Christmas Wreaths

I have been on a wreath kick the last couple of years.   When our front door isn't decorated, the house looks naked to me!  It started with buying wreaths.  I bought one or two.  They are SO expensive!!  So then I decided to make one, but the ready-made supplies for that weren't much cheaper.  The first one I made was just a plain evergreen wreath that I stuck store-bought pinecones-and-berries-on-sticks into.  Later, I made another one for indoors that I added lights to.  They are nice, but nothing spectacular.
Last year I made this one with the TONS of pinecones my kids had gathered from outside.

I just couldn't let them go to waste.  I didn't get around to making it until January, when I was totally sick of Christmas decorations.  I was also totally sick of wreaths after making this; my fingers hurt from the pokey ends of the pinecones and wire!  So it went into the basement, where it served its punishment for pricking me.  Until tomorrow when we pull it out of jail and actually use it for the first time.  I hope it doesn't fall apart.

Then I found Pinterest.  Oh, the wreath glory!  This photo inspired me so I decided to try making one similar to it.

I'll be the first to tell you that I can be crafty, but ideas are almost never my own.  I often take someone's great idea, and ruin it.  But I'm proud of how these turned out!  I made one for my mom, sister, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law.  They were Thanksgiving hostess gifts.  Since I didn't have to make turkey and I didn't have to prep the house for guests this week, I had time to make wreaths!  It almost felt like that Florida vacation I took last weekend (OK, I'll stop talking about that now- I am just so excited I got away for two whole nights!  To a warm place!!).

Step one is to spray paint the wreaths I found at the dollar store.  I also bought a couple of grapevine wreaths at JoAnn's.  I think they were around $2-$5 each, on sale, depending on size.

Before- $1

I painted one black, one gray, and one off-white.

Then, make the fabric flowers.  Did you know you can snip the finished edge of fabric (selvage) and just rip it apart?  It will rip along the "grain" of the fabric (the weft, I believe).  (Reference here)  Cut or tear strips (fleece will not tear) in coordinating fabrics for the wreath.

Begin by folding at one end of fabric strip (in half or thirds) and rolling

Twist as you roll to create that flower look

Glue every so often to hold layers together, and finish with glue on the end.  You can also tuck the end to the back, but I didn't do that (I hadn't yet read it on the site where I got the idea, but that's what she did)

Bunch of flowers

Glue them in a nice pattern that looks appealing and balanced.

 Add more because it looks ridiculous!

Embellish with bows, sparkly berries, or other coordinating decorations.

Add Ribbon for hanging.  I've also used fishing line to hang it, with a tack stuck into the top of the door and pushed in enough to clear the door jamb.  The fishing line loops around the top of the door easily.  The former owners of our house had put this in place- yet another idea that is not original to me :)

Here are the other wreaths I made.
Chartreuse Green

 Hot Pink and Purple

 Classic Christmas Red & Green

 Black, White, Green and Gold

I can't wait to try out some other color combinations.  Which is your favorite?

Post to follow:  What my kids were doing and what my house looked like while I was working on these projects (hint: it isn't pretty like these wreaths!!!).
Happy Wreath Making~
Sally