Natural Vine Wreath

I love making these in the summer!  FYI I'm a camp counselor, so I'm outside all summer long with the best kids in the world.  I bring them down to the creek a lot, and while supervising them I'll sit and make these with the kids who don't want to get wet.  It's amazing how long kids will entertain themselves with repetitive actions.  Before I get in to how to make these, I want to gush about finally being home.

Look, guys,  look!  It's my bedroom!  My real
bedroom!  Not my apartment bedroom...

L

I love getting home this time of year- my mother is an intense gardener, so our yard is starting to look completely gorgeous.  First thing I did after getting home?  Clipped some of her daffodils.  I love me some flower arranging!

Something else I found when I arrived home- my mom still has about 4 poinsettia still around the house from Christmas.  She just can't handle throwing out plants.  It's funny to talk to her when winter's coming and she's picking plants to bring indoors.  She talked to me for about an hour in the fall, debating between plants and feeling overall guilty.  Love her!

Seed starters

These have been in our living room since
about November.  They're like family!

 Our house really is a potting shed this time of year.  But I guess that's the price of a fantastic yard!










 Back to the wreaths.  First you want to collect your vines.  I usually try to grab nonnative invasive plants such as multiflora rose, or just plain invasive plants like grapevine.  I believe that these are mostly grapevine.  I used handheld shears to clip 'em.

Pick a vine to start with.  Try to find one that is a little bit longer than twice the desired circumference of your wreath.  This just makes it hold itself in shape better.  If you don't have a vine that fits that description, you'll still be able to figure it out.

Then wrap it around itself, sort of like when you begin tying your shoelaces.

Keep on wrapping it until it's all wrapped up.

To add another vine, just shove it between where your other vine crosses itself, and wrap it just like you did the previous vine.










Get it?  I feel like the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, so it's hard to add directions.










You can add as many or as few vines as you want.  I like pretty thick wreaths, and the larger the circumference of your wreath the more vines you'll want.  For a point of reference,  I probably used about 5 vines for this one.

 And here it is!  It holds itself pretty well.  If you see the green or white of the vine you used, don't stress- it will dry out over time and makes it look more rustic.



Because it was so gorgeous the day I went out to make this, I took some pictures of my walk.  You'll have to bear with me.  If you're not interested, feel free to jump to the end where I add ribbon for hanging it and a bow for decoration.

Here's the famous creek.  The kids spend half the summer here catching crayfish and small fish.  I sat here reading for about an hour after making my wreath.  I adore the water!









Skunk cabbage is growing!  This will be a spot to avoid in another few weeks...

Cardinal sang to me as I passed by.  I think he may have been as confused about the weather as I was.

This is a sight I usually don't see from this part of the property- the beehives!  My mom got bees the other year, and helped out with the bees here.  The kids are always amazed by them!  I'll have to post pictures of my mom's hives later.

There's a path that goes out to that tree, straight through a tall field of grasses.  My kids deemed it 'Tick Alley' after I decided to use it on the hottest day of the summer, and each of them was covered in ticks afterwards.  Oops!  I didn't know where it lead when we took it.  But I still have kids today asking if we can go through Tick Alley.

Tree tubes!  Tree tubes as far as the eye can see!

This is a beech tree.  Someone told me the way to remember that is that people write on beech trees like they write in the sand at the beach.  By the way, never carve trees.  That part of the bark is now dead, and cannot supply nutrients to the rest of the tree.  One way that people kill trees they don't want is by girdling it, or cutting a band of the bark all the way around the tree.  Nutrients can no longer move up, and so the tree dies.  Don't carve trees!  My rant for today.

Raccoon print!  I've always wanted to take a casting- maybe next trip down to the property!  This was a good one!

Alright, back to the wreath.

Pick the side you like most.  I picked the one that showed the fewest ends of a vine.

I tied a ribbon off to the side, and a loop at the top to hang it.

Here's one that has been hanging in the kitchen at home for three years now.  I didn't do anything to it- just wrapped it and hang it up.  The white vine ends you see used to be green.

And here's the gorgeous wreath I made this weekend.  There are so many other ways you can decorate them.  I've had kids put flowers inside of them, and to have them last longer you could dry them first.  Weave ribbon through along with the vines to add a splash of color.  Paint vines different colors before weaving them to make a braided-type pattern.

Any other ideas?  Throw them at the comments!

And last but not least, this is about my favorite things I've run across on the property.  It's fun to have the kids guess what it is, especially after they've played around it.  Any guesses what it is?  Post it in the comments, and you'll win... kudos!  From me!

Until next time!