I have been itching to create a wreath for a long time. It was fun and easy to make!
All you need are the following supplies: metal wreath frame, mesh ribbon in different colors, scissors, and pipe cleaners. You can also choose to add some other decoration to the front of the wreath like a painted wooden letter or a bow. I chose to add a festive bow!
You can buy the metal wreath frames at any craft store for pretty cheap. I bought the mesh ribbon and the decorative metal bow from Dollar Tree. For the mesh ribbon, I would buy two/three packages of the colors you are using. I bought two packages of each and almost used all of the ribbon. I bought the pipe cleaners from Walgreens. They only had black, but next time I am going to buy the pipe cleaners in the same color(s) of the ribbon I am using. You can buy the pipe cleaners and mesh ribbon from any craft store, also.
First, prep the wreath frame. The frames have four rings around them. You are going to wrap pipe cleaners around the top two rings all the way around the wreath.
Then you will do the same thing to the bottom two rings!
Next you are going to cut 10-inch pieces from each roll of mesh ribbon. You will need to cut 25-30 pieces from EACH roll. I used almost two packs of every color!
After cutting the pieces of mesh, take two/three pieces (one of each color) and roll each color "hot dog style" separately. It doesn't really matter how tight you roll them. I found that I liked them rolled tighter because the tighter roll looked better on my wreath. After rolling each, stack them together in any order. I made some stacks with two rolls and some with three. Alternate colors so that you have a good mix of colors when you attach them to the wreath. After stacking two or three together, take a pipe cleaner, cut it in half and tie it around the stack of mesh ribbon. Leave a little bit of pipe cleaner so that you can attach the ribbon stack to the wreath.
After I created bunches with all of the mesh ribbon I cut, I attached them to the wreath frame. It's easier if you attach the ribbon bunches straight onto the pipe cleaner pieces that you prepared earlier so they stay in place!
Add all of the bunches you put together, spacing them out around the wreath. If you think your wreath looks bare after adding all of the prepared bunches, just add more!
After you are done adding all of the ribbon bunches to the frame, turn over the frame and make sure all of the pipe cleaners are securely fastened to the frame by twisting them tightly together and around the frame, as needed. Then, trim off any excess wire so that you don't have pipe cleaner sticking out everywhere.
Make sure all of the pipe cleaners are securely attaching the ribbon to the frame.
The black pipe cleaners I used were very noticeable in the front. So I decided to wrap the ones that were facing the front with mesh to create bows over the pipe cleaners.
Just wrap ribbon around bunch from back to make a bow and cover the pipe cleaner.
I chose to add a festive bow to the front of my wreath. I bought it at Dollar Tree when I bought the ribbon. It had a wire tie on the back of it, so it was easy to attach the wreath.