Bittersweet and Burlap Wreath

You might remember the bones of this wreath from last month. What was once a lemon and burlap wreath is now a bittersweet and burlap wreath! I decided not to reinvent the wheel so I removed the lemons from the wreath base and added the pumpkins and bittersweet.

What I thought would take a few minutes was actually a little tricky. I had to figure out how to attach the pumpkins after my original idea of using hot glue failed miserably. Once that was accomplished I started sticking the fresh bittersweet stems around the bow.

At this point the berries starting popping off the stems. So…I had to re-group and figure out how to preserve the bittersweet stems in the next 5 minutes. My first thought was to try hair spray and actually that might have worked. Instead I found a can of satin sealer in my garage and used that instead.

It worked like a charm but if you try this make sure and spray outside. It was a bit stinky. Now that I had all my issues resolved I was able to hang the wreath on my door, stand back, and observe the fruits of my labor. Except for one thing. I really, really needed a new door mat.

The one pictured above is no longer available but I found this one that has the same colors. (aff. link)

And…since I can never leave well enough alone I added some fresh bittersweet to the ivy topiaries.

As you can see some of the berries have popped and some are still green. I wound the bittersweet vines around the topiaries just after cutting so they would be pliable and easy to work with. Once the berries have all popped I’ll shoot each bunch with some sealer. Hopefully they will last until I’m ready to decorate for Christmas. Hopefully.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a little how-to just in case you want to add little pumpkins to a wreath of your own. They are the real thing so their weight was mostly the issue. (Sorta like me. ha!) If you want to get started here’s how to make a wreath and how to make the perfect bow.