Anniversary Wreath

You know you are in love when you don’t want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams

Dr. Seuss

It’s been a year. Literally and figuratively. I spent the better part of my first few blogs writing about my daughter’s wedding and they just celebrated their one year anniversary. My grandmother used to say, "The days crawl and the years fly by.” At the time I didn't appreciate those words, but oh how they ring true now.

I was trying to find something fun on their first anniversary, but I was hitting a dead end. Our standard anniversary gift to my son and daughter-in-law is a nice restaurant gift card and watching our granddaughter for the night. But I had two strikes against me: 1) We were sadly under a stay-at-home restriction with this horrific pandemic and 2) These two don’t have a granddaughter to watch. So what's a parent to do?

As are most successful ideas, mine came to me completely by accident. Part of Ashley's wedding decorations were eucalyptus vines lining the tables. As they were the most expensive portion of the floral package, the miser in me took them home and figured I could do something with them.

Something meant hanging them out to dry and then picking the leaves off the stems. They were forgotten until I came across them in the garage while looking for a mason jar.

There aren't too many things you can do with dried Eucalyptus leaves. They smell heavenly: true, but aside from making a great smelling campfire, one is really limited. Here is where Mom stepped in. I remembered she had a wreath that although really old, still had a fantastic smell. So once the idea was planted, the rest was easy.

I purchased a plain grapevine wreath, and burlap ribbon. Once again I will praise the virtues of Dollar Store, but you can also find great selections of wreaths in the clearance bin at Michael’s. The rest were dried flowers from her bouquet and the arbor arrangement.

I wrapped the burlap ribbon around the wreath first. Then I glued the leaves, lavender, dried roses, all of the other flowers that I had saved and dried.

I did the gluing in two steps. First a base layer was added and then I went back and filled in the wreath where it needed a little extra.

It turned out pretty great and I hope it helped them to remember their beautiful day. I'll take any hints for the second year.

How to Make a Homemade Wreath

Supplies

• Grapevine or similar wreath

• Dried leaves and flowers with any stems and thorns removed

• Garland

• Glue gun

• Dried Flower Fragrance, if desired

1. Glue one end of the garland to the back side of your wreath.

2. Loosely wrap the garland around the wreath finishing on the back side on top of the starting garland.

3. Cut the garland and glue down.

4. Begin gluing the flowers and leaves under the garland and around the wreath in the same direction.

5. Allow to dry.

6. Once dry, glue a second layer of flowers and leaves.

7. If you desire fragrance: Amazon sells one here: Amazon

8. Now hang and enjoy!!