Beyond Betavia: Rectangle Christmas Wreath

I've seen a lot of creative holiday wreaths and have been wanting to make a new one for the front door this year. I saw this wreath here and liked the rectangular shape as a fresh look. This is my variation of the wreath which was fairly simple to make.

Materials needed:

Wood 1x4 by 8'
Wood glue
Staple gun with staples
Green garland
Few sprigs of fresh green branches
Burlap ribbon - 4" width (10 yards)
Decorative berries
Wood letters

I don't have any wood scraps, so I bought an 8' long 1x4" strip of wood at Home Depot and cut it into 4 strips with a jig saw. I cut two 18-3/4" strips and two 24" strips.

I don't possess carpentry skills, but do have a Black & Decker jig saw that comes in handy on various craft projects. My saw cuts were not perfectly straight so I sanded down the edges a bit, but the imperfect cuts still work out fine since they will be hidden by greenery.

If you have various carpentry tools, you could secure the wood strips together with nails in grooves for smooth framing. But I used wood glue and staples, which is easy, but you need to allow the glue to dry over night before you cover the wood with greenery.

I used an 8' strand of garland, one roll of burlap ribbon and some berries I had on hand.

Next you need to secure the green foliage by stapling to the wood with a staple gun. I divided the strand in half stapling the middle of the garland to the midpoint of the bottom strip and stapled the greenery around the wood frame in a way that covers all wood. Don't worry about wood gaps showing through, as the wired branches can be bent to hide the frame after the garland has been stapled securely around all four sides.

I'm not always a fan of fake greenery, so adding some sprigs of fresh cut greenery like noble fir or spruce gives a more natural look. I added some initially, securing in place with the wired green garland, and then added a few more as needed after the ribbon was added.

To attach the burlap ribbon, start by stapling the end to the back of the frame and then wrap around the frame diagonally.

The ribbon will also hide any gaps where wood might still be showing, so you can play around with the positioning of the ribbon before stapling in place.

Add berries in a few areas with a glue gun and any additional fresh greenery where needed.

For the letters, I kept them natural for good contrast against our green front door, but you could spray paint them red or add glitter. You can either staple the letters to a jute string on back, or use a hot glue gun to secure.