A Holiday Evergreen Wreath Alternative
How to make an alternative to a Christmas wreath or door hanging with a tree trunk slice and evergreen branches. These evergreen snowflake shaped natural holiday decorations can be made any size – large or small depending on the size of your front door, window or interior wall space.
When it comes to Christmas decorations, evergreen wreaths are a holiday season classic that never go out of style, but if you want to see something a little different, consider hanging what I call a DIY evergreen wreath alternative that kind of looks like evergreen snowflakes when assembled.
Once I made one of these natural decorations, I wanted to make more to give as gifts.
I found the inspiration to make one on Pinterest last year and finally got around to making one, although a bit differently. The one I found on Pinterest above is simply a slice of a small evergreen tree with added pine cones – it truly is the perfect natural Christmas decoration.
I couldn’t find a small tree to slice, so I opted for the next best and even easier way to make the evergreen snowflakes… using DIY Christmas greenery in the way of faux evergreen branches and wood slices from the ends of birch fireplace wood to make my semi-natural Christmas decor.
Above, I tried to get a decent photo showing how pretty they can look like ornaments hanging in a window.
How to Make a Hanging Evergreen Snowflake
I made my evergreen snowflakes to be 12″ in diameter using two different size trunk slices – 3″ and 2″.
You can also make them larger to fit the size of your door or smaller to make Christmas tree ornaments.
I found these pine sprigs at Hobby Lobby for $1.50 a piece. I needed 4 as each sprig had 3 pine branches that I cut off. I kept the wood leaves and Merry Christmas tag on the sprigs to use to embellish the gifts I wrap this year.
supplies needed:
- Tree trunk slice, thick tree branch slice or slice from the end of a piece of birch firewood – any size diameter x 1″ thick. Cut your own or buy at a craft store.
- Evergreen branches – fresh greenery or faux. Choose the length of each sprig/branch by how large you want the overall size of the wreath alternative to be.
- Drill and drill bit the same size as the evergreen sprig/branch stem.
- Small eye hook
- Ribbon, twine or string
- Scissors
- Pencil
Time needed: 30 minutes.
Tutorial: How to Make a Natural Evergreen Snowflake Hanging Decoration
- Gather Tree Trunk Slices
You can gather the natural elements needed from your backyard or buy the wood slices and evergreen sprigs at the craft store.
I cut my tree trunk slices from birch firewood I had, but you can use any species of tree and make the wood center any diameter you want to make your evergreen snowflake.
Cut the round wood so it is about 1″ in thickness.
- Mark Placement of Pine Branches
Cut pine branches to the length you want for the overall diameter of the snowflake. I cut mine approx. 6″ long and used 5 to go around the wood slice.
Arrange the cut evergreen sprigs around the wood slice so they are evenly spaced. Use a pencil to make a small mark where the end of each sprig will go.
- Drill Holes in Side of Wood Slice
Using a small drill bit, drill holes around the wood slice in line with the pencil marks you made on the top of the wood slice.
- Place Branches Into Drilled Holes
Push the end of a sprig/branch into a hole. It should fit snug. If not, you can add a little hot glue into the hole.
- Repeat to Attach All Branches
Attach the rest of the branches following the steps above until you have them all attached.
- Attach Eye Hook
To easily hang the evergreen snowflake, screw an eye hook into the side between two sprigs/branches.
- Hang with Ribbon
Cut ribbon to desired length. Thread ribbon through eye hook and make a knot.
Optional: Make a bow with ribbon and attach using a dot of hot glue or a premade glue dot.
Now that I made two of the snowflakes, I would like to make a few more to hang as natural Christmas ornaments along the top of my kitchen window.
I think they would look perfect to go with the rest of the natural materials I have used to decorate my house for Christmas this year.
The only embellishment I added was red velvet ribbon, but you could attach cranberries, dried berries, holly, pinecones or anything you like to the snowflakes to fit your decorating style with hot glue.
Another Use for the Evergreen Wreath Alternative
The evergreen snowflakes can be used as Christmas table decorations:
- When making these Christmas decorations, you can skip adding the eye hook and ribbon to hang. The snowflakes can be used as a table centerpiece where you can set one or more candles on the center tree trunk slice.
- Make a few in the same size and line up in the center of a table to make a festive table runner.
More Christmas Decorating Ideas
Don’t miss browsing all my Christmas Ideas from decorating, cookie making, gift wrapping ideas and more.
