The last couple years, frugal daughter and I attended fantastic HUGE Christmas markets in Houston called the Nutcracker Market. Its an annual thing early in Nov. Its already passed this year (I feel you. I missed it too this year.) Last year, one of the beautiful red wreaths there had us both salivating. I tried recreating it and we both loved it. This year I promised daughter I would make one for her too.
Sidebar please. Ready for another story? This is my most embarrassing moment that happened at the market. For anyone who thinks I may have lost my mind but isn't totally sure, let me prove what a complete idiot I can be. Sometimes I just don't think before I talk. (I so hear my dad's voice in my head right now.) Before we had attended a Nutcracker Market, we were researching the vendors online. We both were really interested in this
jewelry artist who lives near my hometown. She has a very cool
website. We loved that she did a little video on each piece and showed the different ways you could wear the necklaces. We were going to look for her and of course we found her. She wasn't hard to spot. She looks like a golden angel. She was working with us and I was telling her how much I liked her
website, how much time we had spent watching her videos and whoever created her website did an awesome job, etc. And here's where I lost my mind. She was smiling and nodding and for some insane reason, I blurted out... "we do an impression of you. Do you want to see?" I swear, we were loving her and thinking she was the CUTEST thing. Not making fun of her at all. But I guess that didn't translate well because she stopped smiling and nodding. I looked around for daughter who had been there and all of a sudden wasn't. Huh? I guess I can't blame her. I would have pretended to not know me too. So, if you visit her
website don't ask for the Terry discount. There isn't one. In fact, I wouldn't even mention this to her if you want to be on her good side. But I still love her.
I hope you're still with me. Please say you've done something that dumb too. I half-considered not telling you that story but its my most memorable Nutcracker story and unfortunately, I have more embarrassing moments than you'd imagine. I guess its kind of funny if I can pretend someone else did it. But back to the wreath, I made my wreath a little looser formed, and daughter's a little more tightly packed, so you'll probably use anywhere from 17-27 hydrangea stems (buy on sale or you'll have to get a second mortgage to purchase the flowers. I got mine both times at Hobby Lobby at 50% off.) Plus you'll need a 12 in. styrofoam wreath and one yard of 1-1/2 in. ribbon and your glue gun.
Clip the hydrangeas from the stem, leaving about 1/4 in. of the stem. Use an awl to punch a hole about 1/4 in. deep into the wreath form. I punched a few holes at a time about 1/2-3/4 in. apart.
Take a lesson from me and put a little glue from your glue gun directly in the hole rather than trying to put it on the end of the flower stem. (I'm still recovering from the worst glue burn I've ever had and that's saying a lot. Good news is someone you know worked themselves off Thanksgiving dish duty this year! ) Stick the hydrangea in the hole and hold for a second. Do the face of the wreath then go back and do the outside and inside edges.
Fold the ribbon in half and loop through the wreath. Tie a bow at the top and hang.
You could use any color hydrangeas and ribbon, white or blue with purple ribbon would be pretty but I thought we'd be tempted to leave it up all year and this way, it will be special each year when it comes out for Christmas. It would be great in the fall with autumn colors and other flowers than hydrangeas also. This won't be the cheapest wreath you ever made but it might be the easiest and prettiest.
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