EASY DIY – Winterberry branches for Christmas

Finished_DIY_Winterberry_Branches Vin'yet Etc.

Ever since I first saw these beauties I’ve been in love, these gorgeous little berries are called, Winterberry.

HollyBerries | Vin'yet Etc.

They add such a pop of  colour, that red = swoon! It’s especially wonderful around Christmas time… and that is why I decided that this was going to be my first project this holiday season. An easy and inexpensive way to add this beautiful pop of red to our home.

 I have wanted my own dried winterberry since forever and since I don’t have my own Winterberry bush (yet) I needed to figure out how I was going to get them into the house! I just couldn’t imagine myself buying the expensive knock offs.

I decided that I was going to make them after a swoop through the dollar store one day when I found these red decorative balls!

TaaaaDaaaaa!

DecorativeBalls | Vin'yet Etc.

Okay, so maybe a bit too much excitement for red styrofoam balls, but they are the perfect size and colour, when paired with these lovely branches…

DIY_Winterberry_Branches | Vin'yet Etc.

They are perfect!

The tutorial is rather simple… I used a photo of some real dried winterberry, the first photo in this post and basically hot glued the little “berries”, using that photo above as a guide…

I told you, simple!

*no fingers were harmed in the making of this Christmas craft*

DIY_Winterberry_Branches  Vin'yet Etc.

I was pretty pleased after just the first one.

DIYwinterberryBranch_easy | Vin'yet Etc.

Okay, so here is the low down, the total cost… $1.25! Yes you read that right! I had the branches kicking around the house and didn’t even need to step outdoors to branch hunt! This whole process took me less than an hour, cost less then 2 dollars and in my opinion look just as good as the real deal.

DIY_Winterberry_RealvsFake | Vin'yet Etc.

Finished_DIY_Winterberry_Branches  Vin'yet Etc.

I can see these beautiful branches used to make gift swags, added to a vintage vase for that special someone or alone and wrapped in cellophane with some beautiful ribbon, I know I would be thrilled to receive these lovely branches as a gift! I will be adding touches of winterberry all over our home for Christmas as decor, they will be the perfect addition to our Christmas and to the gifts we will be making this year, a little extra touch of magic.

There you have it, my kick off craft for Christmas, I hope the rest of the projects go this smoothly.  I must admit I am getting excited for Christmas and have tons of plans dancing through my head… wish me luck in getting everything done! 😉

Make sure to check out all of the wonderful handmade holiday ideas by following along at #CDNHandmadeHoliday

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51 Comments

  • Reply SheilaG @ Plum Doodles November 24, 2014 at 1:09 pm

    Your winterberry branches look great! I have bought the fake stuff and it’s the same styrofoam balls, but much more expensive. Great idea!

    • Reply Laurie November 24, 2014 at 9:14 pm

      Thanks Sheila!!! I know, i just couldn’t bring myself to shell out the money for the fakes… I’m a cheap-o! 😉

  • Reply Anne@DesignDreams November 24, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    You have more patience than I my friend! Great job and very pretty idea!

    • Reply Laurie November 24, 2014 at 9:15 pm

      HA, actually this took NO time at all, much easier than any craft I’ve ever done! 🙂 xo

  • Reply Dannyelle @ www.lifeisaparty.ca November 24, 2014 at 1:38 pm

    These are a great knock-off. So creative, and I love how they turned out…wonder if I could make them with white? Thanks for the inspiration.

    • Reply Laurie November 24, 2014 at 9:17 pm

      Hi Dannyelle, Thanks! As a matter of fact the little white Styrofoam balls are the only reason I saw the red in the first place. I was making a garland for a client and when I spotted the red I just knew I needed them. Thanks so much for stopping in!

  • Reply Virginia Fynes November 24, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    Holy turds this idea is genius!! You can’t even tell they aren’t legit!! Great idea

    • Reply Laurie November 24, 2014 at 9:19 pm

      Hi Virginia, I think I have a new favourite comment in the history of forever now! Holy turds, I must incorporate that into my daily lingo!!! LOVE it! lol Yep, genius, except I missed the fact that it was supposed to be a gift, I’m a huge dork… trying to do too much! :/ Thanks so much for taking the time to pop in with that amazing comment! <3

  • Reply Personally Andrea November 25, 2014 at 1:07 am

    Every day there’s a new reason to love the dollar store. I never buy the winterberry boughs cuz they’re so expensive! Solved!
    xo

    • Reply Laurie December 4, 2014 at 12:33 pm

      I know right! I never thought to go into the dollar store for past projects, I kick myself now. You bet that’s where I look first when I need bunches of something. 🙂 I just made some more of these beauties last night… Easy!

