Make a fresh spring wreath (with stuff you probably have around your house)

During a particularly cold, rainy and cloudy early Spring in Portland it helps to look forward to sunnier days and new life emerging with a fresh green wreath. By gathering a few things from your yard or other outdoor area and using a few craft items you probably have around the house you can make a wreath that will help celebrate Easter and our delayed Spring that is just around the corner(?) 
 Do you have a grapevine wreath lying around- maybe in the Christmas decorations? If not, head to the craft store for this $5 investment piece you will use over and over- around 20" or so across.
Look around your yard or another outdoor area for small branches with small, tough leaves like boxwood. (If you don't have any boxwood bushes in your yard, make a note to plant some- there is nothing better for long-lasting floral arrangements and they are great looking shrubs.) Cut some branches 7-10" long- maybe about 30 or so.

Start sticking them into the grapevine wreath going in one direction all the way around. Keep sticking them in among the grapevines so they are secure until you have filled out the entire wreath. It's okay if the grapevines still show here and there.

 Adding a bird's nest will make it even more "Springy". Start by finding some small egg-shaped rocks in the yard. Paint them a color you like (or have) like creamy white or robin's egg blue with craft paint. They will probably take two coats to cover.

Take some light brown paint with a little water added, put a little on a paint brush and flick it with your finger onto the rocks. You can flick other colors too.

Make bird's nests with whatever you can find in your yard or in your craft supplies- the top nesty is just a nest-shaped piece of green moss, the right nest is some natural Easter grass, the bottom nest is a flexible green vine (like ivy) wrapped around and around and secured with wire, and the left one is some raffia wound around and sewn with needle and thread so it stays in place. Set your eggs in the nest- you should hot glue them if they will be on a door or----bonk! Ouch...

 

Either hot glue or wire the nest with the glued eggs onto the grapevine wreath. If you'd like a more polished look, take some scissors and trim the stray branches so the edges are smoother, but I like it wild. To hang it on your door or a wall, take a paper clip and pull it open so it is a two-ended hook. Hook one side onto one of the grapevines and hang the other side on a nail. A boxwood wreath will stay green for a couple of months. After that, keep your grapevine wreath for a new design later.

 

Enjoy your Spring wreath- and be sure- Spring is coming----it always does, but sometimes we have to wait a little longer for it.

To see an fresh Etsy shop called "A Linnet's Wing" that features natural spring wreaths, go here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheLinnetsWing?ref=seller_info