Easy Holiday Crafts: Make a Beautiful Holiday Wreath

I used to make gift baskets some years back. I think that homemade gifts are a nice touch during these commercialized times - they show the receiver that you took the time to make something especially for him or her. This is a nice gift that I would give to a family to hang on their front door. Though I'm making it for the Holidays, you can really use different filler material and decorations, and adapt it for any occasion.

HOLIDAY WREATH

Materials:

Hot glue gun
Glue sticks
12" x 12" sturdy piece of cardboard
Dinner plate
Soup bowl
Marker
Sharp scissors or utility knife
Small roll of yarn
12" piece of twine or heavy string
Armful of evergreenery of your choosing (real or the fake stuff)
Large Ribbon with bow
Cheap hair spray (like Aquanet)
Optional: Fake 'berries' (the kind that we always see with holly), pine scented spray, spray-can fake snow (all of this can be found at your local artsy fartsy store, like Joanne's, Michael's or Hobby Lobby)

Directions:

The first thing to do is to trace your dinner plate into the center of your cardboard. Then, trace the soup bowl directly in the center of your dinner plate circle - it will look like you've drawn a doughnut or a tire. Using your scissors or utility knife, carefully cut out the dinner plate circle and then the soup bowl circle.

Use 12" of twine (or double up your yarn - just remember that it will need to be strong enough to bear the weight of your finished wreath) to loop and tie into a knot - threading through the middle of your cardboard doughnut. This will be used to hang your wreath.

Take the loose end your yarn and tie it securely, as tight as you can, to your cardboard doughnut. Be careful not to bend or crease the cardboard as you do this. Then, thread the yarn through the center of the doughnut and continue to wrap it around the cardboard, tightly, until you can't see any of the cardboard. The yarn will overlap to get good coverage of the cardboard. It may not be picture perfect, but like my old drill instructor used to say, "UBE - ugly buy effective!" You will now have a yarn doughnut. Cut and tie off the end of the yarn, and if you don't think your knot is tight enough, use the hot glue gun to dab the end of the yarn to keep it in place on your doughnut.

Pick a side of your doughnut to work on. Take each branch of evergreen material and thread it through the yarn. Work the greenery into the yarn, all the way around the doughnut, filling in the spaces until it's nice and full. Use the got glue as needed to keep any loose branches in place.

If you chose real evergreen, spray your wreath greenery generously with hair spray. This will help prevent pine needles from falling when they dry out. We all know how messy they can be!

If you opted for the fake spray-can snow, apply it at this time.

Using your hot glue gun, dab hot glue on the back of your bow, and place strategically onto your wreath. Make sure to locate your twine for hanging so that the bow doesn't wind up upside-down or in a spot where you didn't mean it to be - hot glue can be very unforgiving!

After placing you bow, if you opted for the berries, this would be the time to place them on your wreath using the hot glue gun.

Your last step is to spray it with the pine scent, and hang your wreath using the twine loop in the back. Your Holiday wreath is now complete!

Big wreaths look great on the front door, smaller ones are better indoors, on lamp posts, railings or apartment doors. You may fall in love with your wreath and want to keep the first one for yourself! The more you make them, the more embellishments and variations you will think of - the possibilities are endless!