  • Reply dani@lifeovereasy November 25, 2014 at 4:58 am

    Well – genius! I would never have thought of doing that, but your faux winterberry looks like the real deal. And you really had me at “easy”!

  • Reply Fernanda November 25, 2014 at 10:07 am

    I loved this idea! So simple and so beautiful.. I’m totally going to give this one a try!

  • Reply Diana November 25, 2014 at 1:32 pm

    GHreat Idea ~ Gonna be making some of my own winter berries as I too do not yet own a winter berry bush ~ Thanks for sharing Laurie

  • Reply heather meads November 25, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    Oh I would never know the difference between the real ones and the fake!! Nicely done Laurie and now you’ll have some winterberry branches to decorate with every year!

  • Reply Tara November 25, 2014 at 4:11 pm

    Laurie – this is genius! I didn’t know you could do this! I’m definitely picking up some of these Dollarama balls. Wowza!

  • Reply Jen November 25, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    What a fabulous idea! I love the variation in the size of the red balls..definitely something to get excited about.

  • Reply Merry120 November 25, 2014 at 4:51 pm

    Great idea! I saw those foam balls at the dollar store too. I may need to do this.

  • Reply janet @ the ordinary life of jannybean November 26, 2014 at 1:42 am

    Wow! I love this idea. You seriously can’t tell the difference! They look amazing.

    Have your fingers healed yet? 😉

  • Reply Jo-Anna November 26, 2014 at 3:16 am

    This is such a great idea Laurie! And I’m glad you didn’t burn your fingers – glue gun burns are THE worst LOL!

  • Reply Terri November 26, 2014 at 4:35 pm

    You are so crafty, Id have every finger burnt off if I did this girl
    It is beautiful

  • Reply Cynthia @ A Button Tufted Life... November 26, 2014 at 9:30 pm

    How fantastic! What a clever idea… now, if only I had the patience you do!!
    Can’t wait to see all of your beautiful holiday decorating. I always get wonderful ideas from you!! 🙂

  • Reply Tracey Blake November 27, 2014 at 1:01 pm

    I am going to look for these, what a neat idea.
    For : Danyelle:
    I have seen a tutorial for the white and they used ends of q-tips.

    • Reply Laurie November 27, 2014 at 5:13 pm

      I have seen the q-tip idea… but these little red balls also come in white… that’s my next craft project. 🙂 Hope you find them!

  • Reply Funky Junk Interiors November 27, 2014 at 8:29 pm

    Absolutely unreal and amazing!!! I want to do this!

  • Reply Melissa November 27, 2014 at 9:01 pm

    LOVE THIS!!!!! I’ve always loved this look but like you said, the branches are so expensive!! I bet white birch branches would look lovely too!! Thank you for sharing this craft. PINNED!!!

  • Reply Ersatz November 27, 2014 at 9:07 pm

    Did I miss where you purchased the red balls?

    • Reply Laurie November 28, 2014 at 1:59 pm

      Hi there, I purchased the red balls at the dollar store. The one I go to is called Dollarama. 🙂

  • Reply Crystal @ Sew Creative November 27, 2014 at 10:17 pm

    Those are so pretty! I thought that they were real. What a lovely idea.

  • Reply Susan November 28, 2014 at 2:52 am

    You are brilliant… these are beautiful!

    • Reply Laurie November 28, 2014 at 3:59 pm

      Thanks so much Susan! xo

  • Reply wanda j November 28, 2014 at 11:32 am

    I would like to get email updates from you but I can’t join your eamil updates. It says that emails updates aren’t embeded.. Which I think means it won’t work. You might need to check it out by someone at your end.

    • Reply Laurie November 28, 2014 at 3:59 pm

      Thanks Wanda, I’ll look into that. Appreciate you letting me know. 🙂

  • Reply Brandy @ The Prudent Homemaker November 28, 2014 at 1:12 pm

    I love this! I wanted some too and couldn’t find any that looked like the real deal–and the ones I found were $7 a stem.

    At which dollar store did you find this? Dollar Tree, 99 cent only store, or another?I’ve found that not all stores carry the same things and I’d love to only use gas going to the right store 🙂 Please share; I really want to make these right away!

