First on the agenda, the Christmas Wreath.  There is nothing more welcoming than being greeted by a fresh green wreath when first approaching the house.    

For the base of the wreath I use the circular grapevine (as shown in Step 1).  You can either buy these or in my case I made the base myself from the prunings from our grapevines.  Before making the wreath, I gather a selection of seasonal greens (Step 1) using fir, pine, cedar & spruce.  I like to mix the greens as I love the contrast of the blue spruce against the deep green fir and the light green cedar.  For contrast though, you can also turn the branch around the other way to get the same effect.  Ideally I would like to add holly with red berries, however, I do not have one close by.  I often use the leaves from the Mahonia bush with some fake red berries.  I then collect a number of accessories (Step 2) – you can be as creative as you want.  You can go with different themes, but I generally use a traditional theme of using red berries, pine cones and red ribbons.  You will also need some florist wire and wire cutters.  I start to insert the greens as in Step 3 and slowly make my way around the circle (Step 4).  At this stage it does look a little scraggly so I use the florist wire to keep the greens in place and trim some of it back.   When completing the wreath I start to add, using florist wire, the pine cones and berries and finally insert the red ribbon at the bottom of the wreath.  There is also the option of spraying the wreath with fake snow, gold or silver.  

The Christmas Urn 

As with the process for the wreath, I collect a combination of fir, pine, cedar and/or spruce branches.  You need good size branches to give it a more dramatic effect.  The bolder, the better.  I initially place soil in the urn and insert the various greens.  I tend to do taller branches in the back of the urn as the urn is being placed in front of a post.  Towards the front of the urn I have the greens spreading outwards over the edge.  Along with the evergreens, I collected some red twigs from the dogwood bush in my garden and retrieved some silver sprayed twigs from last year.  These are interspersed with the evergreens and then I add some branches of red berries (bought from Michaels) along with a number of pine cones.  I have gone with traditional colors again, but you could also do a silver or gold theme.  

With the leftover greens,  I created a garland across my front railings securing it with florist wire and twisted some small white lights throughout.    In no time at all, I created a festive scene and with the recent snowfall it just added to the effect.