Apple Wreath

A couple of years ago, my DH and I were shopping and found an amazing apple wreath at Anthropologie.  We had been looking for a wreath to put above the fireplace for a long time and were excited that we finally found one we both liked.  We were excited for about a total of 20 seconds.  Then we looked at the price tag.  $200!  For a wreath!  No freaking way! I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I didn't.  I did however have an image of it in my mind and I was obsessed with it.  I decided that if I was going to get an apple wreath, I was going to have to make my own.

I went to the local craft store to buy supplies and had my hopes crushed again!  Have you seen the prices of fake fruit?  Ridiculous!  It would cost almost as much to make one as it would to buy one.  I had truly given up hope of having an apple wreath that I thought was affordable. 

Then one day, my DD and I were shopping in a local thrift store and I found a bag of beautiful fake apples for only $1.99.  I knew right then and there that I could have my wreath, I only had to be patient in my quest to find apples.  Well, the quest took about 2 years.  I don't live by any thrift stores; it's a good 45 minute drive to the closest one, so whenever I was near one I would stop and look for apples.  The good news is that I found them on almost every trip!  Once I had enough apples, I made this gorgeous wreath.  I hope you like it and the steps to make it!

First you have to find the apples.  Like I mentioned above, I collected mine at thrift stores.  The only downfall with this method is that you wind up with quite the variety but I think it worked out well for my wreath.

 Next, gather your other supplies to make the wreath.  You will need:

• 2 Styrofoam wreaths, one 14" and one 12"
• Moss
• Glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Spray adhesive
• Floral picks
• Needle nose pliers

I have never made a wreath using fake fruit before so I did some online research first.  My inspiration wreath came from Michaels and you can see it here:
http://www.michaels.com/A-Berry-Apple-Wreath/e08387,default,pd.html?cgid=projects

I decided to use the double wreath forms because I wanted some volume in my final product.  Using the glue gun, attach the 12" wreath to the 14" wreath. 

Now for the fun and messy part, adding the moss!  Do small sections at a time and use the spray adhesive to glue the moss to the wreath forms.  Don't worry too much if you have a lot of scraggly moss, the apples will cover most of it up.  You can skip this step too if you want but I don't want to be able to see the green foam in between the apples.

Once you have the moss on, it's time to start adding apples!  You could just glue the apples on but I wanted some added security to make sure the apples didn't fall off.  Look at the bottom of your apples and you will see they have plugs.  Some of them you can pull out, others you may need to use the needle nose pliers to get out. 

Remove the plugs and insert a floral pick.  You don't need the thin wire that is on the pics so you can remove it or just not worry about it.   I put the wire end into the apple so that the pointy end would go into the wreath form.

I did have one type of apple (second row from the center) that was too dense to get a floral pick into so I just glued those on.  So far, I haven't had any issues with them falling off and it's been almost a year since I made this wreath.

After you insert the wire pick, put some hot glue on the bottom of the apple to firmly secure it.  I found it easier to prep all my apples first.  That gave the glue plenty of time to dry and then when you are done, you can just add the apples.  I did wind up cutting off all the wire once the glue had dried.

It's time to add the apples to the wreath!  Gently push an apple into the foam.  You can add another little bit of hot glue if you want.  I found that I didn't really need to.  There were a few apples that seemed to fit looser in the foam and I did hot glue those but for the most part it wasn't needed.

Continue adding apples until your wreath is covered.  My DH likes things very symmetrical so I just did even rounds.  You might want to mix it up though and add your apples in a different pattern or just go really random.

This is the final product.  Pretty awesome if I do say so myself! 

We used a large Scotch Self Adhesive Hook to hang it on the wall and it hangs perfectly.  I did not have to add any ribbon or anything else to the back to hang it.  It's just hanging from the wreath form itself. 

I hope you like this as much as I do.  Affordable apples are out there, if you are willing to search them out like I did.  Now I'm gathering other fake fruits for more wreaths and would like to make a green apple wreath but those seem so much harder to find.  Oh well, the hunt continues!