How is it possible that we are already getting ready for school?! Make the start of a new school year a celebration by picking up a few extra school supplies to make a fun “Back to School” wreath... or better yet, recycle old supplies from last year. This will look adorable on the front door for the next few weeks, and it would also make a great teacher's gift!
What you need:
- 14" straw wreath form, keep it wrapped in plastic
- 1/2 yard of a woven fabric of your choice
- Hot glue gun and hot glue sticks
- Small chalkboard
- Paint (optional)
- Chalk, or chalk marker
- School supplies of your choice
- Ribbon/trims of your choice
What you’ll do:
STEP 1: Cut your fabric into 4 inch strips. Use the hot glue gun to carefully "hem" the edges of the fabric. You will only need to "hem" one short side and one long side until you get to the end of wrapping the wreath.
STEP 2: Begin wrapping the fabric strips around the wreath. You want to make sure that you are covering the raw edge of your fabric with the "hemmed" edge as you wrap it. When you reach the end of your strip, simply glue that end to the wreath and resume with a new strip (overlapping a little bit to avoid gaps and line up the pattern on your fabric). When you are near the end of wrapping your wreath, you will want all edges of the fabric strip to be "hemmed" so that there are no raw edges exposed.
STEP 3: My chalkboard had a wooden frame, and I wanted to spruce it up. So I painted the frame white and used hot glue to attach a colorful rick rack trim.
STEP 4: I wanted my crayons to look like they were spilling out of the box. To do this, I took out all the crayons and cut off the lid and the side flaps of the box, as close to the seam as possible. I then got my 8 crayons that were going to be in the back row ready. I added a thick line of hot glue onto the rear inside of the box and quickly laid each crayon in place, making sure they were sticking out far enough that I would be able to stagger the other 2 rows and see all of the crayons. Then I added a thick line of hot glue on top of the crayons I had just glued in the box, right in line with the edge of the box and quickly stuck the next 8 crayons in, low enough that I could see the rear row and high enough that I had room to glue my final row of crayons. Then add another line of glue and stick the final 8 crayons into place.
STEP 5: I wanted some dimension to my colored pencils as well, so I glued them together before adhering them to the wreath. I started by gluing 3 pencils together, next to each other. Then I glued a couple of pencils on top and a couple of pencils underneath, so there were 3 rows of pencils. I adjusted a couple pencils on the top and bottom to be at angles, to give them a little bit of dimension.
STEP 6: Take all of your school supplies, chalkboard, and trim, and lay them out across your wreath. Play with the placements until you find an arrangement that you like. I take a picture of the way I like it, so I can remove everything and then reference the picture as I reassemble the layout, gluing the pieces down as you go!
STEP 7: Add any final touches! I had a little excess trim, so I cut 4 of the puff balls and glued them to the corners of the chalkboard which covered the raw edges of the rick rack. I decided not to use some of the ribbons I bought originally, because I think the school supplies speak for themselves! I took my chalk marker and wrote "Welcome" on the chalkboard, then thought I would add "Back to School" too.
Hang it up, and enjoy!
STEP 5: I wanted some dimension to my colored pencils as well, so I glued them together before adhering them to the wreath. I started by gluing 3 pencils together, next to each other. Then I glued a couple of pencils on top and a couple of pencils underneath, so there were 3 rows of pencils. I adjusted a couple pencils on the top and bottom to be at angles, to give them a little bit of dimension.
STEP 6: Take all of your school supplies, chalkboard, and trim, and lay them out across your wreath. Play with the placements until you find an arrangement that you like. I take a picture of the way I like it, so I can remove everything and then reference the picture as I reassemble the layout, gluing the pieces down as you go!
STEP 7: Add any final touches! I had a little excess trim, so I cut 4 of the puff balls and glued them to the corners of the chalkboard which covered the raw edges of the rick rack. I decided not to use some of the ribbons I bought originally, because I think the school supplies speak for themselves! I took my chalk marker and wrote "Welcome" on the chalkboard, then thought I would add "Back to School" too.
Hang it up, and enjoy!
