Make Your Own Magnolia Wreath

Steel Magnolias

I live in the deep South. Yet, I have never attempted nor purchased a Magnolia wreath. I know, I know. I even have a huge Magnolia in my back yard. Over the Thanksgiving holidays, my sister got a wild hair and proclaimed that she was going to  harvest leaves from my Magnolia tree and make a wreath. Fine. I was in.

The first wreath pictured took HOURS to make. I had a wire wreath frame, so I decided to use it. It’s huge. It used about a million leaves and copious amounts of wire. Remember above when my sister said that she was making the wreath? Well, she had an appointment with Target on Black Friday, so I was left with her 9 year old daughter to “help” me curse the wreath.  My sister, however, redeemed herself later by showing up with a box of moose munch to help me get through the second half of the wreath.

I was happy with the end product, but there was no way in heck I was doing all that wiring again.

Ta-da…the wreath that took me all day to make:

Which, by the way, now resides in Crofton, Maryland. You are very welcome Yvonne.

Lesson Learned

As I massaged my numb fingertips I got to thinking about a faster way to accomplish this wreath. I know that some use floral foam and stick the leaves into the sides. I have made many wreaths using pool noodles as forms and pins and wondered if the Magnolia leaves would “hold”. I tested it out, but it still required me to use a bunch of pins of hold in onto the pool noodle.

I decided to use a straw wreath form. It’s inexpensive and it has enough of a “grab” so the leaves won’t move too much once they were attached.

Supplies

1. A straw wreath form (whatever size you like)
2. U pins
3. Greenery ( I used a mix of Magnolia leaves, Cryptomeria, Hemlock)
4. Ribbon

 

  This is really supper easy. I gathered three leaves and pin them in at the stems on the the wreath.

With the next layer, make sure they overlap a bit (enough to cover the stems and pins of the previous leaves). Continue all the way around the wreath.

Once you are done the the leaf layer, fill in between with the other greenery. I gently lifted the leaves and pinned a mix of Hemlock and Cryptomeria branches. Add a bright piece of ribbon and hang it up. Total construction time: 30 minutes!