Dress Up Your Entryway With This Thanksgiving Wreath

Hydrangeas blooms are perfect for year-round décor.  Earthy tones for Fall, Jewel tones for winter holidays, blues and whites for winter months, and then bring in Spring and Summer colors for delightful and colorful options.  Add a plaque you paint, stencil, add vinyl to or create one of paper using your electronic cutting machine and software to create one made totally of paper. There are lots of choices and materials to choose from.

Files used from Creative Fabrica are:

Hydrangea Paper Flower Templates (designed by maison.gregoria)

Farmhouse Sign SVG Bundle (designed by Rumi Designed)

You’ll also need:

• Cardstock (AC Cardstock – 80 lb)
• Markers – Spectrum Noir
• eBrush by Craftwell / SN adapter
• Electronic cutting machine (Skycut C24 and SCAL5 Pro)
• Printer (optional)
• Vinyl (optional)
• Petite pearl headed pins (craft store – floral department)
• Styrofoam balls (3” rounds cut in half)
• Acrylic paint (coordinate the color with your cardstock)
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Iridescent mica
• Rubbing alcohol
• Small spray bottle
• Wire
• Ribbon
• Small wooden plaque or 3D -SVG plaque file (file is now available at this time)
• 14-inch wreath – your choice of material

Find the perfect wreath!  We’re recycling a burlap-wrapped wreath in this project, but you can use an embroidery hoop, straw wreath, grapevine, or wreath of any material that will suit your fancy.

Let’s get the cutting done

Open your cutting machine software.  Open the Hydrangea file. Having opted to use another method to assemble the blooms, you’ll only need the medium and smaller blossoms in the file.  If you choose to wire the blooms, then cut and assemble as directed in the tutorial included with the file. 

For the assembly option used in this project, cut all the small and medium blossoms in the file for one bloom. Cut the leaves.  You don’t need to make any changes to sizing.  Repeat the process for the number of remaining blooms you’ll need for your wreath. 

Open the Farmhouse bundle and select your saying.  “Gather” was selected for this plaque from the collection of Farmhouse SVGs included in the bundle.  A print-to-cut option was used for this project, but you could cut the saying in vinyl and apply it to a wood plaque that has been prepped for vinyl application.  Set the finished plaque aside. 

NOTE:  a bleached wood background was used behind the quote and was integrated into the shape using the “Pattern Fill” command in the SCAL software. 

Once the printing has been completed, use the Print 2 Cut commands in your software program to cut the panel for the front of the plaque

Let’s color and assemble the blooms and create a wreath

Once all the cutting has been completed, inking the blossoms is a breeze with the eBrush and a marker.  For this project, markers from Spectrum Noir were used to add the color along the edges of the blossoms.  See images below.  A deep red/brown was used to ink the rust-colored pieces and purple was used to edge the deep red pieces. 

Curl the edges of the blossoms as shown in the videos included with the Hydrangea flower file.  Set aside while you prep the Styrofoam.

REMINDER:  An alternative method of creating the blooms was used instead of using wire to form the larger bloom. 

First, let’s prep the Styrofoam balls by painting them with acrylic paint and a foam brush.  Full coverage may require an additional coat of paint.  Let dry.  Brown and black tube acrylic paints were used.  TIP:  Be sure to use water-based paints or paint specifically designed to be used with Styrofoam.  Styrofoam will melt if enamel or oil-based paints are used. 

The paint should be thoroughly dry when you begin to pin the blossoms on.  Using the Petite pearl head pins, pin the blossoms to the balls.  Cover the surface of the ball.  Place the blossoms close together.  You don’t want much, if any, of the Styrofoam showing through.  Repeat for each of the blooms.

A total of 6 blooms were made, but only 5 of the blooms were used for the wreath in this project. 

Emboss the leaves as shown in the videos that accompany the tutorial found in the file folder or use an embossing folder to add some additional texture.  You can also add some inking along the edge using the eBrush or an ink pad.

Arrange the blooms, leaves and position the plaque on the wreath.  Glue in place.  Some leaves were cut down slightly to look a little more realistic with the 3-inch half balls.  Use plenty of hot glue. 

Glue the plaque into place OR use some wire or strong fishing line to secure the plaque in place.  Since the plaque used in this project was made of paper, it was lightweight enough to use hot glue to secure it in place.

Add a ribbon bow in a complimentary color or print and secure it in place with hot glue.  Allow the ends to flow over the top of the plaque and down the side a bit. 

For a little added shimmer, place a small amount of mica in the bottom of the spray bottle.  Add a tablespoon of rubbing alcohol. Replace the mister and shake.  Lightly spritz the blooms and leaves and bow. 

Display your wreath where it will not be directly subjected to changes in weather or significant temperature ups and downs. 

If you choose to create a wreath using this idea as your inspiration, we invite you to share your creation with Creative Fabrica as well.  We’d love to see your work!  For additional inspiration, please visit Jan’s author page at The Artistry or visit her blog.