A Fun Valentine DIY Wreath

Hi y'all!  It may be the first grade teacher in me, but I just love holidays.  I get super excited for each one!  I break out the themed cookie cutters, hang up my seasonal apron, and deck  the halls.  Well, for this holiday, just the mantel.

I knew I wanted to do a fun circle and pin wreath since I had great success with this on my burlap circle.  FYI, working with burlap is messy, and itchy, and well, messy.  But, it yields beautiful results.  Here's a quick look at what inspired my V-day wreath:

So easy, and so pretty!  Here's what you need for the red, heart shaped wreath:

Materials:

• 1-1.5 yards of red felt (or pink if you like)
• 1 package of dress pins
• sewing scissors
• foam heart shaped wreath form (my store had only one size)
• some sort of circle template (I made one out of a paint sample card and a juice glass)

First, make your template.  Just a tip, I tried a circle punch with this project and the felt is too difficult to cut this way.  You're better off with a template.

Next, cut your felt into long strips about 4 inches wide, the length of the felt.  Then, you will cut the strips into squares, and eventually, holding your circle template over top, cut the squares into circles.  It's a lot of cutting, but you can do it!  Don't cut all of your felt up at once.  I did a few strips at a time in case I didn't use it all, which I didn't.  This left me a big enough piece of felt to do another project with.

When you have enough circles, it's time to start pinning!  Fold your circle in half...

                        Then, in half again.  You will have a sort of rose-bud shape.  Very cute.

Now, just pin those babies on! 

Keep going!  There's really no secret.  Just cover the foam.

                                          You did it!  And it looks fab.  Now, to hang it...

You could hang it on a ribbon.  I tried this and I didn't like the look.  I worked hard on those rosettes and I wanted them to show!  So, I decided to hang it from a command hook on the mirror above my mantel.  Cut a thin strip of leftover felt.

Cross the ends to form a loop.

Secure it into the foam with pins.  I used 4 pins.  Test it to make sure it will stay in when it takes the weight of the wreath.

There you go!  You're festive now!

To create the rest of my Valentine Mantel, I filled my apothecary jars with seasonal candy (for another project later), tissue paper strips, and curled ribbon, which nicely decided to static cling to the sides of the jar.  I also make a V-day banner with leftover felt cut into hearts and hot glued to a red ribbon.  Easy peasy.  Have fun trying it out!