Feb 2, 2017 | DIY
This project is in collaboration with Paper Mart. I was provided supplies to create a Valentine’s Day tutorial. All opinions are my own. My full Disclosure Policy is
here.
Most of the year I have a seasonal wreath hanging on my door…but realized that for Valentine’s Day I’ve never made anything appropriate for the holiday. My initial thoughts were to just do something easy peasy (and a little cheesy 😉 : gluing foam cut-out hearts to a wreath ring and call it that. Then I decided I wanted to take things up a notch and make something sparkly, chic, and not so obviously Valentine’s Day…and Paper Mart came to my rescue. (And let me preface this by saying this project is as easy as gluing stuff onto a wreath form!!) Here’s how you can make your own bejeweled beautiful sophisticated wreath – not just for Valentine’s Day but for any day of the year:
How to Make a Jeweled Valentine’s Day Wreath
You Need:
16″ wreath frame / 1+ pack of pink round acrylic jewels / 1+ pack of 20mm crystals / 1+ pack of 12mm crystals / silver wired lame ribbon / jewel placement tool (optional) / slow-drying clear glue (recommended: Dazzle Tac) / scissors / glue gun
How To:
1. Start wrapping the end of your ribbon to the top of the frame (I didn’t even need a glue gun to secure because the wire inside of the ribbon will hold it down!).
2. Wrap ribbon around the entire frame to make a gluable ribbon base, overlapping the ribbon slightly.
3. Cut the ribbon once you meet the beginning of it again, fold over the cut edge slightly, and glue down the end to cover up the other ribbon end.
4.Now make a bow for your wreath. Here’s how:
How to Make the Perfect Bow (gluing wired ribbon)
Cut 3 pieces of ribbon. For 1.5″ wide ribbons like this, the measurements I used were:
5.Take the middle length of ribbon and hot glue the ends overlapping (about 1/2″) to make a loop.
6. Press the loop down in the middle and glue the inner center of the loop at the overlapping area to the other side of the loop on the inside. This now creates 2 loops: the loops of the bow.
7. Glue the center of the longest piece to the back of the loop you created at the overlap, right sides together.
8. Place the shortest piece on top of the bundle at the center front of the two loop piece and glue down.
9. Pull the ends of the shortest ribbon piece to the back of the bundle, scrunching in at its sides, and glue at the back, the ends slightly overlapping.
10. Fluff out your ribbon by making the loops large and round, and fold the long ribbon piece down so it’s visible behind the loops. Add some waviness to the longer ribbon ends.
11. Cut the long ribbon ends at an angle.
12. Top off your wreath by hot-gluing on a bow made from the wired ribbon.
13. Now it’s time to have some fun! Spread slow-drying glue onto the back of a large gemstone, and place onto the wreath. (I know it shows E6000 glue in the photo, but I quickly found that Dazzle Tac was much better.) I chose an evenly-spaced placement.
14. Then repeat for the medium-sized jewels (these too I opted for an evenly-spaced placement around the wreath).
15. Repeat the process for the smallest rhinestones. You could use a jewel placement tool to help place gems quickly, but you can also use tweezers or even your fingers depending on how much precision you want. It’s always helpful to take a step back and assess your work. I chose to create a cluster with the smaller pink jewels near the bottom of the wreath; you can add more or less depending on what look you like.
And that’s it!
 
Allow to dry, then hang on your door – or wall – or use as a centerpiece for your delicious Valentine’s Day dinner. Sparkle – ribbon – jewels – beautiful!
Happy DIY’ing!
xo
Carly
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Dec 25, 2010 | DIY
Have a couple bows left over after the wrapping-extravaganza? Have a whole bunch ripped off of presents in the aftermath? Craft a smaller, point-ier wreath as a counterpoint to a larger piece…as your final Christmas handmade project. I got all my materials at the Dollar Tree, so it only cost me $5 to make – but it’s also a great way to recycle those bows from presents if you don’t want to re-use them next year. Here’s how:
You Need:
*2 packages of small stick-on pointed bows
*one larger stick-on bow
*1 small wreath base (styrofoam)
*red ribbon
And…
*glue gun & gluesticks
*scissors
How-To:
1. Cut a length of ribbon long enough to hang the wreath. Wrap it around the top of the wreath base and secure with glue.
2. Glue the small present bows onto the base, filling the base up completely and staggering them to cover any gaps.
3. Glue the largest bow top center onto the red ribbon.
4. Tie the ribbon to a wreath-hanger or hook to display.
 DIY Tutorial for my
Super-Easy $8 Holiday Wreath (the larger wreath, pictured above)
is here.
