Here are the supplies I used:
- One 30 inch wire wreath frame
- One 10 inch roll of black deco mesh
- One 10 inch roll of purple deco mesh
- One roll of green and white polka dot ribbon
- One set of battery-operated LED lights
- One wooden Halloween decoration
- Hot glue
- Floral wire
- Floral wire cutter
Step 1: Since I wasn't using a "work wreath" (which would have been lots easier) I had to first attach wire at points along the wreath frame. This is the boring part. So that the wires wouldn't slide around, I inserted them diagonally so that they wrapped around each side of the vertical divider on the wreath frame. Make sure to cut your wires extra long; you'll use these to wire in ALL of the deco mesh, ribbon, and lights.
I actually ended up putting in two sets of wires. One set that stuck outside of the wreath frame (as pictured above)...
Step 2: After all the wires are on, you are ready to start attaching the mesh! To start with, you'll take a piece and pinch it up a few inches from the end. Place it inside the wires on the OUTSIDE of the frame and twist to secure.
Now just keep unrolling the deco mesh, take a piece about 12 inches long and pinch and secure again. Go all the way around the wreath.
Step 3: Add the second color of deco mesh. You want this to be on the very inside of the wreath, so you'll be using the second set of wires you attached. Go all the way around, and when you get to where you started leave a tail and cut off. Tuck the tail into the wreath so no one sees it.
Step 4: Now you are ready to add the ribbon. You can do this one of two ways. I picked a starting point and wired it in every TWO wires leaving the ribbon with lots of slack so it would be fluffy. OR, you could actually wrap the full wreath with the ribbon so that it moves diagonally across both the black and purple mesh. If you do this, you may need more ribbon.
Once you've gone all the way around, just cut and tuck.
Step 5: Make a bow by taking a separate piece of ribbon. I did this by figuring out how long I wanted the tail, then pinching and making a loop, pinching and making a second loop, and pinching and making a third loop. Hold it all together and cut, leaving length for a second tail. I gathered it all together and wired it in toward the left side of the bottom of the wreath. (You could put this anywhere, but I decided on the bow being off-center just to make it more interesting.)
Step 6: Lights! I just wired these in every second wire the same way I did for the ribbon. The battery pack hangs down behind the big bow, so based on that I made my starting point strategic.
Step 7: The final step will be adding your wooden decorations. (I took the picture of the bow above once I had finished with the entire wreath, but I really did add the wooden decoration as the last step.) I first tried to glue in my decoration, but it was so large and heavy that it wasn't holding. There were little curly wires coming out of the pumpkins, so I actually took a piece of floral wire, wrapped it around each pumpkin wire, and then wired it into the wreath. That way I knew it wasn't going anywhere! For the final step, I did end up using hot glue just to flatten it into the wreath.
Step 8: Hang it up! Once you get it hung up you'll see some things that bother you, but it is pretty easy to make adjustments and tweak the placement of different mesh loops, ribbon, etc.
Overall, this was very fun and easy to make, and quite a bargain given that a wreath this size with lights would cost over $100. (Lots of cute ones on Etsy!)
Obviously this one is very simple, and the sky is the limit with the types of adornments you can add. And seriously, the work wreaths with pre-attached wires/pipe cleaners are totally the way to go.
Give it a try and let me know how it turns out. I LOVE looking at different wreaths, so send me pictures of your different ones for Halloween, Thanksgiving, football, etc.
HAVE FUN!
