The Perfect Modern Country Autumn Wreath

It's Autumn.

Hooray!

All this week and next,

I'll be posting ways of autumnifying your life:

from the perfect Modern Country wreath,

to choosing the best fall outfits,

and everything in between.

I'm hoping to give you lots of ideas

of the kind of thing you can link up

on Wednesday 5th October at my

Modern Country Style: Fall In Love

link party.

What better way to start of any Autumn extravaganza

than making a gorgeous wreath!?

{And this one won't cost you a penny.}

Sounds good already, right?

I love the idea of creating a wreath from bits and pieces I find in our garden. It's such a lovely country feeling to be plucking a bit of this and a piece of this, all the while building up a vision of what I want my end product to look like.

Here's what you'll need to make

your perfect Modern Country wreath:

a wreath base of some kind

{click here to see my tutorial of how to make one from scratch}

some pva glue

branches for greenery

branches with berries

anything else that catches your eye

a piece of ribbon

some secateurs

Here's what to do:

Starting with your wreath base and greenery,

cut off a small length at a time (10cm/3inches or so).

Dip the end into the glue.

Slot into the wreath base.

Try to push in all twigs either clockwise or anti-clockwise to give the neatest finish.

Continue until the whole base is more or less covered. This doesn't have to be super neat, its purpose is to cover up the colour of the base, and will mostly be smothered by the top layer.

Then start to build up the next layer, using your berried twigs, with the same gluing and slotting in technique.

With this layer, it does matter what the finish looks like so ensure all twigs are lying flattish against the layer below.

If you spot a hole in the wreath, then choose a bushy twig and slot the end in to the base.

Don't slot the end into where the actual gap is, as the leaves will end up in the section above the gap. Instead, slot the twig end into the portion just below the bare patch. This will ensure that the patch will get covered in just the right place.

Once this layer is complete, then you can, of course, add any extras.

But I rather like my autumn wreaths simple and stylish.

I find the simplicity is what marks them out as

a more Modern version of the

traditional Country wreath.

Keep standing back from the wreath to make certain that you're building up a good, even circular shape. It's easy to become so engrossed in the gluing and pushing in that you end up with an awkward shape at the end.