The Girls Team has been seeing homemade fall wreaths pop up all over Pinterest this year. After having success with my Christmas Ornament Wreath from last year, I thought I'd give a fall themed wreath a try. My mom found these directions on Pinterest, which proved easy to follow.
I went to Michaels to purchase all the needed materials: an 18" wire wreath, 2 rolls of burlap garland (10 yards each, 5 1/2 inches wide), and embellishments. We also needed floral wire, a glue gun and scissors, but my mom had that stuff handy. I spent about $35 at Michaels on the supplies. I ended up returning unused embellishments, so in total, the wreath cost about $25 to make.
Wire wreath and burlap garland. If you're planning to make this at home, remember to buy burlap garland, not burlap ribbon. I found myself panicking about the amount I'd need to purchase and expense of burlap...until I realized I was holding burlap ribbon and not garland (which is significantly cheaper than ribbon). Phew!
I picked up fall embellishments at Michaels, and used floral wire from my mom. My biggest score were the purple and red burlap flower napkin rings for $1.99 each. Perfect!
The first step in making the wreath is to attach the end of the burlap garland to the wreath using floral wire. After that, you basically weave the garland in and out of the wire wreath, pulling from the back, up to the front. This is what makes it poofy. I struggled with this at first. I wanted to make it really methodical, but it is actually pretty random. The messier the better too because then the garland stays full and fluffy. Once I stopped over thinking this step, the wreath was easy to make and it took about 25 minutes to add and secure all of the burlap.
About every 4 inches I secured the burlap to the wreath using floral wire. It helps keep the burlap in place. As you start to add more burlap, you'll want to push it together to bunch it up, and the wire helps that stay in place.
The back of your wreath doesn't need to be flat; that would actually be really difficult to do. But you do want to check to make sure burlap isn't bunching on the back side. This way you don't waste it! You can use all the burlap you purchased for the front side of the wreath.
Once I covered the wreath in burlap, I added embellishments. I used hot glue to attach these flowers. I also purchased leaves, acorns and glitter leaves, but decided I liked my wreath with this simple touch.
After my embellishments were secure, I flipped my wreath over and secured the burlap in a few more places with floral wire to make it extra sturdy.
My cute fall wreath!
I love the way this wreath turned out. The Girls Team has tried enough Pinterest inspired crafts to know that sometimes "simple" directions are too good to be true. But that was not the case here! The directions were easy to follow and the embellishment step left room for our own creativity too. I had fun playing with options. I almost added the glittery leaves, but my mom helped me from overdoing it by reminding me how cute the simple flowers looked.
The only downside to this project was the smell. Yep, that's right, the smell. You guys - burlap wreaks! We basically plugged our noses through this project and I showered after having burlap shed all over me. Good thing I planned on this being an outdoor wreath! :)
I'm so happy with how this turned out. It looks perfect on my door next to the natural fall foliage we are enjoying from our apartment!
