Christmas Wreath – No Shopping Necessary

Today’s Make It Work Monday post is an extra and is one the kiddos can help with. We have been unwrapping a Christmas book each night and reading it. The next day we do an activity or craft that goes along with the book in some way. One of the books we read was The Christmas Unicorn. In the book, the little girl, Milly, gives her Christmas unicorn a wreath.That was our project to go along with the book – we made a wreath for Christmas, working together. It is not a fancy wreath and while I really like the looks of all those fancy wreaths I see on Pinterest, I just don’t see a reason to spend that kind of money. Even doing it myself would cost $30 or more for the materials. I like my shabby chic style wreaths. Especially when they cost $0. Zippo. Zilch. Nothing. I don’t have to shop. I don’t need specific materials. I use what we have on hand.

We began by looking around to see what we had. An old set of fairy wings that were coming apart. Lots of scraps of fabrics. Some ribbon left over from who-knows-what. Bingo – the makings of a wreath, no shopping necessary.

We cut the fabric off of one-fourth of the wings. Each quarter of the wings is a separate piece of wire. Once we cut it away, one of the girls rounded it out.

Using my rotary cutter and a quilting square (both of which are totally optional but make the process go SO much faster), I cut strips of fabric that were approximately 1″x6″. I say approximately because it doesn’t matter if they are perfectly rectangular or not. They just need to tie.

Once I had about 20 strips, the girls sat down on the floor together to tie the strips to the ring. The process was made less tedious and repetitive by turning on A Charlie Brown Christmas to watch. Tying and watching, they filled up the ring with strips of fabric. I have no idea how many strips we cut and tied – probably around 350 or so. That is totally a guess, though. The more strips you tie on, the fuller the wreath will look.

We rummaged through the ribbon drawer to find some pretty Christmas-y ribbon and tied a big bow at the top. All done. A simple, cheap, and pleasant Christmas wreath that the girls had a hand in and are proud of. Done as a family, everything is more fun. At Home.

Tagged: Christmas, craft, DIY, home, Make It Work Monday, tutorial