Mini Wreaths (with Upcycled Materials!)

I love shopping second-hand. Especially for things that I can turn around (upcycle) into new creations. I do this a lot for crafting or creating home decor pieces. These mini wreaths are a perfect example of items I purchased second hand (for little money) and created something new and beautiful with them.

Step 1: What You Need

Materials:

1. Wood or Plastic Curtain Rings (helpful if they've got an eye hook in them)
2. Yarn
3. Scrap Paper (for this wreath, two complimentary colours and one green)

Tools:

1. Glue Gun & Glue
2. Scissors

Step 2: Start Your Wreath

1. Start with the end of your yarn and start twisting it around the ring
2. Make sure you're pulling it taught and not leaving sight of the ring
3. Feel free to glue it down every once in a while if you can't keep holding onto it, or you won't complete it in one sitting

A Few Notes:

Cut a very lengthy piece of yarn. It's hard too say how much you need because it depends on the thickness and size of ring you have. If you cut it too short, no problem. Just glue it down and start another strand - you won't even notice where you start and stop if you overlap a little. Actually, you might find it easier to work in shorter pieces... or maybe you want to alternate the colours?

I didn't glue my yarn down to start (or at any point), I just wrapped the yarn overtop to hold it in place.

Continue wrapping around the entire ring until you get to the end. Then either tie a knot, or glue it down.

Step 3: Cut Your Pieces

From your coloured scrap paper, cut your rosettes:

1. Cut a circle. You could do this free-hand, or use a punch. I think it looks more natural if roughly cut by hand
2. Once you've got your circle, start creating a spiral
3. When you get toward the center, make sure you leave a small circular surface (needed for gluing later)

From the green:

1. Roughly cut two sizes of leaves (or draw and cut if you wish)

Step 4: Rosettes

To create your rosette:

1. Curl the end to get it started
2. Once you've got a curl started, continue curling toward the center of your circle
3. Try to keep your curl to the inner cut as you roll around

Step 5: Finishing Your Rosette

Once you've curled your paper into the center of the rosette, lay down some glue and press your rosette into it.

Take Note:

If you want a small and tight rosette (to simulate a new bud blooming), keep your curl tight as you're gluing down. If you want one that's more open and larger, let the curled paper unravel a bit before you glue it down. You can see I created 3 different sized rosettes by doing this.

Step 6: Leaves

To give your leaves more life, crease them down the center. Other options would be to crumple the paper or draw veins.

Step 7: Adding Your Accents

Take all your elements and lay them roughly where you want them to be on your wreath. For this wreath, I liked having them at the bottom right.

Start by gluing your leaves down, and then start with your largest rosette and work your way to the smallest.

Step 8: Finishing Touches

To hang your wreath, add some of the same yarn you used to wrap your ring, or choose a coordinating ribbon. Your wreath is now complete!

What types of wreaths can you create? What elements would you add?

What can you use your wreath for?

• a gift
• hang around the house
• on a present
• around the neck of a wine bottle
• on a Christmas tree... The possibilities are endless!