Best DIY EVAH!

FYI...this is possibly my most favourite DIY in recent memory! I have made some cool things, in that much I am certain, but this is by far the most beautiful, and I am in lurve.

Today I will show you how to take the remnants of your leftover, real-life Christmas wreath, and turn it into a gorgeous winter wreath. Oh my...

You will need:
- ribbon...pick a colour that you love, and that you find matching flowers or fabric for (I like the blue, but pink or silver/grey would make a beautiful winter wreath as well)
- thin wire
- wire cutters, or strong scissors
- feathers, flowers, fabric, tissue paper, brads, beads, etc. (embellishments...I will show you how to make a couple, but if you have readymade things to adhere to your wreath, all the more power to ya!)
- a broom, vacuum, or dustbuster to clean up all the needles on your floor after you're done!

Step One: Remove from your wreath any velvet ribbons, or pinecones, or fake berries that are on there. They are most likely attached with floral wire, so grab your wire cutters and get rid of them!

Step Two: Wrap and wire your ribbon.
For the wider strands I wove the wire through the end to make the attachment a little more sturdy.

Twist your wire around the metal frame of the wreath in the back, then wrap your ribbon around the front, and keep going until you run out of ribbon. Run a wire through this end, and twist it around the frame like you did at the beginning.

I like to start the next ribbon in between the last gap of the previous ribbon. This way the wreath looks less striped and more like the differences in ribbon are on purpose, and not because I didn't have enough ribbon to go around the whole thing! If you have enough ribbon to go around the entire wreath, go for it! But I like the look of all the different colours and textures of the different ribbons.

One you have finished wrapping ribbon around the entirety of the wreath, you can start embellishing it. If you have pre-made flowers, or snowflakes, or whatever the heck else you might want to attach to the wreath, go ahead and attach them now using thin wire (jewelry, floral, whatever you have on hand). If you want to learn how to make your own, keep going!

Paper Circles: Grab some neutral tissue paper, and some white paper (printer paper works fine...it doesn't have to be fancy) and start cutting random, haphazard circles. It works really well to layer your paper, then cut all the layers at once. Pull apart the layers, and then piece them back together in a random-looking way. Now grab a brad and fasten them all together.

To attach these to you wreath, grab a length of your wire and fasten one end to the flower by twisting it around the back of the brad. The other end goes through the wreath to the wire frame in the back.

Fabric Flowers: Grab a length of fabric and some fabric glue. I twisted and layered the fabric until it made sort of a flower shape. Then I glued a whack load of feathers to the back. I guess I didn't take a picture of the step, just the finished product!

Those beaded-wire-star things are leftover from a terribly ugly candle holder I dismantled. I wire the strands together, then back into the wreath. If they got floppy, I used a second piece of wire to hold the ends to the wreath. You can sort of see that wire, but I'm not too worried.

And the finished wreath...

...looks so awesome on my door! I'm going to make all the neighbours jealous!

I have a small swag of branches that used to hang on my door that I am going to try and fancy-up next! Maybe in a different colour...I'll have to see what I can wrangle up for pretty things to attach to it!

later skater alligator