Make it Monday: 4th of July Boxwood Wreath

Hello friends! Happy Monday! I hope you had a wonderful weekend and a great Father’s Day. I celebrated with Chelsea’s family with time at the park and a delicious fajita lunch. It was relaxing and lovely. I also spent part of my weekend crafting, per usual. 😉

I have long admired boxwood wreaths, but I haven’t admired the pricetag. So, since we have several (and by several, I mean like 30!) boxwood bushes in our front yard, I decided I could try to make my own! It turned out to be incredibly easy and quick, so I’m excited to share the details with you today!

First step was to trim my boxwood bushes. I used pruning shears to trim all the bushes, and put the cut pieces into a bundle to sit for a few hours to fully dry (and hopefully get all the bugs off). Check out that cute little photobomber, who happily joined me outside while I was pruning. 🙂

boxwood

Just in case you’re unfamiliar, those are boxwoods that line our sidewalk. Thankfully, they were super full, so my desire to make this wreath came at the perfect time.

Once they were good and dry, I brought them inside and gathered the rest of my supplies. Here’s what I used:

A repurposed wreath frame (I pulled previously used decorations off of it to add the boxwoods – I knew this would be the perfect use of a repurpopsed wreath because any leftover hot glue would be covered by the branches).
Boxwood branches
Patriotic ribbon and flags
Hot glue

Once everything was gathered and my hot glue gun was hot, it was time to start crafting. Side note: if I was going to do this project over again, I would probably put down a tarp or do it in my garage, because I still ended up with a few bugs in my house (ick!).

I started by gluing boxwood branches to the outside perimeter of the wreath, then added in the next row working my way toward the center.

It was honestly so simple! If a branch was too big, I just broke it apart to make it the perfect size, tucked it into the branches of the wreath, and added hot glue to secure it.

There were several unused pieces that ended up in my yard waste bin, and if, as time passes, I decide that it looks light in certain places, I can just give one of the boxwood bushes a quick trim, and add where I need to!

Once I was pleased with the fullness of the wreath, I added in my American flags (from Michael’s). Then I tied my patriotic ribbon (also from Michael’s) into a simple bow to complete the look I was going for. Once it was totally done, I used my pruning sheers once more to trim off a few of the extra long boxwood branches.

All in all, with trimming the bushes and everything, the wreath took about 2 hours. I’m really happy with how the wreath turned out, and even more happy to know how simple this is for future wreaths!

boxwood 4