Paper Crafts – Welcoming Spring With A Wreath

Editor’s Note: Crafting queen Vanessa Falle is back on site with a tutorial for a lovely spring themed wreath. Enjoy. Here she is:

As winter’s chill leaves the air and the sun’s rays invite the blossoms to come back for another season, I find that few things inspire me more than the beauty found in Nature. I especially love the variety of colors and shapes found in the many flowers and new blooms all around me. This month, we’ll make a lovely springtime wreath, celebrating the reappearance of flowers and butterflies. So, clear off your workspace and gather up the following things and we’ll get started.

Here’s What You Need:

- medium sized grapevine wreath,

- 2 – 6 printed sheets of scrap book paper,

- sheet of chipboard (12×12),

- acrylic paint,

- pencil,

- scissors,

- Xacto blade and craft mat,

- ribbon (2 pieces 24″ each),

- teeny embroidery pins (for securing ribbon ends),

- glitter,

- strong wet glue,

- super skinny paintbrush,

- distressing ink,

- decorative buttons, and

- assorted decorations (vintage skeleton key, butterfly shapes, pretty tags).

Let’s get going!

- Start by wrapping one of your lengths around the wreath in a way that looks pretty to you. Securely fasten the ends so they don’t unravel. Make sure the ends on the back are well concealed. Set aside.

- Next, freehand or trace a flourish/curlicue shape that will be used to adhere tiny paper flowers onto. Cut out with Xacto blade on your craft mat.

- Paint the shape with your acrylic paint and allow to dry. You may wish to distress the edges of the curlicue with your distress ink like I did. Once the paint has dried, tuck the curlicue shape into part of the ribbon that you wrapped around the wreath to secure the end.

- Using a strong wet glue, adhere to points on the wreath wherever the grapevine is making contact with the back side of the chipboard shape. Allow to dry completely.

- Next, we’ll make a whole bunch of flowers. This will take some time but you’ll love this part! Cut out an assortment of circles, drawn freehand from your printed papers.

- They will be layered with one smaller shape on top of a larger one, so be sure to create circles of varied sizes.

- On the wrong side (the back) of each circle, make a six-lined star shape, aiming for each line to cross near the center of the circle. It’s totally fine if they’re not perfect. In fact, that’s better!

- Now that you have stars drawn on the backs of each of your circles, trim out little V’s between each line taking great care not to snip the petals.

- Next, using your distressing ink, slightly darken the edges of each flower on the right side.

- Then with your skinny paint brush (or any other small, round stick-like tool), roll the outside edge of each petal towards the center so that it resembles the flower shown here:

- Determine where the top of your wreath will be and grab the remaining length of ribbon. Tie around the wreath so that it can be hung when it’s finished.

- When all of your flowers are cut, inked and rolled, stack them together with two per flower and adhere them together. Grab a little button and stick in the center of the flowers with a wet adhesive.

- Arrange around the edge of your wreath and on the tips of the curlicue chipboard shape, again using your wet adhesive.

- Get your heart chipboard shape. Cover the surface completely with wet adhesive. Sprinkle with glitter while wet and allow to dry. Once fully dried, adhere to the wreath in a spot that makes you happy.

- If you have other embellishments like skeleton keys, butterfly shapes or other ornamentation, go ahead and stick them on now in any remaining vacant spots and… Ta-Daaa! You’re done. It’s a great gift, or great to keep.

Thanks for joining me again this month. See you next time!

Tags: Comox Valley, craft, craft tutorial, creativity, Our Big Earth Media Co., Paper, paper crafts, paper wreath, Spring, tutorial, Vancouver Island, Vanessa Falle, wreath

Category: Crafts, CREATE & LEARN