HOW TO MAKE AN EASTER WREATH

YOU WILL NEED

An oasis wreath base (Amazon has a good selection)

Some fresh moss bought from a florist or garden centre

A selection of spring flowers (narcissi, paper whites, mimosa and pastel-coloured carnations look pretty), with the stems cut to about 5cm

Dark green floristry wire

A selection of white plastic eggs (Deborah uses plastic eggs on sticks bought from Amazon)

Some 1cm-wide ribbon

Acrylic paint

Nail varnish

An old bowl

1

Begin by decorating the eggs. Deborah paints the eggs using the acrylic paint (here, she has used mainly yellow and teal), and leaves them to dry.

2

Fill a bowl with water and then drizzle a selection of three or four different colours of nail varnish into it. Take a toothpick and swirl it in the water to create a feathery effect. Then – holding the egg by its stick – dip each egg into the water; the swirled nail varnish will then coat each egg, leaving an attractive marbled effect. Leave the eggs to dry (you can balance the sticks on the rim of a glass) – this should take about 10 minutes.

3

Thoroughly soak the oasis base in water by submerging it in a sink for at least 10 minutes.

4

Make up five small bunches of spring flowers – you only need about three stems per bunch. Then nestle each bunch into the oasis.

5

When the eggs are dry, assemble them into five bunches of three eggs each – it’s a decorating maxim that an odd number always looks better than an even number. Then place the clutches of eggs at regular intervals around the wreath – simply snap off the wooden sticks to a length of about 5cm and dig them into the oasis close to each group of flowers.

6

Tie the end of the floristry wire to the back of the wreath base. Place handfuls of moss over any bare patches on the wreath and wrap the floristry wire around it to hold it in place. When you have finished, cut the floristry wire and tie in the end of it to the back of the wreath.

7

Take three of the pieces of stick that you have snapped off the eggs, and tie a bow around each one using the ribbon. Dig the sticks into the oasis at regular intervals. Leave the tails of the bows quite long if you’re planning to hang the wreath on your front door, so that they drape down (you could also use the wreath as a centrepiece on the table, in which case keep the tails shorter).

TIP

When you take the wreath down after Easter, you can remove the fresh flowers and moss and wrap and put away the wreath base, eggs and ribbons to be employed again next year.

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