint the pods with the silver glitter paint. Set them aside to dry.
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5
Wind the satin ribbon in a radial pattern -- creating sections of ribbon with sections of plain grapevine -- around the entire wreath, or thread the ribbon in and out of the vine for a different look. Measure the ribbon to allow enough length left at the top to make a large bow. Tie a double overhand knot at the top. Set the ribbon tails up and away from the wreath to be tied into a bow later.
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6
Attach the natural decorating materials, glitter-painted milkweed pods and cinnamon sticks, as per your design, to the bare grapevine parts of the wreath using the glue gun or silver-colored wire to wind through the vine. Some materials will attach easier with glue, while others, such as pinecones, are attached more easily with wire. Let your inner artist rule -- modify your design as you work to create a pleasing overall symmetry and balance in colors, shapes and textures.
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Attach the dried cranberries, crystals, and beads to the ribbon portion of the wreath with the hot glue gun; make random or straight interlocking patterns. Attach random crystals to the natural materials to give an overall sparkle to the winter grapevine wreath.
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Stand the wreath against a wall. Look at it from a distance to ensure it meets your creative approval. Spray the wreath with gloss spray sealer to weatherproof it. Tie the ribbon tails at the top into a beautiful bow to finish the wreath.
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Tips & Warnings
For a dramatic touch, wind a white, battery-operated light strand through the vine tendrils after the ribbon is attached and then attach the decorations.
Spritz the finished wreath with a light spray of silver glitter paint before sealing.
Explore winter grapevine wreath ideas online, especially from expert designers, and make your own unique composite design featuring your favorite elements from each one.
Spritz the wreath occasionally to maintain the freshness and aromatic scent of the pine needles.
Substitute different evergreen materials; spruce and balsam are equally aromatic and impart a lush, organic quality to the design.
Indoor wreaths should incorporate dried plant materials.
Spritz outside wreaths with water to maintain the freshness of pine needles or any other fresh evergreen materials.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit traditional decoration image by araraadt from Fotolia.com
