How to Create A Natural Christmas Evergreen Swag

I love decorating my house with all the things from outside. In the Fall I did it for my Fall Home Tour, and I did it all Spring and Summer long. When I shared  my dining room makeover, for the late Summer table setting, and my  raw-wood bookcase makeover  just to name a few. I simply can’t get enough of creation and I want it in my house ALL the time! That being said, there are certainly pros and cons.

Smell

I have so many reasons I love bringing the outdoors in. But one of my favorite parts about decorating this way is because I love the way nature smells!! Almost everything I bring in my house all year long has a wonderful smell. Lilacs. Peonies. Hydrangeas. Even the Golden Rod has a pure earthy smell that feels like Fall. So let’s not forget the smell of evergreen! It’s so good companies have tried to bottle it up and sell it in the form of air fresheners, candles, and cleaning products.

Authentic Look

No matter how good a faux bloom or arrangement looks, there is simply something to the way things grow wild and free in nature. They don’t have perfect coloring or perfect shapes. The plants don’t follow the rules of what a beautiful bloom or tree is. They simply grow. Now that I think about it, maybe the real deal is more perfect than the faux version because of these little “imperfections”?! I love it!

This Spring I took a picture of lilacs and one branch that was doing its own thing. I thought about clipping it off but decided against it. It felt more like the rest of my home décor, the way it seemed to say, “Sure I know how you think I should be growing, but I wanted to have fun.”

The Needle MessEver since I started using real evergreen stems in my Christmas décor I’ve really only found one downside. They can make a pretty big needle mess as they dry out. It seems like every time they get bumped or the door gets shut too hard a few more needles fall to the floor. It can be a huge bother to be constantly cleaning up the needles. But I’ve found a few ways to help keep the needle mess to a minimum.

BoxwoodTo solve this issue, I decided to create a few of my real evergreen décor pieces with boxwood. It’s kind of a long story between me and the boxwood bush, but in the end, I think it is happier and I am much happier for the haircut it received haha! I found out from my sister-in-law’s wedding that boxwood seems to hold together better than more traditional/Christmas evergreens. So when I used real evergreens in the house I used boxwood as the foundation of the swag, or wreath. Then I added in the spruce and fir varieties to give it a traditional Christmas appearance without all the needles.Don’t TouchI know this sounds so silly. But it’s true. If you can get fresh clippings and begin creating all your Christmas evergreen décor before they dry out the piece of décor will hold up much better than you’d think. But to be warned, if you use ALL traditional Christmas varieties of evergreens you will need to have a trash bag right beside you when you are ready to take Christmas down and pack it away. Again, this is another reason to find an evergreen like the boxwood that holds together better.

Evergreen clippings

Faux evergreen stems

Floral wire

Wire Cutters

Pliers

Ribbon

(I added vintage bells, but this is optional)

Step 1First, you need to collect clippings of evergreens and but them in little clusters. (I found mine in my neighbors burn pile and at the family farm) Also, Do you ever have pieces of your faux garland fall off sometime between packing it up last year and the pulling it out this year? Happens to me constantly! Don’t throw those pieces little pieces out! Go ahead and collect all of the faux evergreen pieces at the bottom of your tote too.

Begin making clusters of a few clipping of the mixture of evergreens you have. I used my boxwood for the majority of it because as we discussed I was annoyed by all the pine needles everywhere. Once your cluster looks the way you want twist wire around the stems to secure them together.

After you have enough clusters to create a swag the length you need, begin connecting the clusters to one another. Make sure when you attach one cluster to another that you do it in such a way that you will not see the second cluster stems. Again, I used floral wire to secure one cluster to the next.Step 4Repeat step 4 until you have an evergreen swag the length you want

Next attach the swag to the location you are wanting to decorate and begin adding the ribbon, bells or any other Christmas decorations you’d like.(When I added the bells, I didn’t actually attach them to the swag. I tied the bells onto another piece of spring and simply draped them in front of the evergreen swag.

If you want to create a garland you can repeat the same process over and over again to make the swag longer. It’s truly that simple! I also did some little evergreen swags in the dining room. I love how they turned out. For this I just created small clusters and then hung them from the herb drying rack. The options are truly endless for evergreen swags. Small, Medium or Large! They are such a beautiful and natural way to decorate for Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by! Don’t forget to follow along on Pinterst, Facebook, and Instagram! Have a great week! XoXoOpen Your Doors,Aliya