Simple and pretty Advent / Christmas Wreath Latvian style

I felt like making something cute and Christmasy this past Sunday ^^

I've been told that advent wreaths are a catholic tradition in many countries, but in Latvia everyone pretty much just gets them, regardless of their religious beliefs. They look so cute, and besides, Latvians are obsessed with candles, especially during autumn and winter months =)

We did not have any materials at home, nor any possibility to visit a florist shop, so decided to just go for a stroll in the park and just around the neighbourhood, and this is the loot we came up with:
 

Picked up all kinds of beautiful natural materials: a few small Christmas tree branches, some dried flowers from the road side, as well as super cute red and white berries on tried out stems!

Got home all giddy and ready to make something cute out of it.






 I don't have any florist training whatsoever, and did not also have special cables or fastenings to hold the branches together, so did what I usually do: just use what I've got and Keep It Simple!


We took a large flat cookie tray to use as a base (because I realized it will not be sturdy enough to move around much). Than I selected 2 of the skinniest branches and folded them together, forming a makeshift circle. They are tied together with a simple brown knitting yarn ^^

I then proceeded to lay the remaining 5 branches around my circle along with the red berries and some of the dried flowers. I used simple black thread to tie them together loosely.

I also found some golden ribbons I made last year for our Christmas tree and attached them to the wreath using short metallic attachments from old tree decorations.





Since I did not want to go all fancy and try to make candle holders placeable on the wreath itself, I put a simple brown ceramic bowl inside it, with the bottom side up. Four simple tea candles went on top of it. Voila, our beautiful wreath was ready to look all pretty and festive on our dinner table ^^

We also used a simple vine and the white berries to make a cute little wreath to hang on the entrance door :) This one literally took 5 minutes to make (and half an hour to figure out how to hang it >.<) and looks soooo pretty on the door!

Have a beautiful and peaceful Christmas time,

/Mel