Make This: DIY Cranberry Crown + Wreath for the Holidays

These last two weeks have been DIY-heavy behind the scenes, with lots of fun little projects to get you through the holidays. I’ve been attempting to cram everything in before I head up to North Carolina at the end of next week, to play in the snow for a few days. But as hard as I try, I can’t get the mountains and the (very real) possibility of a white Christmas out of my head. Hey, I never get snow here in Florida so it’s pretty special for me.

So when Bing challenged me to try out their Smart Search , I was all over it – checking out things to do in Asheville and looking for snowy inspiration. But since I still had DIYs on the brain, I had ulterior motives of finding project inspiration for last minute holiday DIYs as well.

Surprisingly, after very little search time, I came up with an idea for today’s how to project, which is one part DIY head crown and one part DIY door wreath”¦ 

The process: Using Bing’s  Smart Search  for snowy inspiration, I found an image of holly berries that felt very Christmas-y to me (red and green pretty much do the trick). So I looked up winter holly berries and quickly found relevant info from web sites that I love (like Etsy, Pinterest, and DIY sites) along with lots and lots of photos.

If you haven’t used it yet,  Smart Search  brings in relevant content not just from the web, but also your device, apps, and the cloud, all in one search. Which is super helpful when you need to find something quickly. I am almost embarrassed to admit how much time I have spent in the past researching materials/ projects and searching for images.

After gathering my inspiration, and seeing a couple of wreaths that incorporated boxwoods and berries, I grabbed the closest thing to holly berries that I could find (cranberries), and put them to work for today’s DIY. I wanted something super minimal. So I skipped the greenery and played around with materials until I got the design down.

Ready to make your own cranberry crown + wreath? Here’s how…

Materials:

1. one bag of cranberries (the best cranberries to use for this are hard – not gushy)
2. wire (you want something that’s bendable but sturdy)
3. wire cutters
4. ribbon

How-To:

1. Start by measuring and cutting a piece of wire. I just wrapped the wire around my head and added 4 additional inches to that measurement before cutting. You’ll need the extra inches for securing the ends later.
2. Then, start poking cranberries through the wire on one end, and moving them down as you go.
3. Continue this process until the majority of your wire is covered (you want to leave about 2 extra inches on each end without cranberries on it for the next step).
4. Next, twist the ends of the wire together several times to secure it. Cut off the excess wire that sticks out.
5. Add a ribbon and you are done.

Use the finished piece as a head crown, for a holiday party / Christmas dinner OR hang it on the wall (or your front door) as a festively minimal holiday wreath. And be sure to make a couple of small ones too, for good measure. Everything is always better in mini form anyway, right?

I swear, ANYONE can make one of these, even if you don’t have a crafty bone in your body. The hardest part is deciding whether you want to use it as a wreath or a head crown. Decisions, decisions.

So just for fun, if you could only pick one, which would it be? The wreath…

OR the crown”¦

Either way, if this doesn’t put you in the mood for the holidays, I don’t know what will. It’s like your stringing cranberry garlands for the Christmas tree, only this time, you’re the tree.

Photography by Sarah Eddy // Concept and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff

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