Happy DIY’ing…and Merry Christmas! Hope it is wonderful!
xoxox
Carly
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Sep 27, 2010 | DIY
So sorry no post yesterday…I actually took Saturday off! Like, completely off from the blogosphere. I haven’t done that in a long time. (Felt a little guilty, though!;-)
But I let it go and had a great day, taking Lil Tot to a birthday party at a really cool community center I’ve never been to before (with a swirly 2-story water slide and multiple fun-showers in the toddler pool!! And free fitness classes!) and then the Oregon Fiber Arts festival, where I bought a huge skein of mohair since I think I’m going to attempt knitting this sweater…and maybe one of these sweaters or dresses too…someday…and Lil Tot petted the many goats, bunnies, and alpacas there.
Now that he knows alpacas are neither caramels nor tax forms nor fish but are indeed animals…they are his favorite animal recently!
They are so adorable, and make this tiny hiiiiiin, hiiiiiiin sound. I’ve never heard an alpaca cry before. Lil Tot has even renamed his fave game “Duck, duck, goose!” to “Alpaca, alpaca, capybara!” (and the inclusion of the capybara is an even longer story;-)
But I digress. Even though I didn’t post on my blog yesterday, I still DIY’ed!
Following up on my $4 Easter Wreath that I made for…um, Easter…earlier this year, I decided to hit up my local Dollar Tree once again in order to create a beautiful leafy Fall wreath bursting with color. It’s soooo cheap, and it will take you 30 minutes, tops!!
Dollar Store $4 Fall Wreath
Project Difficulty:
(easy/beginner)
You Need:
*medium-sized wreath base ($1)
*3 leafy garlands ($1 apiece – I chose a variety that had tiny pumpkins, acorns, berries, and wheat sheaves attached)
*floral wire (I had on hand, but I saw it at the dollar store as well)
*wire-cutting pliers
*hot glue gun + gluesticks
How To: (the photos are not of the step-by-step since it’s pretty self-explanatory)
1. Cut a small piece of wire and thread it through the end of one of the leafy garlands. Twist it around the wreath base and twist the ends together, hiding the sharp ends inside the wreath.
2. Cut more pieces of wire and tie around the leafy garland in various places as you place it in a circle on top of your wreath base.
3. Continue in the same manner until you’ve layered all 3 leaf garlands atop one another, going round and round the wreath circle.
4. Use hot glue to glue down the leaves to hide any of the wire or stems that may show.
Hang up on your front door and enjoy! The wonderful thing about this wreath is that the color is so vibrant…and it will last FOREVER. (And that it’s about $15 less than similar decorations you might find at Target…or $30 less than those you might find at Pottery Barn…;-)
Happy DIY’ing and Happy Fall!
xoxox
Carly
P.S. I’m not doing a Style it Chic! post today since I’ve got a huge post with ONE WEEK of styling options coming up…hopefully will post tomorrow…
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Apr 3, 2010 | DIY
I meant to post this yesterday so you’d have time to try this before Easter, but I fell asleep early and slacked a little bit. If you decide to make this, I hope it’s still in time! (Sorry about that.)
I saw this lovely Easter wreath at Target, but since it was $19.99 (and similar ones were equally-priced at Jo-Ann’s)…you can guess what went through my mind.
DIY it for less!
So a quick trip to the Dollar Tree later, about 10 minutes assembling it at home with Lil Tot, and now I have an Easter decoration I’m really proud of.
How to Make a $4 Easter Wreath
You Need:
*1 pack of Dollar Tree plastic Easter Eggs (I found some pretty pastel speckled ones)
*2 Dollar Tree leafy garlands
*1 Dollar Tree wreath base (I chose a medium size)
*floral wire (or any thin, bendable wire – you may be able to get at the Dollar store, though I didn’t look)
*wire-cutters
*hot glue and glue gun
How-To:
1. Hea t up your glue gun.
2. Using lengths of wire, attach one leafy garland around the perimeter or your wreath base. (I circled the wire around the garland + wreath, and tied the ends like a twist-tie, twisting multiple times until it was secure. Then I folded the cut ends of the wire in-between the wreath wicker pieces so there were no sharp edges sticking out.)
3. Add the second leafy garland around the wreath, paying attention to any bare spots left by the first.
4. Close all the plastic eggs. Squeeze hot glue onto an egg; press egg onto wreath in order to camouflage a wire tie.
5. Continue with all the eggs, paying attention to color, placement, and angle.
You’re done! Hang somewhere and admire.:-)
Since I got the eggs, 2 garlands, and the wreath at the Dollar store (and already had hot glue, wire, and wire cutters on hand), the project cost me a total of 4 DOLLARS.
You could also, if you were particularly enterprising, paint a layer of clear or pastel glitter on your eggs to make them even more like the $19.99 Target/Jo-Ann version.
Bwahahahaha!
Happy DIY’ing!
xoxox
Carly
~If you liked this post, please share it with other crafty people looking for a cheap n easy project for Easter!~
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