Easter Weekend Special: How to DIY An Easter Wreath
My front door is very visible from my street, so on holidays and occasions I like to DIY a wreath to hang out the front. It gives the house a lot more kerb appeal and they are always fun to make. Of course, you can buy seasonal wreaths in the shops, but they start from around £18 upwards for something 'decent', when you can purchase all the basic materials to put together an Easter wreath from haberdashery and craft shops for under a fiver.
To make yourself an Easter wreath, first purchase a rattan or wicker wreath from somewhere like Hobbycraft. This 12" rattan wreath that I have used cost £3.
Collect together what you would like to display on your wreath. I've used Mini-Egg chocolates, the Easter chicks that are usually used to decorate Easter cakes and some faux flowers and foliage that I had laying around. There are no rules for what you can use, as long as it screams 'Easter' - so I'm talking pastel colours, eggs, bunnies, lambs, chicks, spring flowers like daffodils, blossom and so on.
My wreath is quite childlike as I designed it to appeal to my young son and the local kids who walk past my home on their way to school. To make a more sophisticated, classy wreath you could lose the faux flowers and chicks and use pastel speckled eggs (either Mini-eggs like I have, plastic eggs that you can get this time of year in supermarkets and department stores, or polystyrene or mache eggs if you want an extra craft element) and beautiful spotty feathers on the rattan wreath to create a more organic, natural Easter display. Pastel craft poms poms would create a more modern wreath. If you are only having your wreath up over the Easter weekend you could really budget it by purchasing a cheap bunch of daffodils and/or tulips from the supermarket and threading them through a rattan or wicker wreath which is really effective. Daffodils and tulips are quite hardy and have thick, strong stems that would take being used for decorative purposes.
The easiest way to add all your Easter elements to a wicker/rattan wreath is by using florist wire (also called hobby or oasis wire) which can be purchased in a pack for under £1. This easy to bend wire (no pliers required!) can be used to pierce, wrap and secure your Easter materials to your wreath. Simply make sure your object is securely attached to the wire, then thread the wire into the wreath and wrap/bend it until it's solidly holding your object in place. If you are using poms poms or feathers it is better to use a craft glue that is clear once dry.
Get some ribbon, preferably in pastel, green or yellow, and tie it around your wreath to hang on your door. Before you purchase ribbon think where you may have some ribbon laying around that will be enough for the job. I took this green ribbon from a Jo Malone carrier bag that once contained a Christmas present!