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April 19, 2016 by: Shell

Easy Spring Wreath Plus How to Make a Bow for a Wreath

You know I’m a huge fan of easy crafts. I’ve learned that it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or any real crafting ability in order to know how to make an easy wreath. And they all end up being cheaper than buying one (this one costs me $11 in supplies and I could spend just a few more to make another with the leftover supplies).

how to make a wreath bow

This DIY Spring wreath is super simple. The only thing that takes a bit of playing around is learning how to tie a bow for a wreath. But what’s great about this is that you can give it a try and if you don’t like what yours looks like, you can easily unravel it and try again, unlike others where if you mess up on your first try, you’re screwed and need to start over with new ribbon. Though this is simple enough that if you don’t get it on your first go ’round, you’ll get it on your second- and that will still only take you a few minutes. If you use ribbon that is the same on the front and back, it will be even easier, but I managed with having to worry about which side as showing without too much trouble.

Don’t let all the pictures of the steps scare you away- this really is an easy DIY bow, I just wanted to make sure the explanation was clear!

Create a loop of ribbon with your fingers and pinch it closed.

how to make a bow for a wreath

Fold the ribbon under to make the first loop. Twist the ribbon to make the front side faces out and pinch it in the center. This is the part you have to do if your ribbon looks different on the front than on the back or that you can skip if yours is the same on both sides.

how to make a wreath bow

As far as how large you’re making your loops: measure against your wreath and see how big you’d want yours. Mine ended up being about 3 inches long, which worked out perfectly with the 3 yards of ribbon I bought- there was just a little bit left over after I made the whole bow.

how to make a bow for a wreath

Make the loop on the other side and then bring the loops up to make sure they’re about the same length.

how to make an easy bow

Go back and forth, making loops on each side, approximately all the same size, twisting the ribbon in the middle to keep the front side facing up on your loops, until there are five loops on each side.

Thread a chenille stem (I still call them pipe cleaners) or floral wire through the center loop of your bow and twist the ends together on the back to hold your bow together.

how to make a bow for a wreath

The ribbon that’s dangling will be one of the tails of your bow. You can trim this to the length you want it, though err on the side of longer because you can always trim it later.

easy how to make a bow for a wreath

Cut another piece of ribbon, as long as the tail PLUS the length of one of the loops. Thread this through the middle loop in your bow, having it stick out the top the same length as your bow loops (or longer- again, you can always trim it).

how to make a bow

Bring one of the ends of your pipe cleaner from the back around through the front of the loop, over this ribbon, to the back, and twist again, holding your bow tightly together.

easy ribbon bow

Now, take the loops and spread them out to make a bow(think about creating an almost circle- this takes a little bit of playing around).

bow tutorial

If the ribbon you added last as your second tail needs trimming on either end, do that now.

how to make a wreath bow

Secure your bow to your wreath. I wrapped the rest of the pipe cleaner tightly around one of the branches of my wreath, though you could glue yours on depending on what type of a wreath you’re using.

ribbon bow tutorial

Now, to finish this wreath, I used pink and yellow flowers. There’s floral wire and other sorts of adhesives… but I’m a big believer in the power of a glue gun.

So, I pulled off the tops of the flowers, arranged them where I wanted them on the wreath, and then took each individual flower and glue gunned the bejeezus out of the back of it (that’s the official crafting term) and held it in place on the wreath until it was secure.

easy flower wreath

Now, let’s talk cost of supplies, which I bought at Hobby Lobby:

  • 18″ wreath: $4.99 (paid $3 with Hobby Lobby coupon- remember that there’s always a 40% off one regular priced item coupon on the mobile site)
  • two bunches of flowers: $8.99 (each was on sale for 50% off)- though this was enough to make at least 2 wreaths, possibly three if you spread out your flowers a little bit more than I did
  • 3 yards of ribbon: $2 (was 50% off)

easy-floral-wreath

You might also need a pipe cleaner/floral wire and glue for your glue gun. A pack of pipe cleaners is about $1.50 if you don’t have these on hand. So, all told, I spent $11 to make my wreath and if I wanted to, I could buy one or two other wreaths and rolls of ribbon and make more wreaths with the flowers I have.

If you’re looking for other easy wreaths, check these out- they could easily be swapped out for different holiday/season themes by using different colors:

  • Make an Easter Wreath in Under 5 Minutes
  • How to Make a Ribbon Wreath for Valentine’s Day
  • How to Make a Tulle Wreath
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Welcome to Things I Can't Say: Tips and Tales from an Introverted Mom. I'm Shell. Boy mom, beach girl, bookworm, ball games, baker, brand ambassador, Thinking yoga, food, and travel should start with "b," too. Finding the easiest way to do some things while overthinking so many others. Read More…

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