I ogled the beautiful holiday wreath collection on Etsy for weeks and nearly made a purchase until I realized I could make my own beautiful holiday wreath for much, much less money. (The cheapest wreath that caught my eye was $30 plus shipping). I’m not a super crafty lady, but this was one project I wanted to tackle myself. I decided to make mine into a fall wreath, but you can easily modify yours to fit almost any holiday!

Here’s how to make an amazing holiday wreath!

 

Once I had an idea of the holiday wreath I wanted to emulate, I headed to Michael’s for a few supplies. I simplified the wreath on Etsy that I liked, but perhaps you’ll want to buy the Etsy wreath or make one that is similar to it.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve started to use Etsy like I use Pinterest – to find inspiration for home projects and crafts I want to make!

Here’s what I bought at Michael’s. This is also what you’ll need to make the holiday wreath pictured above.

• One 15″ wreath base for $5 (the price will be much lower with a coupon or if you buy a smaller size)
• One skein of light brown acrylic yarn for $4 (no sense paying for the good stuff if it’s not going to touch skin)
• Felt leaves that I had purchased about a year ago on super sale from one of my favorite Etsy sellers (about $3.50 for a pack of a few dozen leaves on Etsy). Note: I used leaves in fall colors – orange, yellow, brown, and creme – but you can purchase leaves or dots or shapes in whatever color scheme you desire!
• A hot glue gun that I purchased a year or so ago at Michael’s for about $6. I didn’t include the glue gun in the cost of the wreath because I use it for so many projects. It’s just part of my craft supply pantry now!

Here are step by step directions to make this wreath.

1. Fire up your hot glue gun. While it’s getting hot (mine takes about five minutes), cut a length of yarn that is about three feet long. Dab a bit of glue on the back of the wreath and press the end of the yarn into it, being careful not to burn yourself. Hot glue is extremely hot! Once it has cooled a dried (a few seconds), begin wrapping the yarn around the wreath, using your fingers to tuck each wrap close to the one before it so there are no gaps in the yarn. Make sure to tuck the yarn on the inner part of the wreath especially tight. This helps to prevent gaps on the outer part of the wreath. Alternatively, you can also make a beautiful wreath with looser wraps of yarn, like this or this.

TIp: Decide which side of the wreath is going to by the front and which side is going to be the back. Hold the front towards you so you can make sure each wrap is perfect. 

2. Continue cutting sections of yarn, gluing each strand of yarn to the back side of your holiday wreath where the previous strand left off, then wrapping around the wreath tightly. My wreath took about 15 individual strands and about two hours of wrapping. Perfect task for the end of the day when you don’t have a lot of thinking power left!

Tip: Make sure each strand ends on the backside of the wreath so the front side looks neat and tidy. Cut if necessary to achieve this.

3.  When you have wrapped your entire wreath with yarn, the fun begins! Set out the pieces of fabric or decorations on your fully wrapped wreath so you can make sure you have the design and layout just right. This is where it’s fun to look at how others have laid out their wreaths on Etsy and Pinterest. Take a picture when you have finished laying out your wreath so you can reference it later.

Tip: I made my wreath in fall colors, but you can adapt your yarn wreath to almost any holiday by altering the color scheme and cut outs!

4. Hot glue your fabric and decorations onto your wreath, using the photo you took if needed. Hang with a ribbon onto your door or somewhere in your house where everyone will look at it and say, Wow! You made that?!

Have you ever made a holiday wreath?