The festive season seemed to sneak up on me this year - overnight the red cups popped out and Christmas lights were switched on, but my own festive feelings had yet to catch up with the rest of the world.

Until Saturday just gone, when together with my mother-in-law and bestie, we wrapped ourselves up and set off in search of a magical workshop to rival Santa's!

Lily & May are an award-winning florist - just check out their fabulous instagram - who happen to run all sorts of wonderful classes in Essex, just up the road from me! Tucked away in between quietly winding roads and whispering trees, Claire and Jo welcomed six of us to their cabin to create some festive wreaths.

I was a bit nervous going in as my own DIY skills never amounted to much - as a child I used to make advent wreaths with my granny, pinching foliage from the neighbours and liberally sticking it into an oasis ring, but that was the extent of my experience - so when Claire handed us each a simple brass ring I couldn't for the life of me visualise how I was meant to turn it into a gorgeous, elaborate wreath! But we were shown how to wrap moss around the ring, padding it out with spruce (which smelled so Christmassy!), then adding a whole host of decorative flourishes to make each wreath truly personalised and perfect.






And I have to say, I'm quite proud of my gold-themed creation! I chose to add some spiky leaves (I forget the name of the tree...), with ferns dotted around the outside to give it a wild, natural look; then I added (real!) gold apples, pine cones, rosehip, cinnamon to make it smell gorgeous, and finished it off with some sparkly ribbon. You can spray it with glitter as well, or add in your own decorations at any time.







The workshop was such a lovely experience - we spent 3 hours working on our wreaths, lights twinkling around us, Christmas music playing in the background, and a much-welcomed break for tea and cake halfway through! We left feeling so festive and happy with our creations - despite not having a proper front door to put mine on (I live in a flat and these wreaths are just too heavy to hang on an adhesive hook) I've placed it above my balcony door where it adds the perfect Christmassy touch to our living room.

The whole thing cost £55 but you can reuse the moss wreath - just remove your decorations and let it dry out somewhere warm, then spritz with water when you're ready to create a new wreath - perfect! Lily & May do spring workshops too - I actually think these would be brilliant for a birthday or a hen party with a twist, as the classes are so much fun and quite relaxing!

Love Dani
xoxo