Ribbon Wreath Tutorial

Okay so I have a confession to make, I just realized that I have a problem with ribbon.  I totally blame my friends site Ribbononlogy .  I have so much that I didnt know what to do with it all....a girl can only make so many hair bows, and with my only daughter getting older she is anti bows right now anyway.  So while discussing my dilemma with some friends she told me to look into ribbon wreaths......I LOVE THEM!  Thanks Tina!

So with that being said I wanted to do a tutorial to help you all make a beautiful ribbon wreath.  So lets get started.

You will need:
Scissors

10 yards of pretty ribbon different widths most of mine are 7/8 with a few 1in. and 3/8 thrown in
    if you just have a bin of scraps you could use that too there is no need to buy a ton of new ribbon if  you have a ton of scraps

1 spool of 2in plain ribbon 

glue gun (I like the multi temp glue gun for this because the cool setting works best)

glue sticks ( if you have the multi temp glue gun just make sure you have multi temp sticks)

12in wreath.   You can use a Styrofoam wreath or you can use one of the straw wreaths
                      ( straw wreaths are allot cheaper and both use the same amount of ribbon )

Be prepared for a crazy amount of pics :)


So to start I got all my matching ribbon out 

 and picked a few that I wanted to use, I like using allot of different ribbon so I used about 10 different designs 1 yard of each

 
 Cut all your ribbon into 4in lengths

Once all your ribbon is cut put aside and grab your wreath

Here are the 2 different type of wreaths I was talking about.  In this tutorial I used the Styrofoam wreath.  I will show you other pics after the tutorial and for all of those I used the straw wreaths.

Now with the plain ribbon I take my wreath and cover it.  I just thinks it looks better and it gets less damaged if its styrofoam and if its the straw wreath it lays better on the wall.

I just take the end and glue it on.  I have a 2 temp hot glue gun though, I feel these work best because I can keep it on the cool setting and it doesn't melt the Styrofoam or plastic around the straw wreath (I do leave the plastic wrap on if using straw)  If you don't have a multi temp you can still use it and be just fine I would just put the glue directly on the ribbon and hold it for a second before placing on the wreath.

Then just start wrapping

Now with the wreath wrapped I just start putting my ribbon on according to ribbon pattern that way you can separate the patterns and make sure all spaces are getting filled.

Getting there see how you can still see the gaps, so I just keep adding.

Once all ribbons are added I just added my bells underneath

you can tell they are just glued on under the ribbon rolls, not real neat but wanted to make sure they were center.

Next I added my ribbon hanger for the back.  I covered it with a slip of the left over ribbon used for covering the wreath just so it looks nice.

 Now that its done you can decorate it anyway you want!  I put a bow made out of a different 2in ribbon on this one and some bells I got from the dollar store.  

Here are some pictures of other wreaths I made with other decorations.  All these were made with the straw wreaths

again this one I just used a different ribbon for the bow and added a bling center that I just had laying around.  The bells I got at my dollar store.

Here is a winter theme I made and I got the star ornaments from the dollar store in the Christmas section.  I swear dollar store decorations are the best for decorating things like these!

Here is a Thanksgiving wreath I made.  I got the leaves at JoAnns but yet again they were in the dollar section!  The green leaves at the top are from the grave blanket picks I just pulled them off.

And lastly:

Here is a Halloween one I made.....it was my very first one and I made some mistakes along the way but it turned out pretty good still.  I added the bats, and spider just from my scrap stash I had lying around but I made the web out of yarn and Popsicle sticks.  I can teach you how if you want to know.

Well I hope you liked my wreaths and if you have any questions at all please feel free to ask I will answer best as I can :)  I have never done a tutorial before so I hope it helps you all make some amazing wreaths!  Please if you make one send me a pic I will post on my blog for all to see, I would love to see what everyone creates!!!!

Have a great Holiday Season if I don't talk to you all before Christmas.  Thanks for spending time with me,
Theresa