Not Your Grandmother’s Wreath: A Tutorial

I hate wreaths.  There. I said it.  They remind me of old ladies.  Since I’ve been introduced to Pinterest, I’ve seen some that I actually -dare I say it- like! I’ve seen some pretty cool D-I-Y wreaths while surfing the net and I sort of filed the idea away in the “I’ll make it someday” category in my brain.  Plus I bought a styrofoam circle a few months back just in case the mood struck 😉

Today was the day.  We were having guests over for dinner, I bought some new stuff for our bathroom and the blank wall behind the toilet was driving me  crazy for quite some time.  I bought a shelf a while back, but the way that the lights are in that room, any type of shelf created too harsh of a shadow.  So I decided to make a quick wreath.  Go figure.

Here’s how I did it:

I started with the styrofoam circle that was stuffed in the craft room closet.

I opened the drawer to my hoarding station, AKA my craft desk, and pulled out a spool of jute twine.

I tacked the jute to the styrofoam

I used styrofoam glue because I was nervous that hot glue wouldn’t work at first, but I’m sure it would be okay after making it. 

I spread the glue about a quarter of the way around the circle with my finger and only on the back side of it. I did 1/4 of the circle just in case the glue dried too quickly.

I wrapped the jute around and around…

Glue another 1/4 and keep wrapping

Repeat gluing & wrapping until it’s covered.

Now you’ve got an earthy yet sleek & streamlined base for your wreath. 

Now comes the fun part.  Jazz it up with whatever you like!  Buttons or bottle caps would look quirky & home-made, fake lemons would look cool in a kitchen, feathers would add some oomph, but I had some satin flowers lying around from a failed Finding Silver Linings Boutique project that I dreamed up (see the projects that made the cut  here).

I hot glued it on

What have you D-I-Yed lately? Do you love wreaths?  Do they remind you of old ladies?  I want to know all about it.