The Ribbon Wreath that went Awry

I don't know about you, but I am completely addicted to Pinterest.  I have 27 boards with 1371 pins...and counting.  I find myself pinning more things than I am making, which is one of the reasons why I made the Finish 40 challenge for myself.

When I saw Landee's Ribbon Wreath I thought about the spools and spools of ribbon sitting in the Craft Oasis (what I affectionately call my crafting space) waiting to be used.  "I could do one for every holiday!" I thought.

Landee used a straw wreath form for her wreath (which I did as well for the Halloween wreath I made) but I knew that I had a Styrofoam wreath form in my stash of supplies and this would be the perfect opportunity to put it to use, especially considering I couldn't remember why I bought it in the first place.

I rounded up all the bright primary colored ribbon I had and set to work on making a "Back to School" wreath (which could also make a fantastic teacher gift). I do admit that I purchased a wide yellow ribbon to cover the wreath form, and I found a pack of ribbon that was school themed to add to my pile.  My husband, Phil, thinks its hysterically funny that I would buy more ribbon in order to use up the ribbon I had.

Well, yeah. That's how crafting works. ;)

I started by wrapping the thick yellow ribbon around the form, and then tied the ribbon into square knots, alternating width, color and pattern.

The result turned out nicely, and I hung it on the back of the front door.

Then, Wednesday of this week, as we were rushing out the door in the morning, I stopped and took a good look at the wreath. Something was wonky.  It must have fallen off the door one two many times, because the Styrofoam form had snapped in half in two places.

I didn't want all of the ribbon to go to waste, so I decided to redo it, with a different type of wreath form.  Using a straw wreath wasn't an option, as it would be far too thick to tie the already cut ribbon around.  A wire wreath form seemed the logical answer.

After untying all of the square knots and the wire yellow ribbon, I wrapped the frame in the yellow ribbon.

 

 

(that's quite a lot of ribbon!)

 

 

When you start tying, start with the thicker ribbons and then use the smaller to make sure every bit is covered.  Some of the ribbon I used is only printed on one side.  You have to flip the ribbon before you tie the second knot, so that the printed side of the ribbon is visible in the wreath.

 

The (second) finished product came out nicely.  The ribbon was a bit longer because the wire form wasn't as thick as the Styrofoam one, and therefore a bit fuller.  I like how the second wreath came out, although I might go back and trim some of the ribbon a tiny bit, particularly the thickest pieces so they don't seem to over shadow the rest.

 

I made a Halloween wreath too.  For this one, I did use a straw wreath form, wrapped in black ribbon.  I let more of the black base show through in this one, as all of the ribbons were orange and purple.

 

 

 

 

I think that I will stick with the straw from, as it provides more depth, and you can see the ribbon underneath better. I may do one for Thanksgiving, as I passed a display in Michael's the other day that held ribbon in beautiful fall colors. 

Shhh.  Don't tell Phil.

Let me know if you make any of your own ribbon wreaths!