Fall DIY: 6 Easy Steps To Make A Dried Magnolia Wreath

This post may include affiliate links in which we earn a commission, as we are supported by our users. All opinions expressed are always our own and any commissions earned are of no cost to you. Thanks for your support!

I absolutely love fall. I love the décor, the weather, the food, the clothes…. There is pretty much nothing I dislike about the fall season, except for the fact that it does not always agree with my wallet. With so many beautiful heirloom pumpkins, paper napkins, seasonal goodies and new accessories, I soon find that my spending is reaching its limit. As this happens, I lean into my nana’s trusty old saying of “do with whatcha got” to repurpose items already on hand and give them another life. Typically, I actually find that some of my most creative moments are when my resources are limited as it causes me to think outside the box. This fall DIY came about in this same context, but now is a décor piece I love. If you are wanting to have a quick, easy and inexpensive fall décor project, then I hope these next 6 steps to making a dried magnolia wreath will inspire you to try one yourself.

Can you make a wreath out of dried magnolia leaves?

Yes! While I absolutely love fresh magnolia wreaths and garlands, there is also such beauty to leaves that have already seen one season. For this particular project, I had saved fresh magnolia leaves from a winter arrangement, thinking that I might use them for a future project. As winter is long past, and in fact is about to come again, the leaves dried naturally until they were a variety of golden brown and sage tones. I love the color variety, so I included some of the leaves with the sage front facing, some with the velvety brown backs showing and some painted gold for visual interest. Do note that you will need to be more careful working with dried leaves to prevent them from cracking, but once assembled, they hold up quite nicely. Just hang your wreath inside to keep the dried leaves looking their best for months to come.

How many magnolia leaves make a wreath?

For a similar wreath to mine, which spans about 20-22” on a 12” wire wreath form, I would recommend having about 50-75 dried magnolia leaves of varying sizes on hand. This wreath is not as full as a typical fresh wreath would be as you can’t press dried leaves together as closely without cracking them, so 50-75 leaves should be plenty. I do recommend having a couple of extra available in the event that a leaf does crack during the wreath creation process.

Supplies

12” wire wreath form – I reused a form I had from making a holiday evergreen wreath similar to THIS ONE in the past
Snips
Gold Leaf Rub’n Buff
Wire
Dried Magnolia Leaves
Paper Towels
Hot Glue
Ribbon

Step 1

When making your dried magnolia wreath, first lay out all of your supplies on a flat surface with plenty of working space.

Step 2

Sort your dried magnolia leaves into 3 categories for how you want to use them in your wreath. I sorted mine into piles of leaves I wanted for their sage green fronts, leaves I wanted to use for their velvety brown backs and leaves I wanted to buff gold.

Step 3

Place the pile of leaves that you want to buff gold to the side. Starting with one leaf, apply the gold leaf Rub‘n Buff by using your fingers or a paper towel (I highly recommend to prevent staining your hands gold) to lightly smooth out the gold. Use gentle pressure to prevent cracking the leaf. Once the front is covered, set the leaf aside and repeat until the entire pile of leaves set aside are gold.

Step 4

After your leaves are gold, use the wire and hot glue to make little bundles of leaves. Each bundle should include a sage, brown and gold leaf. I wrapped the stems together and would hot glue each piece to make sure there was a secure hold.

Fall DIY: 6 Easy Steps To Make A Dried Magnolia Wreath

Step 5

Using the wire, attach each leaf bundle to the wire form. If need be, hot glue any loose portions to ensure the wreath is steady.

Step 6

Step back from your wreath to ensure you don’t need to add any small leaves to fill gaps. Attach a ribbon around the wire form and viola, you are finished!

Final Thoughts

Creating this fall DIY project was such an easy way to add in festive seasonal cheer without breaking the bank. Many of these items you might already have on hand and can make the project for free, but even if not, it certainly can come together for under $15, which is amazing for a gorgeous dried magnolia leaf wreath. Magnolia wreaths are so versatile that the investment in a quick project can help provide décor for months to come. Change out the ribbon and you can easily keep this wreath up during Christmas and even into the New Year. Natural sage, brown and gold are tones, that in my opinion, never go out of style, and perfectly compliment the cozy feel of fall and winter.

Happy creating!