DIY: Looped Ribbon Holiday Wreath

While we're still living amongst a few boxes in our bedroom, for the most part the house is put together so I decided to use naptime today to good use making a Holiday craft.

Tatertots and Jello shared their version of a Looped Ribbon wreath back in October. I was slightly busy having a baby in October and never had the chance to make a wreath but I bookmarked the tutorial because I seriously *love* how these look! My only problem today was that I had the craft itch but have yet to find/unpack my sewing machine. Their tutorial uses a sewing machine, my adapted DIY below uses a hot glue gun instead. Total project time was just under four hours but that's including prep, clean up, sipping Starbucks and listening to Christmas music while gluing and oh yeah, two hours of that was multi-tasked with watching the kids. Easily a project that can be completed in one evening and I'm thinking they would make really great gifts for teachers, neighbors, etc!

For a 14in wreath, you will need:

• 1 craft wreath (floral foam, straw, Styrofoam...whatever you can find, is fine)
• Glue gun and glue sticks (i went through at least 10 sticks using a mini-melt, high temp gun)
• Scissors and a piece of cardboard/cardstock
•  9 yds of a base ribbon
• a few pins
• 10-12 assorted ribbons, 3ish yds each *i highly recommend using ribbon that is 1/2" width or larger...it will be very time consuming and you'll go through a lot more ribbon if you use smaller than that*
• optional: a lighter

Step 1: Wrap and adhere your base ribbon to your wreath form. I used a small dab of glue, used a pin to hold it in place and wrapped the ribbon all around the form.

-Finished Result after step 1-

Step 2: Cut all of the ribbon that will be your loops to approximately 4.5inches. 

Quickest way to cut this much ribbon: take a piece of cardboard and cut to 4.5inches, then wrap your ribbon around the cardboard. Then take your scissors and cut the ends. Viola, perfectly measured and cut ribbon without a lot of hassle. Do this for all your ribbon. (note: I did not cut the entire spool of each ribbon; only about 2/3 of it; the rest I left just in case I didn't need it for this project, it wouldn't be cut into strips. I plan on making hairbows for Sweetcheeks using it later on!)

Step 3: Take a piece of ribbon, fold in half, place a small dot of hot glue about 1/4in from the end and press sides together.

Step 4: Now take your ribbon loop, open up the tales a bit, apply another gob of hot glue and press this flat onto your wreath form. Keep doing this, in sections, using all your ribbons evenly.

At first it looks kinda funny and you're sure that you're doing it wrong and that you screwed it up. You didn't. Just keep going using even amounts of each ribbon. I found it easiest to glue a bunch of loops, then place and glue them to the form all at once.

Keep going and going until the front of your wreath is completely covered. (There is no need to cover the back, which is why you used your base ribbon). For this wreath, I covered all but a 2 inch section at the bottom center; I had this tiny little stocking (from a gift card) that I wanted on my wreath so I hot glued it there, affixing ribbon around it.

Tada! Doesn't that look festive?

and a close up.

These are pretty inexpensive too! The wreath form cost $2.15 at Hobby Lobby but according to Tatertots & Jello, you can buy these for $1 at the dollar store. {I wasn't going 2 different places with 4 kids so save a buck). All the ribbon was 50% at Hobby Lobby making it $1 a roll for most. (I also used 3 spools of ribbon that I already owned as well). Total spent was around $17 but I have plenty of leftover ribbon. And the possibilities are endless! You could make one to celebrate a Holiday, you could use the colors of your favorite football team or just colors that you like or that match your house. So simple, so festive and even the hubs liked it...totally worth the tiny burns accumulated from the glue gun!