Homemade wreath

It's DONE! WOOOOO!!

For the past few days, I've been working like crazy on this new wreath. I knew I needed one but since the hubby and I are visiting family for Christmas, there was no point buying a live wreath. I decided instead to just make one. I'd been struggling to figure out what to make for my front door when I happened across this post from Home Made. Her idea gave spark to mine and this is the happy result. Click the link to see the tutorial for making your own!

 So this project takes a little time but is super cheap. I actually used items I had around the house and so for me the cost was $0 but even if you need to spend some money, you can easily make this under $5.

Things you'll need:

Sheet music - I got mine for free from here. Just print some out, you won't need too much. 

Cardboard - Mine was an old wine box that I cut up. You can get these free from grocery stores, just ask.

Glass jems - I had some on hand but you can get them for $1 at the Dollar Store

Ribbon - Again, had it on hand but you can get it from the Dollar Store

Scissors

Hot glue

Craft glue

Glitter

Acrylic Sealer - The most expensive thing you have to buy here but if you use a 40% off coupon at Michael's, you can get this for about $2.50. 

Your supplies.

Ok, so step 1 is to cut our form out of cardboard. I used plates to get my circles. Grab a big one for the outer ring and a small dessert plate for the middle.

Here's my wreath form all cut out.

Then I folded up my sheets of printed out music and cut leaf shapes out. I wasn't worried about uniformity. I kind of like the alternating shapes. 

To create a fuller look since paper lays flat, I curled each leaf using the edge of some scissors. I also found just rolling them around the pencil also worked.

Starting at the bottom, I began layering the leaves up along the form. I attached each one with a dab of craft glue. You could use hotglue, I suppose, but I found craft glue let me re-position them if I needed to.

Once I got to the top, I went back and glued leaves to the opposite side of the wreath, working the leaves in the opposite direction. This created a nice flow. This is the wreath with all the leaves added.

I wanted to create a frosted ice/snow look so I took the wreath outside and put it on a layer of wax paper. I find that makes it easier to peel off later. I sprayed it with Krylon Clear Glaze (my sealer) and then sprinkled sugar over it while still wet. I let it dry a bit and then sprayed it again to seal the sugar in. It still wasn't doing it for me though so....

GLITTER!!

Heh. What's Christmas without sparkle, huh? I had some body glitter around the house which was super fine and extra shiny. While the sealer was still wet, I hit it with the glitter...I may have gone overboard. 

Nah. 

After letting it dry overnight, I brought it in and pulled out some old glass jems I'd been using in my spring decorations. I loved the blues so I snuck in a few of them here and there, tucking them into the wreath and gluing them in place with the hot glue gun. 

I had some blue ribbon from the dollar store that was so lovely. It has wire in the edges which helped hold it's shape. I whipped up a quick bow and wrapped some floral wire around it to hold in place. You can just tie it in the middle with what you have on hand. 

I glued the bow onto the wreath and added some more floral wire just to secure it. It's hidden beneath the bow pretty well. And voila! That's it! Simple, right? But I love the way this looks on my door!

Love those blue jems.

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