Wreaths, Flowers and Joy

Welcome to February, where there are still a few months of winter left and the mind begins to want.

I started this page because I found something I loved enough to share. The love and joy of creating. There’s nothing quite like settling in to a task or a recipe to yield beautiful and fulfilling results.

When i’m tired of doing the dishes and feel like I need to create outside of the kitchen, themed wreath making is my “small project” go-to. It takes about 2 hours and you can easily source the materials at your local thrift store, dollar store or florists. All of the dried flowers used in this arrangement have been either grown in our garden and dried or are flowers taken from fresh arrangements. With a little knowledge, you begin to learn which florals dry best. I keep those, hang them upside down to dry, ready for my next wreath or arrangement making session. For filler, it’s easy to forage some winter greenery or use dried moss.

I won’t do a detailed how-to but these are the practices I use for a great arrangement.

Shape your wreath, pick out the blooms you want to use and lay them out.

Plug in your glue gun - you can use wire to tie some of the heartier florals to your base wreath but most are very delicate. A glue gun is most effective for this reason.

You almost want to “dry-run” your arrangement because you end up moving things around. Place everything where you want it, you can cut your stems to the correct size (some can end up quite short and that’s okay).

Once you’re happy with your placement, start glue gunning everything into place. You’ll want to place the tip of your stem almost inside the glue gun hole. You’ll want a small glue bead at the end of your stem, hold it there for 2 seconds and then quickly pull the gun away in one swoop with a twist of the wrist at the end. This ensures you have minimal strings to pull off once the floral is in place and glue is dried.

Repeat this process and continue filling until you’re happy with the results. I actually did my wreath in two sessions. Sometimes the creativity blocks and you hit a proverbial wall. Stop and step away. This is the same advice I give myself when I feel overwhelmed doing anything else in life. Just stop, take a breath, step back or step in when you’re ready. Emotional regulation is a real skill to be learned and I find that by filling some of my time doing things I love, it fills my cup. It gives me head space to handle the more difficult aspects of life.

What do you do to fill your cup in the winter?

Here is my finished product, I hope I inspired you to fill your cup this season, doing whatever it is that brings you joy.

Véronique