Introduction: How to Create a 12-Inch Flower Wreath--for Kids!

This Instructable on how to create a 12-inch flower wreath was written for kids ages nine and up, but any craft beginner can use it. The purpose is to show you the basic materials you will need to create a flower wreath and how to use them. You can use totally different greens and flowers than the ones pictured here. In fact, the fun of making a wreath is to make it to your own taste. So let’s begin!

Step 1: GATHER BASIC MATERIALS

Before we discuss what flowers to use, let’s look at the other basic materials you will need to make a flower wreath. All of these materials can be purchased at a local arts and crafts store such as Michaels or Hobby Lobby (either in-store or online).

  • 12-inch wire wreath frame
  • wire cutters
  • scissors
  • floral wire
  • floral tape
  • gloves (optional)
  • newspaper to protect the surface you’re working on and for easy cleanup (optional)
  • wreath hanger if you plan on hanging the wreath on a door

Step 2: CHOOSE YOUR FLOWERS

Fake leaves and flowers can be found at your local arts and crafts store, or fresh ones can be used from your local flower shop. You can even clip some from your own yard, the choice is yours! Fake flowers will last longer than fresh flowers, but they won’t smell as nice.
Choosing which flowers to use for your wreath is almost totally up to you. One thing to keep in mind when picking them out, however, is that you want your wreath to be full. If you pick only flowers that have a bare stem and one single flower at the top, your wreath will be too bare. Therefore, half of your flowers should be the type that have blossoms lining the entire stem.

Regarding colors, you might pick some dark flowers and some bright flowers to contrast each other. Or, you might pick flowers of two colors that are opposite of each other on a color wheel. For example, blue and orange are opposite of each other on the color wheel. Considering this, you could pick a few different blue flowers along with a few different orange flowers. It’s also good to pick flowers of different shapes and sizes to add variety to your wreath. The flowers should not be more than 2 inches in diameter, but you can pick one larger flower to use as a centerpiece for the wreath. The choices are yours and should make you feel happy.

Figuring out how many bunches of leaves or greenery and flowers to buy or pick will require some simple math. One bunch of flowers might consist of two branches each with its own flower at the end. Another bunch might have three or more branches with leaves or small flowers lining the entire stem of each branch. In the next step you will see that you will be cutting these individual branches and grouping them in bundles. You will need 24 of these bundles. Each bundle will have three branches--one branch of leaves, one branch of a flower of your choice, and one additional branch with blossoms that line the entire stem of the branch. With this in mind, you will need the following:

24 branches of leaves that line an entire stem (can be different kinds)

24 branches of flowers that you are free to choose (bare stems are fine)

24 branches of flowers which have blossoms that line the entire stem

Remember, if each bundle of leaves at the store has four branches, you only need to purchase six bundles. Six bundles with four branches each equals the needed 24 branches. If you’re confused at all, reading the next steps will probably clear things up.

Step 3: PREPARE THE FLOWERS

As stated above, you are now going to clip the stems of the flowers so that if you have several branches within one bundle, each branch will be separated. First, remove any tags or stickers from the store-bought flowers. With the wire cutters about 10-12 inches from the top of a flower, clip the stem. You don’t want every stem to be the exact same length. Some can be 10, some 11, some 11.5, etc. Sometimes where you cut will depend on the leaves on the stem. You want to include as many leaves on the stems as possible. If there is a leaf 9 inches below the flower, cut the stem below the leaf. (Safety Tip: Use both hands to squeeze the wire cutters, making sure none of your fingers are near the blades of the wire cutters.)

Step 4: BUNDLING

As discussed in Step 2, you will now bundle the branches you cut in Step 3. Each bundle will have three branches--one branch of leaves, one branch of a flower of your choice, and one additional branch of flowers that line the entirety of the stem. When arranging the branches, make sure the front of the leaves and flowers are both facing up. Additionally, the flower branches should sit on top of the leaves. To secure the bundles together cut off a piece of floral tape about 1.5-2 inches in length. Find a convenient place near the lower half of the stems where leaves or flowers won’t get in your way and tightly wrap the tape around the stems of the three branches to secure them together.

Step 5: LAY OUT YOUR FLOWERS

You are now going to divide your bundles into groups to make sure the flowers on your wreath are balanced. My wire frame was divided into six sections. Since I had 24 bundles, I divided 24 by 6 sections to know that I would put 4 bundles in each section. If that is confusing to you, think of your wire frame as a clock. Between the numbers 12 and 3 on your clock, you will be placing six bundles of flowers. The same is true between 3 and 6, 6 and 9, and 9 and 12 for a total of 24 bundles.
Once you decide how many bundles of flowers will go on each section of your frame, you will have to divide the bundles up into groups. If you have 4 sections, divide your 24 bundles into 4 groups so that each group contains a variety of flower bundles. For example, if you chose some dark and light flowers, you would not want all of the dark flowers in one group and all of the light flowers in a different group. Likewise, you do not want all bare-stemmed flowers in one group and flowers with blossoms lining the whole stem in another group. You want some of each different kind of flower in each section.

