My Five Buck Holiday Wreath

This past week, I was in the mood to make a wintery wreath for our very bare and unfestive looking front door. I've been feeling like a scrooge all season since this is our first Christmas in our new house and we're the ONLY ones on the block who didn't have even a dash of holiday decor on the outside of the house. I'm not saying I like all  or even most of the over the top glowing candy canes and giant blow up Santas, etc. that have recently popped up on our street, but I did feel like we weren't even trying. T'was time to to do something. Here's how it came together... 

Most thrifty craft projects begin, where else but Dollar Tree. I picked up the wooden wreath base and the two tubes of dull silvery balls (they were just the right shade so as to look a bit on the vintage side) for $3. To wrap the wreath base, I used scraps of cream muslin I snagged for a buck a while back at an estate sale. 

I cut about three lengths of muslin and ironed it to to freshen it as well as to keep one side of the strips folded over so the outside edge of the fabric would looked finished. I just glued down the fabric here and there underneath as I wrapped it around. And here we have our nice little base.

Next, I just started gluing on the silvery holiday balls sort of willy-nilly. One can kinda wing this part as the gaps between the ornaments get filled in with cream muslin ruffles, bits of twisted yarn and finished with vintage creamy buttons. It'll look like crap at first, but don't stop. Just keep gluing.. 

Once all the silver balls were glued on and the wreath was looking pretty wonky and weird, I cut out 3" circles of muslin and folded and hot glued them into little ruffle shapes. I probably made 30 of these babies. The more you fill in the gaps with them on the wreath, the more full and festive it looks. 

It also helps to have a snack, don't you think? Left over white chocolate-drizzled popcorn mixed with peanut m&ms was just sitting from a gathering the night before waiting to be eaten. Munch a little, glue a little. Munch, glue... 

Once the creamy ruffles were added, things started looking promising... 

Towards the end, I knew I wanted to add a bit more texture. I wound 8" pieces of yarn around two fingers, tied them off at the end and glued them in and around the balls and ruffles. It added a wintery flair, I thought. I also tucked in (via hot glue) clusters of creamy antique buttons. Couldn't help myself... 

And the finished product! I added a muslin ribbon to the top of the wreath, so it would hang nicely on my ugly front door. Alas. My one complaint is that I don't have a gorgeous smokey gray front door this year. Perhaps next year my door will be a lovely color so my wreath really looks blog-worthy. 

And that's how she came together folks. With my $3 worth of materials from Dollar Tree, muslin scraps, bits of yarn and 3 glue sticks I used, this little project couldn't have cost more than $5 - and I think it's something that can hang on the door well in to January perhaps even February. What's hanging on your door this holiday season??