I wanted a winter wreath on my front door that didn’t have red or green, so I wandered over to a craft store, and because it was after the holidays, all of what I wanted was on super clearance. I found a painted and glittered vine wreath that has a wire base, and 27 picks that are silvery gold with crystals for under $20. Before the holidays the same wreath parts would have cost $160.

The pre-painted vine wreath was heavily covered and it was difficult to get the picks wedged into the shape, so I used heavy wire cutters to snip off half the length, which helped. My eldest thought I bought it as pictured (I should have taken a before picture!)

I had a grapevine wreath covered in origami flowers that lasted two years before the flower picks started looking sad. I hit an after fall sale (really, even though it is still very much fall here in Texas) to get some decorations for a chorus concert, then after the concert used the picks and garland to redecorate the grapevine wreath. So all the elements have been used at least once before, so I feel safe in calling it a recycled wreath.

Nothing is glued in, just twisted and tucked, so it can all be taken apart and used again. Bonus.

That was more work than I anticipated. Folding all the flowers from slightly off-sized origami paper torn from a book wasn’t bad, but adding the twisting of the wire stems doubled the time for each. Then I decided to cut down some of the paper to make three different sizes. Then my kids’ school was cancelled for three days because there weren’t enough teachers and subs due to COVID infections. Hm. Anyway, I did finally complete the wreath by adding the flowers to a grape vine circle. I regularly change out the picks on this wreath, so no gluing, I just hooked the wire around the vine so I can use the base again. Rather than fill the wreath full of flowers, I did a size gradient so I can still see the lovely woody vines. I do like this wreath!