Step 6: ATTACHING THE FLORAL WIRE TO THE FRAME

You are now ready to begin attaching the flower bundles to the wire frame. First you must attach the floral wiring to the wire frame. Pick a spot on the outside edge of the wire frame where another metal part of the frame that protrudes from the center connects to the outer edge. You want to to attach the wire at this meeting point. If you only attached the floral wiring to the outer edge, it would slip around. Attaching it to a point where a wire protruding from the center meets the outer edge prevents any slipping.
Unwind about 4 inches of the wire from its spool. Estimate a point on the floral wire that is about two inches from the end of the floral wire. Place this point against the frame at the meeting point discussed above. Wrap the floral wire tightly around the part of the frame that protrudes from the center 4 times right where it meets the outer edge. You should be wrapping the small 2-inch end part of the wire and not the part of the wire that is attached to the whole spool. Now continue wrapping that same wire around the outer edge of the frame right at the corner where it meets the piece protruding from the center that you just wrapped. Wrap the floral wire 4 times to the outer edge also. The wire will have enough length left for you twist it around the portion of the wire that is still attached to the spool. You will twist it as you would a twist tie. Your floral wiring should now be securely fixed to the frame so that it will not slip around.

Step 7: ATTACHING THE BUNDLES TO THE FRAME

Attaching the bundles to the frame is probably the funnest part of making the wreath because you get to see your work turning into a beautiful wreath. You should already have your bundles divided into groups. Lay your first group out and decide within that group which bundle you want to start with. Place the wreath frame in front of you on a table and imagine it is a clock. Position it so that the place you attached the floral wiring to the frame is at the 12 o’clock position and the spool of floral wire is above the 12. Place your first bundle about one inch to the right of where the floral wire is attached. The bundle should be lying flat against the wire frame with the flowers facing up and the bottoms of the stems pointing towards 6 o’clock as well as touching the innermost circular wire of the frame. Now start tilting the tops your flowers to the left until you reach a 45 degree angle.
Once in this position, you will wrap the floral wire around the bundle’s stems twice. Pick up the spool of floral wire and letting off slack as needed, position the wire over the front of the bundle’s stems securing them to the wreath frame. Push the spool of wire through the center of the wreath frame and pull it tightly back up behind the wreath to the 12 o’clock position. Bring the wire back down over the bundle’s stems once more, through the center of the frame, and back to the 12 o’clock position pulling tightly.

You are now ready to position and wrap the next bundle. The next bundle needs to overlap the first. How much should it overlap? Remember that you have already decided how many bundles you are using per section. If you are placing 4 bundles per section, visually divide that section into four subsections and estimate how much overlap you will need to fill the whole subsection with bundles. Place your next bundle of flowers slightly over the first according to your estimate and at the same angle as the first bundle. You are now ready to wrap these stems to the frame just as you did the first--bringing the wire over the front, though the center, and pulling tightly up the back. Remember to wrap each bundle twice. Also, keep in mind, each time you wrap a new bundle, you will be slanting the wire slightly towards the right in order to go directly over the stems and around the frame.

Step 8: ATTACHING THE LAST BUNDLE

When you get to the last bundle, you will see that you have to tuck it under the first bundle to maintain your overlapping pattern. Once the last bundle has been wrapped twice, you will cut the floral wire leaving about 1.5 inches of slack. You will tightly wrap this slack 4 times around the nearest metal part of the base and twist tie it to the nearest piece of floral wire already wrapped around the frame. The necessity of wrapping it around a meeting point is not as important as it was in Step 6 because the friction between the flower bundles at this point will prevent the last bundle from sliding anywhere.

Step 9: ATTACHING ANY CENTERPIECES (OPTIONAL)

If you want to add a centerpiece flower to your wreath, you can leave some space between the first and last bundle while still following the directions in Step 8 for securing the last bundle to the wreath. Position a centerpiece flower to the frame by pushing its stem through the wire frame at a location that facilitates the placement you want. Once the flower and stem is positioned, turn the frame over and look for a convenient place to attach the stem to the back of the frame. Cut the stem of the flower about 1 inch below the point you will wrap the stem to the frame. Using the wrapping and twist tie method you’re now accustomed to, secure the centerpiece to the wreath.

Step 10: FINISHING TOUCHES

If there are any extra spaces on the wreath, feel free to add some extra colorful pieces to fill them in. Something else to consider doing is use a wreath hanger as mentioned before to hang this wreath on your front door or any door you please. Your wreath is complete! It likely looks beautiful, and would be a great decoration for holidays or seasons, but could even be a gift to your parents or a good friend. We hope you enjoyed this craft as much as we did!