    • Reply Laurie November 28, 2014 at 3:58 pm

      Hi Brandy, the dollar store I went to was called Dollarama. We live in Kingston, Ontario. I sure hope you can find one in your area? Good luck! 🙂

      • Reply Brandy @ The Prudent Homemaker November 28, 2014 at 5:08 pm

        Thank you for sharing! I’m in the states, but I will look for these! I have wanted some for years and I never see any that look real; yours do!

  • Reply Karen @ The Decorated Nest November 28, 2014 at 1:30 pm

    Laurie, they look great–those buggers are expensive! Thanks for saving me some $! Im doing this too!

    • Reply Laurie November 28, 2014 at 3:57 pm

      Cool Karen, let me know how you make out. They are very expensive, that’s exactly why when I saw these little balls the light bulb went off.

  • Reply Emily Land November 28, 2014 at 2:49 pm

    I love the look of this! Think if you sprayed it with spray adhesive and dipped in epsom salt it would look iced? I’ve been looking at the faux iced branches but it would be hideously expensive for the amount I want. I want to go looking for these little styrofoam balls, but it’s black Friday and I hate crowds…but I want these branches…but I hate crowds…

    • Reply Laurie November 28, 2014 at 3:55 pm

      Hi Emily! I’m not sure about the epsom salts, I know that they do pretty much everything so maybe give it a whirl? 🙂 I hear ya, the crowds would be intense for sure. I’d be curious to hear back if your idea works. I know they also sell sparkly snow in craft/dollar stores, that might be an option too?

  • Reply Emily Land November 28, 2014 at 4:38 pm

    Husband is out in the woods doing his hunting thing and I’ll be left home alone (well, with kids, dogs and cats) to experiment! If you don’t hear back, you’ll know it didn’t work out so well.

  • Reply Just Judy November 29, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    Very creative idea and love cheap too! Thanks for sharing! Like Emily’s idea about epsom salt. Never heard of using but worth a try. That would look good on pine cones too. I sprinkle glitter on pine cones but use mod podge for the glue. I tried the adhesive spray before and it stays sticky in the spots where the glitter does not stick and then it collects the dust.Happy decorating!

  • Reply Jen @ Go Green November 30, 2014 at 1:09 am

    Oh my goodness you have so much patience!

  • Reply Amy @ StowandTellU December 1, 2014 at 3:33 am

    Winterberries are just about one of my favorite Winter things. Something about the red and rustic, lol. Your’s look so real. I’m gonna be on the look out for some of those red styro foam balls because i want to make these!! Sharing ;D

  • Reply Christina @The DIY Mommy December 1, 2014 at 9:24 pm

    What a fantastic idea! They turned out so beautiful and realistic looking. Pinned!

  • Reply Annette December 9, 2014 at 8:27 pm

    Lovely, how long did it take to glue all those little balls on?? Looks tedious, but very cute!

    • Reply Laurie December 10, 2014 at 12:45 pm

      Hahaha Annette, that is the beauty of this project, I am a very impatient person, instant gratification kind of stuff… it looks tedious, but is not. This took me less than an hour, place a bit of glue on the branch and stick a ball on… easy and fast. Thanks, I love the way it turned out.

  • Reply diane Welihan November 16, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    Am I the on person who is unable to locatballse the red foam balls

    • Reply Laurie November 17, 2015 at 6:58 am

      Hi Diane,
      I am so sorry you are not able to find these red styrofoam balls… are you in Canada? That is where I get them, at my local dollar store here in Ontario, it’s called the Dollarama. Here is a link to it, maybe you can have a look on their web site and see if they can ship them or have your local dollar store order them in? http://www.dollarama.com/

  • Reply Angie @ Knick of Time November 16, 2015 at 11:39 pm

    These turned out amazing, Laurie! I don’t know how you kept from getting hot glue everywhere (like I would have), but I’m impressed!

    • Reply Laurie November 17, 2015 at 7:01 am

      Hahaha Angie, it’s such a funny thing, me and the glue gun, I can work on fussy little things and be clean as a whistle and give me something bigger and I have glue every where… my husband doesn’t like when I try to do the caulking for a project, it’s like it has a mind of it’s own. 😉 Thank-you, I am glad you think they turned out good, I still have the ones I did last year tough little buggers. 🙂

  • Reply A. November 8, 2017 at 3:42 am

    You did a phenomenal job! Yours looks just as nice as the real thing. But yours will last a lot longer. You truly are an artist!

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