Easy & Free DIY Magnolia Wreath
How to make an easy DIY magnolia wreath with fresh leaves. Beautiful modern farmhouse, boho, wedding, Thanksgiving, Christmas decorations!
We love our DIY fresh magnolia wreath! Can you believe it is so easy to make, and it is basically free? This DIY magnolia wreath happened in a totally spontaneous way: I was taking a walk and saw a tree-trimming guy putting some magnolia branches on the curb.
Two minutes later, I walked by a cardboard box by the recycle bin. And a light bulb came on: maybe I will try to make a wreath using the magnolia leaves and the cardboard ?!?
So, what do you think? Doesn’t this magnolia wreath look elegant and stylish on the front door, especially considering it is free, and unplanned? 🙂
The other thing I like about it is that this beautiful wreath would be lovely not only for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but also for any time of the year!
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Table of Contents
Check out the easy video and or skip to written tutorial below!
Step 1: Gather some fresh magnolia leaves.
Fresh magnolia leaves or dried leaves are both great. I painted some of the magnolia leaves gold and some silver, using Decoart 24K Gold Americana Decor Metallics paint and Decoart Stesilver Americana Decor Metallics paint, I love these paints! Thank you Decoart for the gifts!
I made a big magnolia wreath, which measures 24″ across. For a wreath this size you will need about 100 magnolia leaves. It sounds like a lot, but it is very easy to collect this many under a big tree!
Some of you might be wondering “How long does a magnolia leaves wreath stay green?” If they are out of direct sun, magnolia leaves will age to a gorgeous light olive green, then turning to brown a couple of months later.
You can preserve magnolia leaves by soaking them in a solution of 1 part vegetable glycerin and 2 parts water for 3-5 days, then let dry in shade before use.
Step 2: Cut cardboard form for your magnolia wreath
Our front door is protected from the rain. If your magnolia door wreath is exposed to the rain, use a grapevine wreath form, or foam wreath form instead of the cardboard to make this wreath more weatherproof.
You can also make a grapevine or honeysuckle wreath form easily as shown in this tutorial!
Draw two concentric circles on the cardboard. Overlap the cardboard if it’s not big enough.
I used an 18″ bowl for the outer circle, and a 12″ bowl for the inner circle. You don’t have to use these dimensions, the key is that the cardboard section should be about 2-3″ wide.
Cut out the cardboard ring shape. Make sections of the ring and glue them together if your cardboard piece is not big enough.
Make 2-3 cardboard rings. Overlap and glue them together for extra strength.
UPDATE: we like the cardboard ring idea so much that we made some easy and beautiful kitchen cabinet wreaths for Christmas too! Tutorial here!
Step 3: Glue magnolia leaves onto the cardboard wreath form
Take a hot glue gun and use hot glue to attach the stem of the magnolia leaves to the cardboard wreath form.
Arrange the leaves in a fan shape. Alternate the green leaves with the painted leaves, and make them dense enough to cover the glued stems and cardboard.
When you reach the end of the circle, carefully glue the last few leaves so they are tucked under the first ones.
This magnolia leaf wreath would look beautiful hanging on a panel of reclaimed wood or any colored front door or interior doors! All you need is a door wreath hanger like this one, and some strings tied to the cardboard at the back.
Now we have a fresh magnolia leaf wreath to decorate our door for Christmas and Thanksgiving! This wreath lasted for quite a few week in the cool weather outside.
I really like the painted silver and gold magnolia leaves. They look modern and glam on a magnolia Christmas wreath, they are also beautiful among fall and Thanksgiving decor with golden colors. Next time I will make a magnolia garland like this!
We have some more beautiful decorating ideas using magnolia leaves in our Thanksgiving table decor ideas here!
If you love DIY wreaths, you would love this hack on how to make wreaths using a dry cleaner’s hanger!
A couple more favorite ideas on decorating with nature’s elements: 24 Stunning pots for winter and Christmas decorations! No plants? Use cuttings!
Make a beautiful and long-lasting centerpiece in 10 minutes!
Happy creating! See you next week!
Love it, but have a minor problem – no magnolias in my neighborhood (central AZ), or in the county as far as I know. Or any other kind of suitable leaves. (Cactus spines and spruce sprigs don’t count.) Can you buy some, and if so, where? I would really love to do this, any ideas will be appreciated.
hi Pat! any leathery leaves will work! maybe there are some large leaf ficus / Rubber trees? 🙂
Don’t have magnolia leaves, either, but made my own and fall leaves from cardboard and painted. Friends and family thought real leaves…Look outside the box….enjoy!
What a beautiful wreath! I love these ideas! Off to collect leaves 🙂
I made several wreaths last year, recuperating from foot surgery. I made the leaves and painted with acrylic paints. Most of friends and family cannot believe they are not real leaves. Didn’t have to buy a thing, as had some old wreaths and embroidery hoops plus the cardboard..Think and do is my middle name.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of Magnolia leaves here in East Texas…HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024 to all and let’s pray for Peace and Tranquility…
thank you for sharing Emma! there might be some other big leathery leaf trees that you can find 🙂 happy 2024!!
