Crafty Christmas: Yarn Wreaths!

This was a great Christmas! I can't put my finger on what exactly made this Christmas so wonderful... I think it was just the combination of family time, friend time, and not too much shopping... I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. I know that year-round, but what better time than Christmas to reflect on how much love I have for the people in my life...

So, as I mentioned before, my goal this year was to make all of my Christmas gifts. Mission accomplished! Well actually, that's not true. In addition to handmade gifts, I also gave donations to SOS in honor of my parents and brother. I'm not writing about this to brag--instead, hopefully I can inspire others to give similar gifts! Anyway, I tried my best to take pictures of the gift-making process so that I could document it all here on my blog. Today I am going to post pictures of all the wreaths I have made in the past couple weeks. I posted a picture last week of the Memphis Tigers wreath I made for a friend... Here is a picture of my original argyle wreath, a Detroit Tigers wreath that I gave my dad for Christmas:

Yarn wreaths are really easy to make, and incredibly inexpensive, but they are a little bit time-consuming. I start by wrapping a straw wreath (anywhere from 10 to 14 inches, all costing under $5) a couple times around with whatever yarn I have on hand. I have a ton of yarn left over from old knitting projects, so I've been using a lot of that. If I have to buy yarn, I usually buy the "I Love This Yarn!" brand at Hobby Lobby because it is cheap and it comes in lots of pretty colors.

Straw wreath wrapped in yarn. I made a little loop at the top for hanging.

For the argyle pattern, I measured the circumference of the wreath, did some quick math to figure out how many diamonds would fit around the wreath, and then made a diamond stencil out of a scrap of paper. I cut diamonds out of felt and hot-glued them around the wreath.

Lay the diamonds out before gluing them, just to make sure they fit. I keep ending up with one extra, but the rest fit perfectly... just a mystery, I guess.

 Choose a contrasting color of yarn for the argyle stripes. Glue the yarn to the back of the wreath...

...and wrap the yarn around the wreath in one direction, making sure the yarn passes through the center of each diamond. Glue the end of the yarn on the back of the wreath.

Then do the same thing again, but wrap the yarn in the other direction so that it makes an X on each diamond. I covered the ends of the gray yarn with a scrap piece of felt, just so it looks neat... not like it matters, since it's on the back of the wreath, but I'm an OCD crafter :)

Finished argyle!

 To make this a "manly" wreath for my dad, I sketched a stencil of the Detroit Tigers logo, traced it onto orange felt, and cut it out. I'm pretty sure that sketching a Tigers logo that actually looks like the Tigers logo is the highlight of my crafting career. I'm super proud.

 

Then I painted both sides of the felt with ModPodge to stiffen it, let it dry overnight, and hot glued it to the corner of the wreath.

 

Dad seemed pretty excited about his manly wreath! He has been bugging me for a while to make a wreath for his office, but I don't think he expected me to actually do it. When he found out I was making all of my gifts, I could tell it was driving him crazy trying to figure out what I was planning to make for him. Along with the wreath, I made him some coasters with Frank Lloyd Wright prints on them, but I'll post pictures of those later.

Here are a few more wreaths I made for Christmas:

I made this for fun one day, and it ended up in mom's kitchen. She got a bonus gift, I guess!

 

I made this one for my grandma, using scraps from old knitting projects.

This one might be my favorite. I made it for my friend Butler who loves black, pink, and tie-dye...

To make the little paper pinwheel things, I cut two strips of paper, folded them like an accordion, and glued the ends together...

 

Make sure the strips of paper are the same width. This one is about an inch.

 Then I pushed the edges little accordion circle together, hot glued the center, and held it in place until the glue dried.

 

I covered up the messy hot-glue centers with little paper circles.

This is how I wrapped the wreath--recycled an old grocery bag, and decorated it with leftover yarn and paper!

I hope you all had a truly marvelous Christmas! I can't wait to share more of the fun gifts I made. Check back for more pictures and instructions for making coasters, etching glass, and the personalized last-name framed art I created for my mom.