DIY: Making a wreath for Double Doors

This Christmas I finally decorated the house (somewhat).  Garlands, front door wreath, candles etc.  Had Nick put these 3m anchors on the front door to put up the Xmas wreaths.  It looked lovely.  Then came January…then February….and finally took down the wreath (yes 2 months later).   And that’s when I started looking at 3 plastic hooks on my front door.  x 2.  I have a double door.  the 3m held up so well that pulling it off likely will peel the paint and be more of a pain.  Plus I’ll need it back come Christmas time as I really like the look of having the wreath.  That’s when I started going on Pinterest (most dangerous app ever – full of inspirations and late night scrollings).  Via Pinterest, I came across How To Mom blog, who made a wreath for $15 vs the $50+ ones I see in stores that I don’t even like.  what a great idea and thrifty too!  It’s arts & craft time! I forget sometimes how much I love it.

Cost of 2 wreaths all from Michael’s (I love that store!):

Grapevine Wreath $4.99 @40% off x 2 + tax = $6.76

4 bunches of plastic flowers (on average $2.5 after using 40% discount + tax) = $11.3

2 burlap ribbon 2 1/2″ x 3 yd on sale at $3.99 on sale + tax = $9

So my total was $27.06. or $13.53 Cdn each. Score!

To be fair though, I had many of the other necessary supplies, so no extra cost there (floral wire, wire cutters, hot glue)

I didn’t time myself – but it definitely didn’t take long.  And it was enjoyable time as well.

I started with the ribbon first.  I ended up making a double layer ribbon out of the fact that Michael’s ran out of the original white burlap design and 1 spindle of ribbon wasn’t enough, and instead of driving to another Michael’s, I just chose another colour.  Laziness turned out in my favour as I really liked the effect of the double layer colouring.

2 strips of 50″ of white burlap

2 strips of 20″ of blue burlap

left over strip of 4″ white burlap

fold over in a criss cross, making sure the length of the ends are equal.  Do the white longer strip first, then lay the shorter blue strip over.  Scrunch in the middle with fingers, and then secure it with the wire (or twist tie if you are using)

Fold the short 4″ in half. As I’m a bit picky, I folded the jagged edge and hot glued it down so that both edges are folded and crisp.  Lay it over the middle of the ribbon, covering the wire.  Hot glue it closed.

Then I cut out individual branches off the flower bunches.  I bought 4 different kinds: one main yellow flower, 2 wheat looking grassy thing (that’s as descriptive as I can be on flowers), and one small hydrangea looking bunch.  I picked these as I found them to be pleasing when put together.  And i like the colour yellow and white.  Each bunch had about 8 flower stems, so I cut it all off so that I can arrange it individually on the wreath.  I decided I didn’t want to cover the entire wreath, as I like the rustic look of the grapevine itself.  (plus it was cheaper to just buy 4 bunches which was enough to make 2 wreaths)!

I laid the flowers on the wreath and arranging it to my liking so I know approximately where to secure.  One stem at a time, weave the end of the stem into the grapevine, and then using the floral wire, secure it in the shape and angle that works for the design.  I struggled with the wire at first as I couldn’t get the wire tight enough and secure enough.  Then I figured out an easier way.  This may be intuitive to many arts & crafters, but i’m a bit slow and getting back into it!  Cut a short wire strip (about 3 or 4″), and then create a U shape with it – like a hair pin.  Then put the U through the flower stem and one or 2 of the grapevines, and push through the other side.  grab the 2 ends that comes through on the other side and tighten and twist to secure.

That’s about it, and then final piece is to hot glue the ribbon on the wreath.  If I was to redo it, I would make the wire in the ribbon longer so that I can secure it without the hot glue.  C’est la vie.

I’m very happy with how it turned out, and immediately went to put it in the front door.  What do you think?!