HAPPY Holidays — DIY Burlap Holiday Wreath

Hi there, I’m Kate fromChic on a Shoestring Decorating. I am super-excited and honored to behere today at one of my all time favorite blogs, Tatertots & Jello… thanks so much, Jen!  Over at my place you can check out my budget-friendly decorating and DIY ideas and I’d love for you to join me at my weekly link up party, Flaunt it Friday.

Today I’m going to sharean inexpensive DIY Christmas wreath made with one of my favorite things… burlap!

Do you guys love burlap as much as I do??  It’s almost the perfect fabric…  super cheap, looks great, durable and very versatile.

What’s not to love (besides the fact that it smells a little funny, I would probably make myself a scarf with it if it didn’t!)?

I’ve found that the Panacer brandburlap ribbon from Michael’s works best, in fact, I’ve attempted to use some other burlap ribbon to make this wreath and failed miserably.  (Michael’s did not pay me to say that)  I used a 40% off coupon so it was around $3.  I got Christmas flowers and pine picksfrom Hobby Lobby 50% off making for an inexpensive project.  (Hooray for cheap projects!)

First, attach the end of the burlap to one of the cross hatch bars of the wire wreath form.  Basically, just fold the end of the burlap ribbon and starting at the inner rung, snake it up through the rungs and wind around the cross hatch bar.  There is no right or wrong way to do this… just twist it around so that it stays.  (I tried to take a picture of this but it just looked like a hot-mess of burlap.)  Since the burlap is pretty sturdy it will stay put if you wrap it around

but you can add some hot glue if you want it to be more secure.  Don’t worry how it looks, it will be covered up.

Start pulling burlapthrough the wreath frame, start on the inside rung and just go up the rungs, when youget to the top I found it easier to stay at the top rung, scoot over your loops and pull the ribbon over to start your next row staying in the top rung.  From there start working your way back down tothe inner rung.

You should be able to fit two rows of loops between each set of the wreath frame cross hatch bars.  

At first it might take you a few tries to get the loops through and looking right but once you get the hang of it it will be easy-peasy.  Make rows of loops all the wayaround your wreath form.  It doesn’t haveto be perfect… just make sure that asyou pull the burlap through you are making the loops about the same size.  When you make it all the way around just cut off any extra and tuck the end into the wreath form.  You can add some

hot glue if you want for extra security.

When you’re done with the burlap go back through andfluff and adjust as needed.  Remember, it won’t be perfect but it’s not supposed to be, the imperfections give it some “hand-made charm”. 😉Now, decide where you want to attach your floral picks… I always try to find the worst looking part of my wreath where I made a sloppy looking loop or the wire is showing and put my floral picks right over it… no one will ever know your wreath had a big bald spot!  (some “hand-made charm” looks a little too hand-made if you know what I mean…)

To attach the floral and pine picks allI did was put their sticks through the wreath form at one of the cross bars, thisadds some extra security but isn’t necessary.  If you have to stick it through some burlap that’s fine, just be careful that it goes through the fabric and doesn’t stretch out your loops.

I secured the picks with a pipe cleaner (cut it to size and use it like a twist tie) on the back of the wreathin a couple places.  You can add hot glue if you’d like.  I didn’t use any hot glue because I was too lazynotworried about it falling out.