How beautiful is this unconventional wreath to add to your holiday decor!

I've formed a bit of an obsession with stars this year; and knew I wanted to create an eye catching wreath for our front door. I am so happy with how this turned out as I have never seen one in stores or anywhere and did not really have any guidelines to follow.

We spend a lot of time outdoors and love finding ways to incorporate nature into our everyday lives. Why not bring what makes us happy indoors!

Check out my step by step instructions on how to create your very own rustic wreath.

Step 1: Gather Your Tools

These are the tools I used over my entire project:

• Mini Hand saw
• Pruners
• Measure tape
• Pencil
• Screws 6 x 2" long
• Power drill
• Drill bits (size
• Screw bits for coordinating screws
• Hot glue gun & 5 hot glue sticks
• Twine or hemp rope
• Decorations of choice
• Wreath door hanger
• Thin wire for hanging strength

• 5 Branches 1- 1.5 inches in diametre by 15 inches in length

Step 2: Gather Your Wood

Put on that plaid shirt, grab your axe (or hand saw) and find that perfect branch!

The wood that I used was approximately 1-1.5 inches in diameter. I used a couple different species of trees because I am making more than one, but you could just use one to minimize the amount of trees you are cutting.

You are going to need five pieces that are fairly straight and 15 inches in length (or whichever length you desire). Use your pruners to remove any small twigs that are on the branch that you chose.

NOTE ** We have property just outside of town where these trees came from. Just a warning -- please don't head over to your neighbours yard and start cutting down his trees without permission! You can use branches/trees that are already fallen down for a more rustic/weathered look.

Step 3: Cut Your Log Pieces to Length

Using your measure tape, mark your branch into 15 inch sections.

You will need five pieces of equal length.

Using your hand saw, start by gently sawing around the entire branch before cutting straight through. Creating a 'pre-cut' around the branch will eliminate part of the branch from stripping/peeling when you get to the end.

Now, compare your pieces to ensure they are all the same length.

Step 4: Determine Arrangement

Now you are going to want to arrange your pieces into a star shape that you approve of.

Notice how the outside triangles are not equal sizes in the first photograph?

I kept rearanging my pieces until each outside triangle was pretty close to being equal. I also measured from the tip of the point to where the branch meets the pentagon in the middle. Each of these measurements were within 1/2 inch of each other.

You may want to take a photo, so that you know which order you would like your pieces in when it comes to screwing them together.

Step 5: Start Screwing!

Grab a partner and start screwing!

Ha ha..

No really.. you are going to want four hands for this step..

I attempted to do this step alone, and only ended in frustration before my lovely boyfriend came to the rescue.

Before we get to the screwing part, we are going to need to pre-drill some holes to guide the screws in and avoid having the wood split.

1) Starting with one of the star's 'points', you are going to want one person to hold the two pieces steady on the angle you want while the other person drills in a pilot hole through the first branch, into the second but not going through the second.

You will also want to make sure that your holes are consistent, in the sense that you want all of the screws entering on the same side of the star (so this will be the backside of the star where you will not see any screw-heads).

2) Now 'screw the screw' (pardon my terrible tool-talk) to attach the two branches together. Do not over tighten these as you may need some wiggle room as you attach all of your pieces together.

*Repeat these two steps for each of the five points on the star.

When all of my pieces were attached, I wiggled my star around a little to make each of the outside triangles as equal as possible.

I also added an extra screw to one of the middle pieces to make it extra sturdy.

Step 6: Time to Decorate!

This is the fun part! You can COMPLETELY customize this to whatever colour scheme you'd like! I used:

- Thick twine (A ball that was in our craft box) $0

- Christmas wired garland $3 at Walmart (I mean I found this in my driveway.. I only really enjoy shopping at Target ;))

- Burlap wired trim $5 at Fabricland

- Gold sparkly fake pine ornament $1 at Walmart

- Hot glue gun

* Some other ideas: You can add battery powered tiny light bulbs for a twinkly nighttime look, some fresh Pine or Cedar bows, pine cones, christmas ball ornaments etc.

I wrapped the thick twine around the 'cross points' of the star to give it the look that it was 'tied' together. I secured each end of the twine to the backside of the star (side with the visible screw heads) with my hot glue gun to ensure it wasn't going anywhere! (these things are awesome.. seriously go buy one)

I created my bow by taking approximately 15 inches of the sparkly garland and creating a tri-fold and securing it by hot-glueing a piece of the wired burlap to it with the two tails hanging down. Because this was wired, I could manipulate it so it had the twirly look. If you need more explanation on the bow-making, please leave me a comment and I will create a video of how its made.

Use your glue gun to secure your bow and decorations to the star.

Step 7: Finishing Touches

In order to hang my star, I drilled a small hole through the two branches at the top of the star so I could feed some thin wire through and looped it about two times.

I then secured the end of the wire by twisting it and hot glueing it to the star, and covering it up with some more of the thick twine. I also added a couple extra loops of the twine to hide the wire (when really the wire is doing all of the heavy lifting).

Find a location to show off your beautiful new wreath and hang it on one of those over the door wreath hangers.

Step 8: Need a Quick Gift Idea?

Here is an inexpensive and quick mini star project to give as gifts this year!

I used the leftover twigs and made mini stars. It was also much easier as I just used a hot glue gun instead of screwing them together.

Each piece measured 15cm long.

Add a finishing touch of bows, pine bows, sparkly things or other ornaments to customize.