Good morning!
School is out for summer and that means craft time! I have been trying to come up with a few decorations for my new classroom next year and found the perfect paper to make a Magnolia Wreath. This paper is in the “Earth” pack from Michael’s Craft Store. Of course, any dark/medium green cardstock paper will work – or go for another color! This is just what I happened to have on hand. I thought of doing a red, white and blue wreath as well for our annual Veteran’s Day Assembly as well… the possibilities are endless!
It really turned out WAY better than I thought it would turn out. I would not use this outside on a porch of course! But for a classroom, home school room, craft room or bedroom – it looks pretty cute! And you don’t have to pay $60 to $130 for one.
I also saw this sign in a store and re-created it for my main floor bathroom:
A friend on Facebook had someone make a sign for her on wood and posted a photo. I painted over an old canvas with white spray paint and was inspired by the design to create this one using vinyl:
Here are the tools you will need:
10 sheets of cardstock (11×8.5″), I used Earth from Michaels
mini hot glue gun or hot glue gun
2-3 hot glue sticks
a sheet of cardboard that is at least 15″x15″
scissors
a marker or dark pencil
a 16″ circular plate or object
a 11″ or so circular plate or object
STEPS:
- I took my large sheet of cardboard and played around with different sizes. I used my 16″ tray from Target and put it down on the cardboard. Then, I traced around it with a marker.
You can use anything around your house. Here is the tray I used and found in my kitchen.
Photo credit: Target.com - Then, I found a dinner plate in my cabinet – it is 11″ wide. So I used it to trace the second circle inside the larger circle. My marker made a mess on the plate – but a quick wipe of a wet paper towel cleaned it all up.
- Cut the donut/wreath shape. I started by cutting the outside circle with very, very sharp scissors. Cardboard is tough… but if you have some sharp scissors it will be okay. Once I got the big circle cut out, I jammed my scissors through the center and cut the inside circle out. Here’s a photo of what the cardboard will look like:
- For each piece of cardstock, fold it in half and then fold that in half again. So you should have a fourth piece of paper. Cut out TWO leaves from this which will give you 8 leaves total.
**You can also use a Cricut or Silhouette to cut out the 80 leaves… but I wanted my leaves to look not-all-the-same and this method of eye balling the leaf was faster for me. - Take all of your leaves and fold them in half – longways. Then, make 3 little cuts at the top like in the photo:
- Now that your leaves are done — here is the fun part! Hot gluing! If you have a hot glue gun with more than one setting, make sure it is on the lowest setting. Glue your leaves to the wreath using hot glue like in the photo. Overlap and be sure to angle them like in the photo. Once you go all the way around the wreath, simply tuck in that last one.
**The first time I made the wreath I ran out of leaves. So the second time I tried to be more careful and not overlap the leaves so much that I would run out. I overlapped the leaves just enough that the cardboard wouldn’t show through. Now at the very end of my second wreath – I had learned my lesson. I had about 15 leaves leftover to randomly put on the wreath to make it look more natural and cover a couple of spots that didn’t get covered all of the way. - Hang and enjoy! Since it is light and made of cardboard, you can bend a large paper clip and use that as a hanger. Or use string and glue the string onto the back.
