Holiday wreaths, 2023 style...

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you know I love to make wreaths. Wreaths made with "non-traditional" plant material, wreaths from handmade paper flowers, and good old fashioned conifer based wreaths. Since I also love a vintage aluminum Christmas tree, it's only natural that I would have made a wreath from aluminum Christmas tree branches...

What's odd is that I made this wreath to hang over the fireplace at my house in Spokane, and I packed it up and moved it all the way to Portland, but I've never (that I remember) displayed it here, in this house—that we've lived in since 2005. That is until now. It's currently hanging on the wall above our bed. I wasn't sure if Andrew would like it as much as I do, but as he was pouring his first cup of coffee the day after I put it up he dared me to "Instagram it" with the unmade bed, cause it just looked so cozy. I took that as a stamp of approval and wasted no time in posting the photo.Another sparkly wreath, but this one has been in pretty constant rotation since I bought it back in, 2007 or 2008? It's just so easy to tuck in just about anywhere. It's also, obviously, not made by me.
This little mahonia wreath is hanging on our fireplace surround. It's made of Mahonia x media 'Marvel' leaves and intentionally a little random and free-form.
I had a small metal wreath frame and just wove ribbon around it to hold the leaves in place.
If you've got an eye for detail you may have already spotted the door wreath reflected in the mirror next to the "sparkly wreath"...
I made it after being inspired by this metal wreath at Terrain, a stop during the Philly Fling.
The Terrain wreath was made of metal, but since I'd also kept this bit of paper-wreath inspiration for years (which it looks like can be traced to here, although I'm sure that's not where I saw it), I thought why not try something with paper?
I drew a few leaf shapes...
...and then cut them out of heavy cardstock paper, folding and bending them a bit to resemble actual leaves, not just pieces of paper.
I then taped them to a wire wreath form. It was so easy! 
A close-up of the finished product.
There was also a pretty fabulous garland on display at Terrain and I toyed with the idea of doing something similar—from paper—for the holiday mantel, but decided against it. I wanted to use some of my traditional holiday decorations and if done right this garland was really more of a stand alone piece. I might revisit it in the future...
For now I'm loving the modern simplicity of this wreath. 
It's the perfect accompaniment to the JOY doormat my friend Erin gave me.