Since I have begun blogging and getting more and more into creating wreaths and other decorative items for our home, I have been simply amazed at the wealth of materials available to me in my own backyard. It was just last year that I discovered these pretty berries growing within our forsythias. I didn't know what they were until my friend Judy from Gold Country Cottage left a comment telling me what a "treasure trove" I was sitting on. This year I discovered bittersweet growing in multiple areas of our yard, so I decided to use it around the house to decorate for fall and to make an easy peasy rustic looking wreath with these crimson beauties.
All I needed in addition to the bittersweet (with their leaves removed) was a simple grapevine wreath, a little floral wire, scissors to cut the vine and floral wire, and a few pine cones. The fresh cut vine is very malleable so it is easy to bend. You can make it even more flexible by soaking the vine in warm, not hot, water. I started by first taking a long piece of the vine and creating a circle with it, securing the ends together with some floral wire. I then anchored it with four pieces of floral wire to the grapevine wreath. The three pine cones were attached together with another piece of wire and tied onto the wreath. Then I just poked more pieces of bittersweet into the existing wreath. The wreath sat overnight and by the next day the little golden color pods had begun to fall off exposing the bittersweet berry.
Then today I added more of the golden pods for a little color variation.
These too will shed their pods in the next 24 hours and then wreath will be really full of fall glory.
Take a look around your own backyard the next time you set out to decorate for the season, I bet you'll be surprised at what you find.
Happy first weekend of fall y'all!!!
XO
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