Monday 9 December 2013

Christmas Wreath .... Thrifty Snippet...


Hello there ...
hope all your festive preparations are going well.
I've sort of got in the mood ...

The Sunday car boot sale was in a somewhat festive mood ... lots of stallholders selling cards and wrapping paper.. nice baskets of christmasssy type plants .. and lots of lovely Christmas wreaths.
 


Now I like a nice wreath to hang on the gate ... I'm not a big one for decorations ... usually just a bit of greenery in the house.
So I went to inspect the wreaths for sale ... I nearly had a fit ...now Hubby P says I'm just a skin flint ... a miserly sorta woman ... and that 'in the real world' people do pay these kinds of prices ..
'these prices' being £14 for a wreath.

Well ... £14 .. blimey .. I can buy a lot of shopping for that ...
£14 .. for something that will be thrown away in a couple of weeks!

I walked away from the wreaths...



 A few stalls on and a young couple were selling these preformed wreath bases ... 50p ... now that's more like it.
More my kinda price...



 So today I found my sectors and made a nice cuppa and set to ...



 Had a nosey around the garden ...
This little Holly bush could stand a trim ... it sits atop an old cat called Tom .. thus Toms holly.


 The silvery pennies of the Honesty were glittering in a little bit of sunshine.... I had a few of these.



 At the front of the house is the most enormous Rosemary bush ... certainly in need of a trim ... and will add a lovely scent to the wreath.


 I started with a few branches of a hedgerow fir tree .. and simply made a hole in the base and pushed the greenery in.
I think the preformed ring thingy was  designed to have stuff stuck to it really ... it was made of a dense hard stuff .. not very mossy .. or even florists foamy stuff.
But its only got to last a couple of weeks ... and it looks okay.

I found a few artificial red flowers and bits from previous Christmas arrangements ... this is why we always do keep boxes of 'stuff' in the stash cupboard ...

'A Girl never knows when she may want to make a wreath! '


So maybe it looks a bit 'loose' ... a bit rough and ready .. but it brings a bit of colour to the grey and chilly days.
And it didn't cost £14 ... 

I hazard to guess what a real Christmas tree costs these days ...
I think I shall be 'dragging in a bit of a twig' again ...as my children use to call my artistic endeavours with greenery from the garden and a few vintage baubles.

So what have you been up to .... have you invested hard earned cash in a lovely wreath ... the ones I saw were very lovely.

Take care ... keep warm xx

 




44 comments:

  1. That wreaths' worth at least £20! It's gorgeous and you might be able to re-use the base next year!
    Love your new header and the geodes and stones are wonderfully off-set by the vintage crochet edged tablecloth. Would love the pennies to buy an Amethyst geode.....I can dream!

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    1. Thankyou .. the geodes are a relic from our 'wealthier' days when we both worked silly hours .. and the geodes were really good price in a specialist shop .. I do treaure them.

      x

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  2. Just beautiful- so much prettier than anything I have seen in the shops!

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    1. Thankyou ... I think a bit of fresh greenery always looks nice.. especially these grey days.

      x

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  3. That's lovely Vicky! I used a 20p willow wreath( bought at the carboot), dried hydrangea heads( free from the front garden), and added a 10p robin (another carboot buy). It makes me smile every time I come home.

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  4. That sounds fab .. you know I haven't got a hydrangea in the garden .. and they are so nice .. maybe thats a thought for next year.

    x

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  5. Looks great, I'm going to make one this coming weekend hopefully.

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    1. And its a fun .. christmassy thing to do .. got me quite in the mood for the festivities.
      x

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  6. Your wreath is lovely! Homemade is always best!
    Not a wreath or tree here..we are off to England for Christmas and only the cats would be here to " enjoy " it all (ie dismantle it...). We would just put it up, leave, and come back to take it all down....
    Love you new photo...table is lovely!

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    1. Ooooo bring your woolies .. the wind is cold today .. where abouts in England .. mind you all of it is very nice... x

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    2. We will be in Worcester with son, DIL and grandchildren. Should be a very fast 2 weeks catching up with various friends and playing with the family...wish we had time for a trip to Wales (where my ♡ is!)

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  7. no I plan to make one. I'm lucky enough to have a huge variegated holly bush, so that will be getting a hair cut, along with some other evergreens and I have artificial berries, which must easily be 15 years old!

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    1. Its nice when there is a mix of evergreens .. I thought the plain holly ones lacked a bit of something .. enjoy your wreath making x

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  8. I buy the oasis wreaths from tinternet. Savage the garden, round up any old tat I can find, wreath costs £2.50. I buy 12 and we friends all get together, glass of wine, carols or whatever on the laptop, add in cinnamon sticks, if its an inside wreath, rosemary as you say for outside. Happy Christmas.

