I have perhaps gone a bit wild with diy holiday decorations. I am cuckoo for Christmas crafts. Paper chains, yarn wreaths, personalized glass bulb ornaments, cards and tags... the list goes on. My latest project, which I had SO much fun with, are these paper circle wreaths, made after I read a tutorial on Craftsylish:
They're bright, festive and adorable and, hello, they are cheap as hizzell, especially if you already own some circle punches. The tutorial calls for a store bought styrofoam wreath base, but to make this craft even more wallet-friendly, (okay, truth: I was too lazy to go to the craft store) I cut my own flat bases.
You can use any thick paper, like a cardboard box. Just pick out one large circular item (I used a dinner plate) and trace it on the paper. This will form the diameter of your wreath. Then choose one proportionate smaller circular item (I used a cereal bowl), trace it in the center of the larger circle. That will form the hole in the center of the wreath. Use scissors to cut around your traced circles. I made mine out of an old shirt box which isn't as sturdy, but was really easy to cut through.
Once you've got your base, it's time to punch out your circles. This is the fun part to me. I live for kickass paper and love to pick out patterns that go together.
I hate to just throw out big chunks of the pretty sheets,so I punched little circles from the sections in between the large ones. See,hardly anything wasted:
Then, following the instructions on the original tutorial, I just glued the circles down overlapping each other along the edges of the wreath. I only needed to glue two layers to cover my bases, as opposed to the four called for in the tutorial. Double woot. Things went so well that I cut some more wreath bases in different sizes. I ended up with one green wreath, one red one and two multi-colored lovelies. I also grouped little trios of extra small circles to make little berry bunches:
And I have been very much enjoying the fruits of my labor at work and at home. Seriously, this is an ideal craft. As the tutorial claims, it is simple, thrifty and fun. Don't worry about putting them on in perfect curves. Gather the kids or the not so crafty friends and slap them on. They'll still look cute, I promise.
Raising the roof for Xmas!!!
