DIY: Making Fresh Greenery Swags & Garlands

Fresh Greenery Swags 

Holiday Swag 

A bunch of fresh fresh greenery held together with a rubber band or some floral wire, a red bow and some pinecones hot glued or wired to the stems makes a simple and elegant Christmas statement.

1. Cut several branches, staggering the lengths, especially if you have a variety of greens.

2. Rubber band the stems together with thick rubber bands. Using lightweight floral wire, make a hanging loop.

3. Add ribbons, bells, pinecones etc. using floral wire or hot glue.

Running Swag or Arch 

Add the fragrant perfume of Christmas greens to a hallway or room by running a fresh swag made from pine boughs or redwood branches around a doorway.

1. Cut several 18"-20" evenly shaped branches or boughs of greenery. Wire them together.

2. Loosely wrap them with shiny ribbon.

3. Screw in cup hooks at the top corners of the door.  

4. Make hanging loops for the swag using floral wire.

5. Put berry garlands around the ribbon.

Swags can be hung on a wall, placed on a mantle, draped over a headboard or used to decorate a table. A swag is a shorter, more compact version of a garland.

Mantelpiece Swag 

The mantel is a natural place for candles and greenery. Mix fresh, silks and dried floral material together and add some candles and you have a recipe for a fragrant, long lasting fireplace swag.

1. You will need a 4" wide strip of wood that reaches the length of your fireplace mantle. Hot glue floral foam along the length of the wood.

2. Secure candles by using candle cupsOr you can make your own by gluing two foam prongs together, base to base, insert one set into the foam and the other into the candle. Use different size candles for a more dramatic look..

3. Run two pieces of ivy garland down the front of the foam. Allow them to droop over the ends.

4. Build up the center of the swag with more evergreen branches. Extend the branches to either end. Fill in the sparse areas with greenery picks of variegated ivy. Which you can make easily by taking wired wood picks and attaching pieces of the ivy garland.

5. Group several different botanicals such as gold curly pods and a few pine cones around the center candles. Attach pine cones and botanicals to the arrangement by using green wired wood picks. Extend smaller groups out each side.

6. Cut the stems of your silk flowers to 7" long. Use a large size white bloom such as Silk gardenias, mums or hydrangea'sand place the flowers throughout the arrangement.

7. To finish the arrangement put a few drops of a pine or evergreen fragrance oilon the silk flowers so you have the fragrant perfume of Christmas.

Floral Foam Swag

You can make this floral foam form using wood, cardboard etc.

1. Cut a block of foamlengthwise into quarters and hot glue three pieces, end to end, to a 2" wide, 27" long strip of wood, foam core or cardboard. Save the remaining piece of foam for another project.

2. Make a hook out of floral wireand hot glue it to the backing material.

3. Glue a 2" wide strip of ribbon down the back of the base to cover the mechanics.

4. Make a simple 4" wide bow with 6" to 8" tails, and hot glue it to the top of the swag.

5. Fill the foamusing greenery picksor 6" pieces of foliage from sprays or garlands. Add flowers, pine cones, pods and seed heads throughout the leaves.