DIY Project #3: Burlap Monogram Wreath & Bow Tutorial

      I can't believe the weekend is already over!!! Ugh.  Anyway, I can't really complain because I had a WONDERFUL time at my sister's engagement party last night in Atlanta!  It was a blast!  My beautiful sister Laura is getting married in October to her fiance, Bruce, and last night Bruce's brother, Brent, and his wife Cherise, threw a gorgeous engagement party at their lovely home in Buckhead.  I seriously thought I was at a party straight from a Pinterest pinboard...wow!  So basically I walked around like the Paparazzi snapping pictures of everything...including food...especially the cheese plates.  I'm sure that made me come across as super sophisticated and high class.  I bet they were all looking at me like, "Really, has this girl never seen cheese before?"  I digress... but there will be pictures to come later of the fab party..... I promise!
     Today, however, I am blogging about something much more serious in nature...wreath making. :) So, here's the deal:  I always see these gorgeous burlap wreaths on Etsy with beautiful one letter and three letter monograms that I LOVE, but I'm really not a huge fan of the price tags, which range from $50 to $80 and sometimes more!! So as any decent DIYer would do, I said to myself, "I love that wreath, but I shalt not pay someone else to do what I can do for myself.  I shall Google it!"  So I did.. and I found out that these little wreaths are quite easy to make, in fact!
    I had made a Christmas deco mesh wreath a few months back that I made using one method (will share another day),  but I liked this method much better!  I think it made a more tight knit, fuller wreath with not so much space in between each loop, which I like.

     So, here we go!!  First, I went to Carolina Pottery to get my supplies.  This is a local craft/decor supply store in West Columbia, SC, but you could get these same supplies at any well-stocked craft store such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels.  Here's a note... I actually did not end up buying actual burlap ribbon.  They did have real burlap ribbon, but they also had this deco-mesh ribbon that looked exactly like burlap but was more plastic-like instead of cloth-like.  I actually chose this material over the true burlap because it seemed to fray less and I figured it would be more resilient against the heat, rain, etc. of the great outdoors since it more resembled plastic than fabric.  But real burlap would be fine too, though. :)

TOTAL SUPPLIES:  Around $33  (much better than Etsy's $60+) That's almost half price!!

    First, unwrap the deco mesh and fold the mesh ribbon in half to shorten the width of each loop in the wreath.  This will make the loops more full. Tie a twist-tie to the end of the folded mesh ribbon and attach it to one of the inner cross-pieces on the wire wreath form.

Pull the folded mesh ribbon underneath the wire wreath form and pull a loop of it through the innermost section on the wire form.  The more you pull it through, the bigger your loops will be.  You can easily adjust this to make your wreath loops bigger or smaller.  Make sure the ribbon stays folded in half as you pull it through.

    Now, pull another loop through the middle section on the wire wreath form, right in front of the previous loop. Try to make sure the loops are about the same size.

Now pull a 3rd loop through the outermost section of the wire wreath form.  You should now have 3 loops right in a row. 

Here is what the 3 loops should look like from the side.

Now, you're basically going to do this all the way around the wire wreath form.  You just pull 3 loops through, then bring the folded mesh ribbon around to the front again and do 3 more loops, etc.  Here you can see I have done two side by side sets of the triple loops.

Keep going around the whole wreath.  If you want to go the easier route, you can just do one set of 3 loops for every section on the wire wreath form.  But for a fuller wreath, you can squeeze in two sets of 3 loops into every section, which is what I did.  I really had to squeeze the ribbon down when I started the 2nd set of 3 loops, because the mesh ribbon naturally expands from cross-piece to cross-piece.  But I think it made it more full and fluffy!

When I got to the end of one roll of the mesh ribbon, I tied it off with a twist tie as you see below and then attached the new roll with another twist tie.  You won't be able to see the twist ties or where the two rolls of ribbon meet once the whole thing is done. The big fluffy loops cover it all up.

This is what your wreath should look like when it is finished....

     So, now you have a beautiful wreath that looks really boring and bland.  It needs a bow....for sho.  Haha I made a rhyme  :)  What wreath is complete without a BIG BODACIOUS bow?!??!  I mean, seriously?
     Now, I'm just going to give you a little background on my bow making skills.  Yeah.......um........they don't exist.  I stink at making bows. I've tried every YouTube bow making video there is, and I even bought this thing called a "Bow-Dabra" from Micheal's and all my bows stunk.  Until, that is...I came upon this new contraption called the "Pro-Bow." I was at once enthralled by the perfectly beautiful bows that came out of this thing.  I mean, it's awesome!! I knew I had to have one.  I found one online and it has been the best thing ever!  I use it to make all of my bows for wreaths, holiday decor, event for pretty bows on tops of Christmas presents.  It has been so useful, and as you can see, it makes one beautiful bow!  I highly recommend it.   You can purchase your own Pro-Bow HERE.

   
Last, I spray painted a wooden Letter "B" I found at the craft store.  I just hot glued some twist ties to the back of the "B" and twist tied it to the wreath too.  Simple as that! And here is the finished product.....a beautiful monogram burlap wreath!

  I just love it!!!

Thanks for staying with me for DIY Project #3!  Stay tuned for the next DIY project...soon to come!!!
   God Bless! :)