Inspirations by D: DIY Advent Wreath

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Hello, I hope that you had a lovely Thanksgiving.

Today I want to share with you this year's Advent wreath.

Advent begins this Sunday, and each year I share with you the process of how I made my wreath so that you may be inspired to make your own.

"Customarily the Advent Wreath is constructed of a circle of evergreen branches into which are inserted four candles (Advent candles). According to tradition, three of the candles are violet and the fourth one is a rose. However, four violet or white candles (Advent Candles) may also be used".

The rose candle is lit the third Sunday of Advent, for this color anticipates and symbolizes the Christmas joy announced in the first word of the Entrance Antiphon: "Rejoice" (Latin, Gaudete). For this reason, the Third Sunday is also called Gaudete Sunday.

Last year I used natural elements for our Advent Wreath.

In past posts, I have mentioned that I use whatever

I have on hand at the moment, so with that said

here are the supplies that I used for today's wreath.

Supplies

Four to five artificial pine needle branches
Deer moss
Floral wire
Scissors
A decorative branch
Candle base
Four Advent candles

1 . The first thing I did was to tie each branch to the other using the
floral wire and bend each one to form a circle. I adjusted the diameter of my wreath so that it could fit around my candle holder. The branches are made of wire, so it was not difficult to form them into a circle.

2. I then added the large candle base to the center of the wreath.

3. Next, I placed the deer moss on the top of the candle holder to give
coverage to leave some space for the four candles.

4. After adding the moss, I placed the candles around the base.

5. The last step was to add my decorative piece, the pine cones, and log branch.
That's it, create a wreath and then just put everything else into place.

For past Advent Wreaths, click here, here and here.

There you have it, our Advent Wreath this year.
Happy Advent!
Do you have Advent candles this year?

Last month, I purchased a set of votive candles, made out of pure beeswax and I fell in love
with them. The candles have a sweet, natural fragrance of honey and they burn beautifully.
It inspired me to use natural elements for our advent wreath this year, by incorporating natural evergreens and 100% beeswax candles. It was difficult searching for the colors that I wanted in beeswax because I wanted to use the traditional purple and rose colors for my candles.

I decided to make my first set of candles. The colors of the candles were perfect, and their
size was just what I needed for my advent wreath. My son, who also loves to create, was fascinated by the process of candle making. My method was messy and unsafe for him to
melt wax, so through a wonderful blogger, I found a  Beeswax Advent Taper Candle Making Kit.
I purchased a kit and followed the instructions to make the candles. My son had a blast with
his dad making these lovely tapered candles.

There are several kits online, but the kit that we chose for this project was the Advent Candle Kit. I won’t go into details on how they made the candles because the set includes instructions. You may catch a glimpse of the process below on the images labeled (A-D).

In the end, we chose to use the candles that my son made for the Advent Wreath,
he was so proud of them and how could I say no? What you see here are the candles
made by my son and his dad. I guess mine shall be put away until next year.

In the past years, I have shared a couple of my Advent Wreaths on this blog. I have had different varieties of advent wreaths, but today I will share my favorite thus far.
The wreath itself still needs a little work, but my son helped me make it.
It doesn’t have to be perfect, to be beautiful.

Advent Candle Kit

When the boys completed the beeswax candles, I selected three narrow floral foams that I had on hand. It is preferable to use one whole piece, but that is what I had at the time. I connected the foam with skewer sticks. Then, I cut out the corners of the foam to round it out a bit. I placed a Nativity for decoration purposes on the center of the foam & measured equal distances where the candles were to be inserted. I cut out the holes. I placed the figure back into the center and inserted the candles in their place.

I poured water on the foam, to prepare it for the greenery that I was going to insert. When the foam was evenly saturated with the water, we began inserting the pine leaves in the foam at an angle to form the wreath. We covered every area, to make sure that the foam was not visible.

We keep the foam saturated, by spraying water every other day to keep the leaves green. We love how our wreath turned out.

Below you will find a list of the materials that I used for this project. Thank you for stopping by and hope that you enjoy your season. Do you have an advent wreath this year?