Patriotic Paper Wreath

Patriotism is important. I thought, why not celebrate it by making a wreath that can be used for holidays or anytime?

Six Supplies:

Cardboard - two side panels from a medium sized box

6 sheets of 8 ½” X 11” printer paper

18 small wooden stars (or other small decorations of your choice)

Acrylic paints in red, white, and blue

Parachute cord in patriotic colors

A patriotic sticker from a craft store in size less than 5” X 3”

Three Tools:

Laser cutter or Scissors

Glue Gun (with glue sticks)

Paint brush

Cut the cardboard into two separate pieces.  

Cut one piece using laser cutter or scissors to a size of 9” diameter on the outside and 8” diameter on the inside. This piece of cardboard will be the base of the wreath.

Cut the second piece to a size of 7” X 4”. This will be the back of the wreath.

Paint the wreath cardboard: paint ½ of the circle red and ½ of the circle blue. After the paint is dry, using the spot where numbers would appear on a clock, mark a dot for 12:00, 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00, and 10:00. These dots will be where things will be hot glued later.

Paint the rectangular cardboard: Paint it white.

Cut the parachute cord: Cut the parachute cord into six 10” long strips. Burn the ends if needed to keep from raveling. See photo in Step 2 for the finished product of this step.

Stars: Paint 6 stars red, 6 white, and 6 blue. See photo in Step 2 for the finished product of this step.

Fold the paper into an accordion or fan. Starting at the bottom, fold 1” onto itself. Turn the paper over and repeat the process. Keep repeating this process until all the piece of paper has been folded. Then take each fan and fold it in half. Do this to all six sheets of paper.

At this point, you should have these things ready to work with.

Hot glue the parachute cord to the back and both sides of the paper.

a.     For each fan, tie the cord into a double knot (or bow) in the front.

Hot glue the back of each fan to the wreath at the clock dots made in Step 2. Then hot glue three stars between each fan (one red, one white, one blue).

Attach the white cardboard piece to the wreath. Hot glue it across the wreath. To make a hanger, you can hot glue a piece of the leftover parachute cord to the back of the white cardboard piece.

Turn over the wreath and place the sticker in the center on the white cardboard piece you just attached. And you’re done!