Get into Fall with a DIY Wreath
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Fall is in the air!
Can you feel it? Here in the Midwest we have had the strangest weather this year, and I’m totally loving it! We’ve already had a handful of days that have me thinking about pumpkin bread, chai tea, and snuggly scarves. While the need for a scarf is still a month or two away, it’s never too early to decorate for fall! Try this easy and inexpensive DIY to get you in the mood for football and hoodies.
Step 1: Gather your supplies.
You’ll need:
- A few inches of raffia, twine, or yarn to tie your bow together
- Some decorative pieces (I chose a bundle of sparkly fall leaves and a little stuffed owl, both from Dollar Tree.)
- A wooden or cardboard letter for your last initial
- Approximately 16 inches of burlap wired ribbon (or whatever kind you prefer/have on hand)
- Fabric strips in your color scheme–I use whatever scraps I happen to have in my craft stash. If you buy fabric for this project I’d say you need one yard at the most. A yard of fabric varies in width depending on the bolt, but in general is between 26-60 inches wide. Since you’ll use 4-5 strips that are between 6-9″ by 20-22″ long, you should only need one yard unless you get a very narrow bolt. I also advise looking at the scrap section at your local craft store.
- Paint or accent fabric for your letter
- A wire clothes hanger and a pair of pliers
- Hot glue gun and extra glue sticks
Step 2: Shape your hanger into a circle.
First, use the pliers to untwist the wires on your hanger. Shape the wire into a circle and re-twist the wires. Don’t worry about it being perfect or pretty. It’s going to be totally covered, so just get the general shape and you’ll be good.
Step 3: Attach fabric to the wire frame.
Decide what width you want your strips. I used a lightweight fabric that doesn’t hold its shape well on its own. My strips of fabric were approximately 20-22 inches long. I recommend keeping them this size or smaller because you’ll need to roll them back on themselves to get everything glued down. My strips were about 9.5 inches wide, which for this fabric was almost too wide. I could have easily gone down a couple of inches and still had a great piece in the end. If you choose a heavier fabric such as burlap or an upholstery fabric, you can get away with going a bit wider. Fold the strip around the wire and glue the ends together. It should come out looking like this:
Step 4: Scrunch and glue the fabric around the wreath frame.
Take one end of your fabric and hot glue it to the wires where you twisted them together. Every two inches, grab your fabric, bunch it towards the first end you glued down, and glue it to the wire. It should come out looking something like this.
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Continue adding strips of fabric around your wire, bunching and gluing them to the wire. Work with one strip at a time so you don’t wind up wasting any fabric. Once you have done most of the wire, leave a space for your accent fabric, if you wish to use an accent fabric. Mine wound up covered by my decorations for the most part, but I still think it looks good there!
Now it’s time to have fun!
Step 5: Determine placement of decorative items and attach.
Gather up your decorative supplies and arrange them on your wreath until you find what you like, then glue those babies down.
You see what I mean? A lot of good my accent fabric did since I covered it up, but alas, you gotta go with the flow on these types of projects. It wasn’t all wasted, however, since I used it to cover my wooden “P.”
Step 6: Decorate your letter.
If you want to paint your letter, now is a great time. If you choose to use fabric, I achieved the shabby look by tearing strips of fabric about an inch wide and scrunching them into the hot glue as I went around the letter.
Step 7: Make the bow.
Now, let’s make that bow. Grab some burlap ribbon. It’s totally a personal preference on how big you want your bow. My piece was about 16 inches long. Fold it so that both ends meet in the middle, overlapping them slightly.
Now pinch it together and use your twine, raffia, or yarn to tie it together. I chose raffia since I had it on hand, but you could easily use another type of ribbon or yarn that coordinates.
Step 8: Make the ribbon hanger.
Eyeball the length you want your wreath to hang and hot glue a piece of burlap ribbon around it. You will probably burn your fingers. I’ve found that a Popsicle stick can be a good glue smasher to keep your hands unscathed. I applaud you if you’ve made it this far without a single hot glue burn!
Glue your bow onto the top of your burlap hanger and you’re done! See that little owl in his green hat? Isn’t he the cutest? This wreath is a great way to brighten your front door for the fall season!
This DIY wreath is so easy and cheap that you can do it for every season of the year! Now you’ve got time and money left over to bless the neighbors with some pumpkin bread!
Matthew 7:12 says:
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Who wouldn’t love a little treat from a neighbor or friend?
Or maybe you can invite over a few girlfriends to join you in this DIY wreath!
Matthew 18:20 says:
For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.
Join together with your girlfriends and have a mini devo and craft time! Chances are they need it just as much as you do!
Do you enjoy simple DIY’s?
What suggestions do you have to bless others throughout the year?
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