diy: fall wreath

Fall is nearly upon us.  I went for a run on Saturday morning and it was uh-mazing.  The temperature was about 50 degrees, the sun was shining, the air was cool and crisp.  I could have stayed outside forever. 

I was so inspired by the glorious weather that I went out that very afternoon and bought the makings for a fall wreath.

I had seen several on Pinterest I liked (see my fall + halloween board here), so I had a pretty good idea of the supplies I would need*.  I was also purchasing supplies for a mesh halloween wreath, see how it turned out here.

There are two parts to the wreath: the actual wreath portion and the banner portion.  I have this tutorial broken out accordingly.

Let's start with the banner.

Banner Supplies:

Scissors

White glue

Rope/twine

Cardstock

Alphabet stickers

First, we will cut out the flags for the banner.  Any color cardstock will work, you can even choose patterned cardstock if you'd like.  Fold the paper in half so that the length from the fold to the edge is the desired length of one flag.  Holding the folded edge, make diagonal cuts all the way to the opposite edge (you will have small triangle scraps as a result).

If you are confident, you can just cut the triangles by eye.  You can also measure the triangles to be more precise.  Let's say, for example, you wanted the triangles to be 2" wide at the top.  You would put a tick mark every 2" inches along the folded edge and one mark 1" (half of the width at the top) in from the edge, then every 2" along the open edge. 

You will need one triangle for each letter of your word(s).  I am doing two banners, one that says "happy" and one that says "fall", so I needed nine flags total.

Once you have all of the flags cut, you will glue them around the twine. Place the twine inside the flag at the top where the fold is.  

Use white glue to adhere the two sides of the flag together.  Be careful not to glue the twine, otherwise you will not be able to adjust the flags later.  You can always touch up the edges of the flags with glue once the banner is attached to the wreath.

Once all of the flags are glued around the twine, you can attach your letters.  Leave the ends of the twine loose, we will tie them onto the wreath later.

Now, onto the wreath.

Wreath Supplies:
Wooden wreath (I chose oval, but round is fine too)
Floral sprigs/branches/feathers (whatever you want here is fine, I have six total pieces)
Medium to large flower
2" wide ribbon
Paper banners
Floral wire
Floral snips
Wire cutters

First, arrange the branches on top of the wreath.  Once you have decided on the layout, you can start to attach them.  I find it easiest to first take the wire, fold it in half and wrap it around the stem a few times.

Then you can lay the branch on the wreath, push the wire through the wreath so it comes out the back and twist the wire.  This will attach the stem to the branch.  I recommend you wire each branch in at least two places to make sure it stays put.  Stand your wreath up between branches and see if anything is falling out of place.  It is easiest to add additional wire while that branch is accessible, since you may cover it later with another branch.

Don't worry about the wires being too long on the back of the wreath, we will tidy them up at the end. 

Once all of your branches are attached, use the floral snips to trim any long stems.

Next we will make the bows.  Now, I am by no means a bow-making expert.  I usually end up watching a youtube video or two to refresh my memory.  I encourage you to do the same if you need to.  There are tons of ways to make bows, and different sizes too.  If you are attaching a flower to your bow, the middle is not as important as the outsides.  I decided to just make two regular bows, stacking the smaller one slightly over the larger, and only leaving one set of long tails.  You can attach your bows and flower with floral wire the same way you attached the branches.

Once everything is secured to the wreath (stand it up one more time to check), gently flip your wreath over to clean up the wires on the back.  I always check for any loose ends that may have come untwisted during the process.  Then, I bundle several wires that are near each other together, twist them a couple of times, then make a loop and flatten the whole thing down.  This way you don't have to trim all of the long wires and it makes them even more secure.  

Last, we attach the banners. They can really go anywhere you want.  I just tied one knot around the nearest branch, then pushed the twine through to the back and tied a couple of additional knots for security. 

Here is the finished product:

*Craft supply shopping tip: when purchasing supplies for items like wreaths, I always try to find things that are on sale.  Wreaths can be purchased at prices anywhere from $50 and up.  When making something yourself, you always want it to be less than the typical purchase price.  Otherwise, you could have just bought it and saved yourself a lot of time.  So when you go to the store on impulse (like I did), have an idea in mind, but keep your eyes out for things that may be similar but less expensive.  Example: the Autumn floral items are not on sale, but the regular floral items are.  Look for similarly colored stems in the regular selection.  Also - always check clearance!  Especially for ribbon, that seems to be a common item in there.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  Leave any questions or comments below.  HAPPY FALL!!