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    1. That sounds great ... I love the sound of your craft afternoons with the girls .. mind you didnt you have a gentleman with you last year ?.. or maybe I'm thinking of someone else. Anyway I envy you your crafty groups and museum and even the sports centre with no windows!
      Enjoy x

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  9. Oh I'm another "miserly sort of woman" for sure. Maybe because I shop thrift stores and garage sales so much that when I see what is being charged for new stuff I can hardly believe it. Just today my daughter was here for lunch and told me they just paid $40.00 for a Christmas tree. One that will be thrown out in a few weeks. I do like your wreath. But won't it be blown away in the weather?

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    1. I'm glad I'm not the only one .. perhaps we can form a club 'The Miserly Womanly club'!
      x

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  10. Your wreath is gorgeous, much better than any bought wreath could ever be.

    No, I wont be spending any unnecessary money on a 'throwaway Christmas', everything we have around us will be used. My little living trees from last year will be in the house, greenery from around the house and woodland for a wreath for the front door(I'll make a simple twisted branch ring as a base) and our few treasured bits and pieces from Christmases past will be dotted around.

    All I've spent this year is £4 on some trims for the parcels (and there's enough there to save for next year too). I still have handmade cards that I can send to folk from when I used to make and sell them on my Farmers Market stall, so not even any cards to buy.

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    1. Sounds great .. and the old treasured bits and bobs bring back lovely memories .. memories are priceless.
      x

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  11. Absolutely beautiful wreath x :-)

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  12. I think your wreath looks much nicer than the ones you can buy, I too look at them and think I wouldn't pay that price, they all look a bit sparse to me, like they are scrimping on what they put on them, not a lovely full homemade one.

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    1. I suppose if I had to buy all the foliage and bits and bobs I would try and scrimp a bit ..like you say .. it looks that way on some of the 'bought ones'. I am hoping it lasts a while.
      x

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  13. I was watching a Christmas story on tv about a pioneer town in the American West...they were decorating for Christmas and the pioneer family had a box of decorations including artificial greens! The whole town was decorated, too and a bad wind storm came through...and thrown all over the ground was, again, great piles of artificial greens..made me laugh!

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  14. Beautiful wreath :) You're right about the cost of everything, staggering these days. In answer to your tree question we bought a cut Nordman fir at the weekend (not quite 5ft) and it was 25 quid (and that was reduced as they're on offer at B&Q at the minute). Yikes! Ah well, it looks very pretty in the living room and smells divine.

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    1. Real trees do look the business .. we always had one when the children were small .. and thinking about it they were always rather expensive .. mind you it does take years to grow them. Enjoy your tree...x

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  15. My best value wreaths were 1p from B&Q a few years back in their after Christmas sale. The simple green wreaths make great bases for adding that personal touch.
    Love from Mum
    xx

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    1. Thats an idea .. I will look out for sale bargains/or carboot bargains of bits for next years wreath.

      x

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  16. I have an artificial one that I dust off and pin to the door each year! Didn't cost me anything,, not as pretty as,a real one but I'm ok with that!!! Xx

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    1. Thats the thing .. enjoying a Christmas you are happy with.
      x

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  17. Fabulous!!! Maybe you should be selling yours xx

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    1. Ooo no thanks ... it wouldn't be the same .. no fun .. making loads of them ... and such a prickly job!

      x

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  18. Your wreath is much better than a bought one...special , because its your own idea. This year we have a small tree which cost £10. We are regarding it as a plant because it has roots and will be put in the garden . Love your blog and the new header picture. Happy Christmas to you and your family.

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    1. Thats a good idea .. we did that a few times when the children were small .. now we have two or three huge fir trees in the garden hedge .. birds love them.
      x

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  19. That's so pretty and colourful - and thrifted!

    We have got a family tradition of making our own hedgerow wreath, using hazel twigs as a base, and adding long strands of ivy, and holly sprigs, early juvenile hazel catkins and whatever we find on our travels. My eldest daughter is hoping I will wait until she's home so we can go out on Christmas Eve and gather the bits, but I may make a little one before then.

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    1. How nice to have someone to share it with ... I only ever managed to have boys/men now ... and they are not a bit arty crafty ... unless they can eat it!
      x

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  20. I worked at a shop that was a mad house at Christmas...we'd have 25 or 30 decorated theme trees. The owners daughter would take all of the ornaments that ended up broken, and glue them onto a wreath (one that could be used year to year, not a live one!)..they were beautiful, you could hide the broken bits, and people loved them!

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    1. What a good idea ... bet they looked great.
      x

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  21. wonderful!
    I love it!
    so great you created it from out of your own garden!

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  22. Thanks for your dental sympathy :) Your wreath is terrific, we use our artificial one every year but adapt it. This year I've used tiny red baubles left over from the tree
    Love to you both
    Twiggy xxx

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  24. Your wreath is gorgeous. I am so envious you have holly. I love the stuff and they don't even sell it around here because no one but me would buy it.

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  25. Beautiful wreath....well done you !!

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