Winter Wreath

I've never been a wreath person but after having a fall wreath that I adored...And then my pain-in-the-butt yet beautiful Ornament wreath...I've become accustomed to seeing something pretty on the front door whenever I come home. Now it looks downright naked. To avoid making a wreath that could be confused with a forgotten Christmas decoration I decided to keep it really simple. Just a glittered grapevine wreath and some pretty, ice colored ribbon. I wish I could capture how pretty the subtle brown glitter is that's all over the wreath but I just can't pick it up on film. ):I also had a beautiful, large, faux crystal snowflake that I picked up after the holidays that I was going to hang in the middle of the wreath but for the life of me I can't find the darn thing. (double sad face.)

I still like it though and thought you might too. Here's a quick tutorial showing you how to glitter the wreath and make your own ribbon bows;
You'll need: 1 grapevine wreath (around $4 at Michael's), hot glue, craft adhesive spray, MS glitter in "Brownstone" & ribbon. (preferably wired)

1st I covered my work surface with parchment paper since I'll be using a spray adhesive. Next working in about 8" areas I gave the wreath a good spray of craft adhesive & then sprinkled it with the brown glitter.Here it is 1/2 done, can you see the difference between glittered and non-glittered side?

To make sure it looks even from different angles I also went around the inner edge and outer edge with glue and glitter.Set your wreath aside to dry. In the meantime let's make a big loopy bow. It's really quite easy, you can use a needle and thread or go the super easy route and use a hot glue gun like I did. Start by making one loop that's 1/2 of the size of what you want your finished bow to be. Tack down with a dab of glue.Next make another loop right below your first, tack into place. Continue with two more sets of loops on the other side of the bow. It should look something like this...To make it look like a hand-tied bow we'll glue a knot in the center. Take an 8" strip of ribbon and tie a loose knot in the center of it, open it up a bit if you need to, you should have something like this...Place a dab of glue on the back of the knot and then glue onto the center of your bow. Pull the strips of the knotted piece around your bow and tack down on the backside of the bow. Trim off any excess. For the tail take a long piece of ribbon (twice the finished tail length) and thread it through a branch at the top of your wreath, knot in place. Curl the ribbon by lightly wrapping them around your hand. Finally just glue your bow right on top!There we are, project #8 in the '30 for $30' glitter series & a no longer naked door. (: