Festive & Bright Holiday Wall Hanging

‘Tis the season…All eyes are on holiday decor.

2020 was one heck of a year, so I’m going big on holiday spirit and decor. We’ve started decorating the outside of our house with faux greenery and lights. I wanted to create a really intriguing centerpiece inside my home (until it’s time for the tree) so I updated my kitchen wall hanging. If you’re curious about how to create the foundation of the wall hanging, check out my how-to, here.

Fun fact: Citruses are winter fruits! That’s why so many interior decorators are using them in this year’s holiday decor. It’s also a great way to bring something colorful and vibrant into the home, aside from the standard holiday tree adorned with red and green. If you’d like to make your own holiday wall hanging, follow along with me.

Things You’ll Need:

- Citrus (I used 3 Red Grapefruits)
- Pine cuttings
- 10-inch rings or embroidery hoops
- Twine
- Scissors
- Hot Glue & Hot Glue Gun
- Skewer
- Optional: Dehydrator
- For wall hanging materials, see here.

Dried Citrus

To maximize your fruits, you will want to slice these thin so you can get 4-5 sliced from each fruit. The quickest way to dry is using and oven or dehydrator. Bake for 5-6 hours at 250°F or place in your dehydrator for 5-6 hours. The fruit slices should be wilted, dried, and turning a brown-ish color. If you don’t have access to a dehydrator or oven, you can place them outside to dry in the sun but this can take significantly longer.

Wreaths

My parents have a lot of cypress pine trees growing in the woods behind their backyard. I went our there with some shears and started cutting. Once I felt I had enough, I washed all the pine clippings with a hose and left them to dry in the sun for a couple of hours.

Building the wreaths was pretty straight forward. I was able to finish them while the citrus was still drying. I used a 10-inch metal ring and two 10-inch embroidery hoops to finish 3 wreaths. Taking the clippings, I hot glued the stems to the hoops, holding the clippings until the glue was completely dry. You want to make sure that all your clippings are facing the same direction and layered to cover bare stems.

Hanging the Wreaths

I tied cotton twine in a loop around the tops of my wreaths and attached them to the twine hanging from the wall hanging. I made sure to stagger them to create visual interest. Not one wreath sits on the same linear plane as another. I also left the excess twine so that I could reposition my wreaths after hanging the citrus banner. Once you are committed to your placement you can cut those off.

Stringing the Citrus

When the grapefruit slices were mostly dried out, I started stringing them onto the twine. Please be aware that there still may be some juice left in the slices – this is normal. I knotted one end of the twine and poked 2 holes in each slice, with a skewer. I pushed the twine knot through both holes to allow the slices to lay “flat” on the twine string (see image below).

Once I had enough slices on my twine, I tied it though the last eyelet screw, on the right, to create a banner effect over the wreaths. My holiday wall hanging used eight grapefruit slices in total. You can also dress up the wreaths with a centered fruit slice(s). If you have any left over dried slices, consider making single ornaments to hang around the house or on your tree!

This holiday wall hanging is my favorite thing in the house right now. It might also be my favorite holiday decor to date. I look at it all the time because it feels so festive and refreshing. It’s crazy how a simple piece of decor like this can cost next to nothing and get you excited for the holidays. It’s perfect for Thanksgiving and can last through the rest of the holiday season.