Gorgeous! Need your help: somewhere along the line I missed the part telling me what to do with the smaller inner circle-could you review? Thank you for bringing us all of your delightfulness!
hi Barb! sorry the comment got lost somehow! you would glue the inner circle of leaves to cover the inner edge of the cardboard ring. hope that helps! 🙂
Putting this wreath together is an easy project for my seniors. I’m going to do several projets with them. Hanging of two wreaths was ingenious and so much nicer than the hanging bar. Thank you all for your comments.
Made this today and it took about 3 hours, start to finish. I found that I had to hold the stem in the glue until it was mostly dry or the lead would bend out of the wet glue. I didn’t paint of the leaves because I didn’t have any and didn’t care enough to go get some. We have a command strip with hook on our door already so I was able to hang it up immediately! Thanks for sharing this fantastic and free diy!!
We just made this magnolia leaf wreath, it turn out so gorgeous, thank you so much!!
Love this wreath. I’d like to share a little tip if I may. Some people don’t like to use those hangers over the door as they sometimes leave a dent, so I usually make 2 wreaths and join them with a longer piece of string so that one wreath hangs on the outside and one hangs on the inside. They balance each other and the string leaves no mark even on Upvc doors.
oh i love this idea Chris! will try it and credit you! 🙂 thank you so much for sharing!!
I made this wreath out of leaves from the dwarf magnolia tree in our yard. We soaked the branches in a solution of glycerin and water for a couple of days and the leaves have stayed beautiful for a month now. Your tutorial and written instructions were fabulous. This was a fun project for an evening and will be our winter wreath this year. Thank you so much!
thank you so much anita! happy new year!:)
This magnolia wreath is beautiful. I saw this post last year and admired it so this year I will actually try it. Can this wreath be preserved for next year if I treat the leaves as you suggest?
hi kathleen, i found that magnolia leaves hold their shape even without preserving. you could save it for next year as it dries, i would tuck in some fresh green leaves because they do turn brown. 🙂
Hi! I’m preserving leaves and making these as Christmas gifts this year. Do you have any idea how many leaves you painted per wreath? Also, have you tried preserving them yourself? Curious how long they will last
Gorgeous wreath..and other wreaths on your site…and everything else I’ve looked at today. The pine cones, the packing tape labels, the newspaper wreath…just gorgeous way of doing things with all these things that usually get thrown away or are simply from nature. I seriously can’t decide which of these is my favorite today. They are all just perfect! So many ideas coming to mind as I’ve browsed through the last 3-4 hours..lol!
oh shirley, thank you SO much for your sweet comment! so happy we share the love of crafting! 🙂
Absolutely lovely ideas,great job thanks for sharing
It looks great! How long have the leaves lasted after only soaking them for 3-5 days? I had heard longer soaking would be necessary but if I can get away with 3-5 days I would be thrilled!
hi summer, mine lasted for over a month without glycerin, in shade.
i may try it this year and see! =)
What a fun idea! Thank you for sharing!! I guess I won’t buy Christmas wreath this year. There is a magnolia tree in my neighborhood.
ananda – this magnolia wreath was an accidental and happy find and it has left me DIY inspired! So beautiful and resourceful, thank you. I live in Colorado and have so much natural beauty to draw from – I’m going to hunt for materials today, I may not have a magnolia, but I’m going to make a wreath using the bounty from our other beautiful trees on our property. Thank you, again.
Great blog! Glad I found you, (I originally searched for paper art and shadow boxes) I’ll be back for more art and craft inspiration!
hi barbara! thank you so much for your sweet comment! great to have you here! happy crafting! =)
I really love the Magnolia Wreath. It’s stunning and so natural. Great idea. Thank you very much for sharing.
thank you ashika! happy creating! =)
Your magnolia wreath is gorgeous – doesn’t need another thing added to make it “fancy.” The leaves speak for themselves and the little gold and silver you added just makes it sparkle! I just make a boxwood wreath from freah, preserved boxwood. Hope it holds up well.
thank you so much barb! did you preserve the boxwood with glycerin? 🙂
I really love the Magnolia Wreath! It is beautiful and I would like that for my door. It looks easy enough to make for me!
This is a genius idea, and I especially love the different colors, and the metallic is a great touch. I love natural decor, but never get around to doing much of my own. I’ve been inspired – sometimes, the best things to use are those unnoticed and cast-off things. Way to turn trash into an absolute treasure.
I absolutely love the metallic wreath! It’s so easy to make! I can’t believe it’s simply a cardboard backing! LOVE!
I love these ideas! I can’t wait to try making the wreath.
Oh my gosh how clever is this?! This seriously looks so chic and who knew it was so easy!
Your magnolia wreath looks fantastic! Cheaper than the ones from the store too. You make it look super easy 🙂