Winter/ Valentine's Wreath: Decorating your Front Door for the Wintertime Blues

I don't know about you, but for me it always seems like that wintry time between the holidays and springtime is just a little blue- ESPECIALLY after taking down and packing away all the lights, glitz, and glamour that is Christmastime.  And I have personally struggled for years with finding some sort of wreath for our front door that is seasonally appropriate for this wintertime stretch. 

So this was the year I decided to do something about it.  Typically, when decorating a wreath you want to choose floral that is right for the season, but that becomes a bit of a challenge in the winter. Yes, there is evergreen, but to me, that just looks like you forgot to take down your Christmas wreath.  And then there is also boxwood, but you might remember, I just did a boxwood wreath for Christmas this year, and it was definitely time for a change.  So I decided to start with a grapevine wreath instead, and here is my finished product. 

You will notice I also incorporated ivy into my wreath, just stringing it along over my grapevine. And because I wanted it to look Valentine-y without using hearts and roses, I chose deep deep red flowers for the bulk of my floral.  I added a couple of green hydrangea sprigs to break up the red a little and hint at the coming spring, and finished it with my pièce de résistance, a deep red peacock.   She is truly fantastic, and her tail feathers are so long, I couldn't even get it all in this photo.  

This wreath was super simple to make.  All supplies came from the floral section of my local craft store.  I waited until they were running a 60% off floral sale, and then stocked up.  I always arrange everything on my wreath the way I want it before I start gluing any of it down.  And I always leave the stems on my floral pretty long too.  It helps when you are working with grapevine as you can just tuck the stems directly into the wreath for extra security.  Once you have it all where you want it, secure it with hot glue (or crafting wire).  I happened to use hot glue on everything except my lovely love bird. She already had wire on her feet so they were easy to secure.  I just used an extra measure of wire around her neck to help keep her in place so she wouldn't be top heavy.  If I had been thinking more clearly at the time, I would have also added a few pearls around her neck.  She seems like the kind of girl who might like that.  

Note to self: pick up a cheap pack of pearl beads next time I am out and about. 

And voilà!  Just like that, I now have a wreath for my front door that looks wintry without looking like I accidentally left my Christmas wreath up too long, and looks Valentine-y without screaming hearts and roses. Mission accomplished!