How to Update Your Christmas Wreath

 

Hey! I hope you all survived Black Friday but more importantly had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!  Lots more decorating and shopping done here at the castle, starting to be able to sit back and enjoy the fun stuff. Woo Hoo!

In an earlier post I gave you a sneak peak at my Christmas decor. Today, I begin sharing just exactly what goes into getting the castle ready for the holiday season. This year I wanted to go more simple. ( If you know me well I know you are laughing! Cuz it is so dang hard for me to go really simple!) I also wanted to use more of the things that I already had. With that said, today I am going to show you How to update your Christmas wreath.

I am apologizing ahead of time, this post has tons of pics and is a little long so grab a drink and settle in and enjoy!

Here’s my old one… yikes!  It definitely seen better days!

 

So I ripped everything off.  I will reuse some of it, but the ribbon had to go. The flowers? Out of there! In this case, it was the majority of the decorations so it was just easier to start at the beginning.  After removing everything, I “fluffed” the wreath.

 

I like to start with the ribbon.  You could glue your ribbon in, or you can simply take two pieces of the wreath and twist it around the ribbon.

 

Running the ribbon loosely around the wreath, I twist the ribbon every so often, leaving plenty of slack in the ribbon to fluff at the end.

 

You could add just one ribbon, but my motto is if one is good two is better! I add a smaller ribbon the same way I did the first one. I start in the same starting place ( only one ugly place to hide later) and followed the first ribbon for placement – with one exception.  I alternate the placement of the second ribbon – placing it in the front of the first ribbon loop, then placing the it on the back side of the next loop. Have I lost you yet?  Just alternate between placing the first ribbon in front or back of the larger ribbon. It gives more interest and movement. Now your ribbon is done!

 

You could be totally done at this point and ready to add whatever embellishments that you want.  I chose to go ahead and add a bow made from my ribbon.

This is truly the easiest bow ever!  I generally make this bow when I am using really wide ribbon. The ribbon I used was 5 inches wide. With the ribbon  facing toward you, Run the ribbon away from you, at about six inches  up, grab ribbon and make a loop. This loop can be any size you want.  At this point you will have a six inch tail and one loop of your bow.

Now here is the only part that is important for this ribbon to look good. Normally at this point I would just twist and be done, but this ribbon is really wide. If you just twist it kind of wads up. Pleat the ribbon and then twist.  I makes the ribbon prettier, when done.  So now you have completed your first loop.  Make your second loop only in reverse, pleat, twist and cut , leaving  a six inch tail. Make sure that your tail is the same size as the first.

 

Now using a smaller width of ribbon, I used the same 2 inch green ribbon as on my wreath, I cut about 12 inches and placing it flat in the middle of the bow where I pleated and twisted my bow. Simply tie a knot on the back side of the bow. You may need an extra set of hands or if you are like me I use my teeth. Yucky I know, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do! Ha!  Using the same green ribbon tails that you tied the bow together with, tie it to your wreath.  Fluff. Ta Da!  you’re done.

 

Here is what mine looks like at this point.  Now I just glue the original sparkly bulbs and snowflakes that were on the original wreath onto the wreath.  And this baby is DONE!!!

 

TA DA!!!! MUCH better!

This wreath update took little time and I used only things that I had to had on hand.  Simple and blingy at the same time.

Here is a list of my supplies:

5 inch ribbon

2 inch ribbon

old wreath 

scissors

glue gun or glue of your choice

That’s it for today.  I have a few more things to share with you and then I promise that I will give you the complete Christmas Castle tour.

If you would like to stalk me… go to www.patinaandpaint.com and sign up!

Until next time…