DIY Magnolia Wreath!

So, I have been longingly looking at magnolia wreaths for a little while now, but my wallet has not been nearly as excited about the decor trend. I just cannot justify the price tag, no matter how beautiful they might be. And, if Eric ever found out that I bought one? He would die. #literally

So, when I was driving around a couple of weeks ago and spotted a huge magnolia branch in a neighbor's yard (courtesy of Hurricane Matthew), a light bulb went off! A quick Pinterest search of how to preserve the leaves left me with one of two options - glycerin or mod podge. Due to the fact that I have a 2-year-old and a 9-month-old, the quickest and easiest way in any situation is always the best option. So, mod podge it was!

I painted the backs of the leaves first and let them dry (on a discarded box of wipes from Sam's #becauseimclassy); and then I started on the front of the leaves. Don't be fooled - this was a process that spanned a couple of days - see previous comment about two littles, But this entire project really could be done in a day, for all you over-achievers ;)

I already had a large wire wreath in the closet, so I grabbed it and got to work assembling the leaves. To get a nice, full effect, I taped the leaves together in threes. Here is a truly horrible picture to show you what I mean.

Go ahead and tape most of the leaves, but make sure to leave some singles so that you can fill in any empty spaces once you're finished.

Again, going with the easiest route, I started taping the leaves to my wire wreath. I did hot glue in some areas as well, but for the most part, I was all about the tape! I started at one end and just went around in a circle. After I had filled up the circle, I started looking for areas that looked empty or just uneven. At this point, I used the glue gun because there were so many leaves, that there wasn't a lot of space to wrap tape around the wire.

I will say that my leaves turned a more muted color - I am not sure if that is because I went the easy route of mod podge as opposed to preserving them with glycerin. I really love the muted color and am much happier than when they were bright green at first.

Only time will tell if the leaves stay their current color of if they turn anymore (I really hope not), but right now, I am LOVING the way the wreath turned out. And I didn't have to spend a penny! I can't wait to hang it in the new house (which we are supposed to close on this Friday!).

Linking up for Tuesday Talk today.