Quick, Cheap Wreaths

You already know that I love wreaths and I recently shared a sprucing up of another wreath handed down to me. I was looking for a quick way to make two for my outside doors without spending any money and not feeling bad if they get wrecked by the weather. With supplies I already had I quickly put together these two wreaths. Perhaps an hour project if you don't have a sick baby needing your attention constantly. Sure felt great being creative though.

Supplies: 

Anything you already have and two dollar store wreaths from a previous years decorations. I had some leftover red ribbon (maybe four feet), vintage cotton snow flakes handed down to me, a glue gun, and some gold beads (not shown in first picture). Basically this cost me nothing this year but time and energy. 

I removed the red ribbons from the wreaths (and actually threw them out they were that yucky!) and spread out the needles so they looked fuller. I cut the ribbon evenly in half, attached one end on the back of the wire frame of the wreath with hot glue and wrapped it around the wreath. Once I was happy with how the ribbon looked I hot glued the other end to the wire frame. 

Next, I cut off the hangers on the snow flakes and positioned them on the wreaths until I was satisfied how they looked. With some more hot glue I secured the snow flakes in a couple places each to ensure they wouldn't blow off in the outside wind. For a final touch, I hot glued on some cheap gold beads I had left over from a project Jackie and I did years and years ago now with baby food jars.  

The best thing about these wreaths is that there is room to grow. I am not convinced that they are finished and they can easily be pulled back apart without feeling any guilt if you aren't happy with the outcome. I really wanted to make a fresh wreath but didn't feel like sabotaging my pine trees to make them. Perhaps next year we will buy a real tree and I can make wreaths from cutting then...

I think one of my next projects will be snow globes. Martha Stewart Living several years ago featured a cute homemade snow globe project but I just LOVE how Ashley Ann's snow globes turned out. Darling!!!

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Update 12/8/2011:
My lovely husband (with a chuck of gauze in his mouth after an afternoon getting teeth extracted) hammered two nails into my outside doors before heading upstairs for bed. Here is the finished and hung wreath(s). 

While sitting in the dentist's lush waiting room (our dentist Dr. Maggie A. Kleem in Berea, Ohio is AMAZING!!) playing with the baby, drinking a large, wonderful cup of coffee, and looking at the December issue of Woman's Day, I was inspired by their creative Christmas wreaths. Gulp! They are gorgeous and put my two little wreaths to shame. So here they are to be inspired with me and visit Woman's Day for the how to. Be kind in comparing!