Welcome to the first day of my 12 days of Christmas!!!

I am so excited to count down the days to Christmas with inspiration, crafts, and some fun freebies and a grand giveaway on Christmas at the end!!!

Today, I want to share with you a simple tutorial on how to make a fun wreath out of old silk flowers!!

Here is what we are making today:

 

Isn't it fun?? There is a back story to this project…

My gorgeous husband and I were married 20 years ago on the 21st of December. And at my first bridal shower, there was a centerpiece on the main table that had silk poinsettias in a white basket. I kept that centerpiece until last year.

Last year was the first year I felt like I didn't have to use every single decoration that I had!! But it nagged at me that I didn't display this basket of flowers. They were kind of wearing out in the stems, and the basket wasn't really doing well, either!! So I stowed them in my craft studio under my table determined to do something spectacular with them when the time was right!

Well, this year, the time is right…it's a celebratory year…20 years is great reason to celebrate, right??? 

Join me in celebrating with this sweet wreath made from the very flowers I had decorating my first bridal shower 20 years ago!!

Supplies:

Paper Source Wreath Form

Baker's Twine

Silk Flowers

Glue gun & glue stilcks

Clipping Pliers

 

Let's make this fun wreath!!!

1. Gather all of your silk flowers!

The wreath I got had holes in it! If yours doesn't, don't despair! Just skip this step!!

2. Tie your baker's twine through the holes and pull the knot behind the wreath. Plug that glue gun in to get it heated up! (I use a low temp glue gun, because I don't like burning my hands!!!)

Most silk flowers are several parts put together. Mine were no different. This picture is the back side of the flower.

3. Cut the stem off of the bottom of the flower. The object is to have the flower be as flat as you can!!

4. When you glue your flowers to the wreath form, you will want to glue each layer of the flower! I started with several full flowers before I pulled each flower apart and started to just layer the layers…

5. Make sure you take a long stem out of the flower to keep the flatness! 

A white flower is the perfect accent in a wreath like this!!

5. When layering your flower, glue the flower onto the wreath form in the order that you took it apart…bottom layer (left), little plastic piece, little leaf layer (right) and stamen.

(see the wreath form at the bottom?)

in this picture, you can see the different ways I placed my flowers on the form…the top left is whole flower placement (with glue spread inside the layers as I put the whole flower on!). Then as you move down the right side, I started to layer different flowers before adding the plastic stamen!

and here I added the stamen to finish the flower…so pretty!!

Here's the bottom of my wreath…Can you see that little empty spot on the bottom? It needs a little something something!!

6. Grab that silk holly leaf or leaves with some fake berries and add it to your bare spot at the bottom.

So fun!!!

7. Now, get rid of all of those little glue gun strips of glue that like to linger around your projects!!

 And you have a wreath!! yay!!

To make it extra special, I added a picture that I scanned and then printed on some matte photo paper.

You'll want to use quality paper and make sure your scan is good! Mine is just an example…

ohhh we were so young!!! (see the poinsettias all around behind us???)

To me, this completely reflects my wedding!! It's almost like scrapbooking it!! 🙂

I hope you have enjoyed this fun tutorial today!!! There are more to come each day!!

{everything from Kitty Designs digital kit, Hope and Joy}

This is the best good news of the season!! 

 

Did you love the wreath? Want some more wreath inspiration??? Head on over to Julie's blog and sign up for her newsletter!!! I will have an extra special tutorial in her next newsletter that should come out around the 15th! Here's a sneaky peek of the supplies I used in that project…

Super fun!!! 

Be sure and check back tomorrow for a special GUEST poster, Jackie!! yay!!!