Christmas Wreath & Mantle Decor

Back in the Fall and Halloween, I had a Fall'ish-looking-colored painting hanging over the kitchen fireplace. But when I took it down for Christmas decorating, I didn't have anything readily to hang in it's place.
I decided I needed a wreath, but I didn't already have a Christmas wreath (oddly), and I didn't want to buy one. So, I needed to make one.

I asked J to cut me some Pine limbs when he was in the woods deer hunting (oddly also, we don't have any Pines in our yard), but both the two times he went hunting after that, he got a deer and forgot to get my limbs.
But it worked out okay because we had to take some limbs off the bottom of our Christmas tree anyway.

First I bent a clothes hanger into a circle....ish. I used a small, pants hanger, so my wreath came out smaller than I intended.

I never made a wreath before, so I read some websites and blogs.
Basically I grouped about three branches together and tied it on the hanger with twine, then added another bunch of branches on top of the first bunch but a few inches lower...
Sorry, I'm terrible at giving instructions on this.

Also sorry for no pictures during the making, I was trying to hold onto the hanger, branches, and twine, and attempting to avoid getting my hands poked to death.

But here's my first wreath creation. Not too awful bad, I don't think.

And here it is hanging over the mantle.

I may add some ribbon or ornaments or something to dress it up a little more.