Be the Most Brilliant Color in the Box Wreath - Tutorial

This new Children's Print from RAZ just arrived yesterday and just as soon as I saw it, I thought of a wreath that could be created using the print.

The print is about 13" x 13" and looks like a used chalkboard. The writing is "Be the most brilliant color in the box."

The print is beautiful just as is with no embellishment....but it looked as if it would fit perfectly on to a Square Twig Wreath....so that's where we started.

Supplies included a Square Twig Work Wreath in the brown-green color and a roll of White Vertical Line Deco Poly Mesh®.

The Twig Work Wreath isn't my favorite type of product, but it does a great job. It is messy and you will have bits of mossy green-brown stuff everywhere and it's rough on your fingers. After having given you the cons.....I still like the end results when using the twig wreath.

My first choice of Work Creation for this project would have been the Square White Work Wreath....but we were out, so we improvised with the Twig Square. As you can see in the finished project the brown-green twig twists didn't show at all. And the mess, it just swept right up)) We do have more of the White Square Wreaths coming in in just a few weeks.

The picture was first secured to the Square Wreath form using clear fishing line. This project was put together just to show you some basic steps, had it been created as a permanent decoration, we would have drilled a couple of small holes in the frame and secured with wire, etc. But the fishing line held well and you really can't see it from the front after the project was finished

Vertical Line Deco Poly Mesh® has a bit of different texture compared to most other mesh. It has no foil and has a nubby like texture. It provides good coverage for a basic wreath and has nice rich color. Course we used white in this project, but any primary color would look great with the picture. We really wanted the picture to stand out and not get lost in deep poufs of mesh and curly ribbon.

We just picked one corner and started the mesh grasping about three to four inches from the end and pinching together. Place the pinched mesh between the twists and give them a couple of good turns. Poke the end of the mesh into the inside of the work form. You can see the fishing line in the photo above where we secured the picture to the wreath form.

Continue working around the wreath form making poufs about 12" or so and securing in the next twist. Personally, I like to go around the upper ring first, then drop down and go around the second. But it doesn't matter if you do one to the upper ring, one to the lower, then back to the upper.

Hang the wreath up from time to time or step back and take a look to see that your poufs are all about the same size. When preparing your next pouf, it helps if you put your hand under the mesh to pouf it up and keep your mesh all going in the same direction and not let it get twisted.

I also helps to just let the mesh roll drop to the floor so the tension doesn't get too tight when you're preparing the next pouf. It takes just about 1 roll to go around a 24" frame. The Square Frames are just like the round Work Wreaths in that they actually measure approximately 15" in diameter, but they are called 24" Work Wreaths. This finished project measured about 27" in width. The type materials you use of course and the size of your poufs should be considered, but I don't think I've ever made one that turned out less than 24"

This is about the half way point and we just put it up and looked at the size of the poufs....made an adjustment here or there as needed. Don't worry about the twig twist showing at this point, we'll take care of that later.

After going around all the twists, you can see we had just a little bit left over, it was probably less than 12" or so. The ends were tucked to the inside of the frame.

Poufs were pushed back a little from the center so the picture wouldn't be covered up too much.

Next we chose a Black and White Checked Paper Mesh to make some curls for contrast. The mesh was cut at about 12" to 13" and allowed to roll up in a curl. The paper mesh does roll up as naturally as regular mesh, you have to help it along a little. Paper mesh will ravel also. Handle it as little as you can and when the project is finished you can pull away the loose strands.

Just roll the mesh up and pinch in the middle.

Choose any twist to start with and gently un-twist one of the poufs being careful not to dislodge the pouf of white mesh. Lay the paper curl between the twists and re-secure with a couple of snug twists.

This time you'll be securing the pouf and the curl all at the same time. This makes for a much neater finished project and buries your connection deep into the mesh.

If you've never made a wreath using the mesh curl style, you will be surprised how large the wreath will turn out to be. As you can see in this photo, the curls really just look to long for project.....so back to the drawing board....or craft table))

The first curls were removed and the mesh was cut twice. They pieces are just short of a 12" square.....more like 12" x 11"....not exact....and not square....but roll them up in the same manner and you just have a shorter curl.

We also added some jumbo crayons and attached them around the wreath using clear fishing line. Some were placed right back down on top of the paper mesh curls and secured to one limb of the twig twist.

The next step was to make a bow to use when finishing the wreath. It just seemed that the Black and White Checked Paper Mesh was just screaming for polka dots! And I'm sorry, but this was the last roll of black and white polka dot ribbon we had in stock......I had been wanting to use it for a project and today was the day)))

The ProBow is a new item we added to our inventory last year. It is such fun to play with. And there again......we're out of them right now but have more arriving in May....and that's another Blog post in itself....because there are going to be some changes in the ProBow that you are going to love! That's why we're holding out for the new version to arrive before re-stocking......more on that later)))

I'm not a great bow maker.....but with the ProBow, I like how my bows are turning out now))

The finished wreath before the bow. You might want a bow or now.....it's fine either way. And you might want more color in the wreath. It's very simple to add bold splashes of color with more wire edge ribbon or mesh curls.

We tucked in some yellow mesh curls just to see how it would look. This was a 10" roll of mesh and we just cut about 10" to 12" pieces, curled and pinch. You can add them into your twist in the same manner, or in this case since we weren't sure if we wanted to leave them in the wreath or not, we attached a piece of floral wire, twisted it tightly and then secured that into the mesh at the Twig twists or to the frame.

I'm loving this print from RAZ....so many possibilities......and we also have three other styles of prints that are just adorable......"How to be a Cowboy" ......"How to be a Pirate" .... "How to Catch a Mouse." Hmmmm......I'm thinking about the Cowboy.....what a great way to create a display for those old cowboy boots that are too precious to part with......maybe some bandanas for contrast.....or real rope.......I can see we're going to have a busy week))))