DIY Vine Wreath

This meme may have made me laugh a little too loudly.  It is "stolen" from Facebook.  If you know the owner, I'd love to give proper credit.  My gardening buddies will understand how it feels to go from seed to table.  In this case though, I'm going from seed a bird planted to a vibrant wreath on my front porch!

Picking up a basic vine wreath at any crafty or big box store is simple and inexpensive,

but I've always wanted to make one.  We live in an old rock farmhouse built in the 1930's.  Many of the streets around my small town are named for flowers and trees.  At some point in our history someone with the best of intentions planted Japanese Honeysuckle (lonicera japonica) all down Honeysuckle Street, which grows aggressively here in Arkansas.  Lovely birds have gifted some to a couple of my flower beds, and it needs to be ripped out occasionally.

Why not make a wreath?

DIY Vine Wreath

Angel Food Cake Pan

Cut Resistant Gloves

Pruning Shears

Honeysuckle Vine

A little patience

Notice how the angel food cake pan has three little legs?  I'm using those like an extra set of hands to hold the vine in place while I'm wrapping more.

My craft projects frequently being with lots of trial and error.  Mostly the latter.  This was my first attempt.  I quickly learned which size was most flexible.

That was the hardest part.  Anything much larger than a matchstick was not supple enough to make the small circle.  Several laps were made round and round the cake pan with the small honeysuckle vine.  Once I had the depth at about 1 - 2 inches, I started looping small tendrils around the bundle.  

When everything felt secure, the basic wreath was pressed back onto those little legs of the cake pan and left in a cool spot of our back bedroom to dry.

I grew this from seed.  ;-)  Please come back next Tuesday to see how I decorated it!