Christmas Evergreen Front Door Swag

This year our front entrance is showing some swagger for the holidays.  Instead of a wreath, I made a large swag with evergreens cut from around my garden then adorned it with ribbons, pine cones, pheasant feathers, ornaments in gold and burgundy and even some jingle bells.  I love the scent of fresh greens to greet one and all at the holidays.  Take a look at how it came together.

To create a swag, I cut 4 to 5 varieties of evergreens to the desired length and width and bundled them with some florist wire from the top.  I selected greens with different textures that offered subtle variations in color and dimension that could cascade down the door.   I chose white pine, cryptomeria, gold varigated holly, fern leaf cypress and Leland cypress.  I secured 5 pheasant feathers with the greens.  Odd numbers always look best.   On the back I used another length of wire to create a hook to hang the swag securely.   I found it easiest to hang the greens at this point then work to adorn the swag while it was hanging in place.  The greens are abundant and unfussy, left in their natural state and they fill almost all the width of our front door.

  Then came the fun part.  First, I tied a big striped burgundy and gold French ribbon bow with smaller gold ribbon cascading down from it.  I then looped wire around 3 pine cones and tied them onto some of the greens.  I fastened a big gold glitter sphere ornament under the bow, off center, also with florist wire for some sparkle and bling and balanced that with smaller sprays of gold berries to the left.  As I worked, I stepped back to look at the swag from a distance and assessed how much more I needed to add to it.

Almost there, but not quite done.

For a touch of whimsy,  I nestled a small glittery bird ornament in the top folds of the bow.  For a note of seasonal cheer, I looped 2 brass jingle bells to complete this Christmas swag.

The rest of our front porch is decked out in complimentary colors and the same natural elements are carried throughout.

  Merry Christmas!