Cross Wreath Project

Philippians 4:8

King James Version (KJV)

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.


I hope your week is going well! It's a dark and stormy day today, so I'm very grateful to be in my dry, warm house wearing my fuzzy slippers and blogging. Some days it just feels so good to stay home.

A day like today would be perfect to make this craft. Since I rededicated my life to God, my goal has been to "shine the light". To let others know about how wonderful God is and how much he means to me. When people come to my house now, before they even come inside they will know that I love Jesus and our house is a house of faith. For the last couple years I've had a cute resin rock on my front porch that I found at Hobby Lobby. It has a cross on it and says "Bless this House". I love that rock, but it's off to the side and down low. I wanted some thing still somewhat subtle (I'm not a flashy person by nature), but that people would definitely see to define our house as a Christian household.  So...I made a cross wreath to hang on my front door. 


As with most crafts, one thing I love about this is how easily you can customize it to your tastes and color-scheme. 


What you need:


1 foam wreath form
an old towel (optional)
Base color ribbon (approx. 8 yards)
Ribbon for flowers (approx. 4 yards)
Plain floral staples or "T" head pins
Pearl-top stick pins
Decorative cross

(This step is totally optional.) I wanted my wreath to be thicker, so I cut up a couple of old hand towels into 2" strips, wrapped the form with them, and secured the ends with floral staples pushed directly into the foam. 

Next, take your base color ribbon, insert a floral staple or "t" pin at the beginning of the ribbon into the foam, and start wrapping the wreath. 

When you come to the end of your first roll of ribbon and need to attach your second roll, align the ribbon ends as shown below, and pin it so that the new ribbon will fold over the pin, making a neat transition.

See? The seam isn't nearly as noticeable. You can make the seam the back side of the wreath or cover it with flowers, etc. if desired.

Finish wrapping the wreath, pin it, and leave the tail-end of the ribbon on for easy straight-style hanging, or make a loop and pin it if you want to hang it from a wreath hanger.

Next is your decorations! There are tons of tutorials on the internet on how to make fabric and ribbon flowers. Feel free to use any of those, this one here, or you can even purchase pre-made fabric flowers at your local craft store now! At my Hobby Lobby they are sold with the beading supplies. 

I used a decorative ribbon that was plain on the back side, so first I folded the ribbon in half and added a dab of hot glue to keep it folded. Then rolled the ribbon several times to make the center of the flower. Once you're happy with your center, begin lightly twisting the ribbon and circling the flower center. Secure it with a dab of hot glue wherever you think it needs securing. Notice that I didn't cut my ribbon to do this flower, but left it attached to the roll. That way I could make my flower as big as I wanted and cut the ribbon when I was happy with my flower. Note: don't make your flower too tight or you'll use a lot of ribbon really fast!

When you're happy with your flower, snip the ribbon, fold it over on the back side and glue down. 

You have a finished flower!

After making my first flower, I realized that I wanted my other two to be a little different. I didn't want the tight center to limit the amount of pretty pins I could put in it. So, I made some really loose smaller flowers. 

Start them the same way, by folding and gluing the end, so you have the pretty side out on both sides. Then fold the ribbon over upon itself and glue to make a flat center, like the second photo. 

 

Begin very loosely folding and gluing to make your flower. 

Finish the same way as the first flower, by snipping your ribbon, folding it over the back of the flower and gluing down. I then glued some curly present ribbon in a coordinating color to the back, just to make it a little more fun. 

I also decided that the flowers could use some green ribbon "leaves".  Just glue loops to the back to make your leaves!

Next, hot glue around the edges of the flower and adhere where you want them on your wreath. Don't get your glue in the very center or your pins won't go through! After gluing, push the decorative pearl pins in the center of the flowers. You could also add buttons for a cute look!

Lastly, I attached a pretty cross I found at Hobby Lobby. It had a small hanger on the back that I put a floral staple through into the wreath. I then glued the rest of the cross to the wreath for extra strength. 

I simply attached the extra ribbon from the wreath to the very top of my front door, using a flat push pin or two to secure it. The pin will be flat enough against the top of the door so as not to impede closing.

God bless!