A Year of DIY Wreaths

Tackle a project every month, and enjoy a new DIY design throughout the year. Once completed you should hang your wreath in one of three ways. A metal wreath hanger: This dollar store find looks like a squared-off S and hooks over the top of a door. A ribbon tie: Use hot glue and straight pins to attach two pieces of ribbon to the back of the wreath—or loop one long ribbon through the wreath at the top—then tie the ends into a bow, and hang it from a nail or hook. An adhesive hook: Try a removable hook made for the outdoors, such as the Forever Classic metal hook ($15, command.com for stores).

January: Wintry Pom-Poms

Cut an old white cable-knit sweater—you can find them at thrift stores—into squares large enough to wrap around eight 1 1/2-inch- and 2 1/2-inch foam balls. Hot-glue the fabric to the balls. Hot-glue the balls around a 16-inch foam wreath, spacing them a few inches apart. To fill in the rest of the wreath, hot-glue wool felt balls—you’ll need about 10 dozen—onto it.

Materials: Foam balls: 1 1/2" foam balls, $4 for a set of 6, and 2 1/2" foam balls, $5 for a set of 6, both Michaels stores; Wreath: 16" extruded foam wreath, $8, Michaels stores; Wool felt balls: Wool felt balls, from 35 cents each, tadaastudio.com

February: Valentine’s Heart

Wrap thick yarn around a heart-shape foam wreath, hot-gluing the yarn ends to the back of the wreath. Trim a 1/4-inch dowel to 25 inches long. Push it through the wreath at an angle. Cut a heart out of red felt, and glue it to the top of the dowel. Cut a piece of pink felt into the shape of an arrow’s end. Snip small slits along the side edges for fringe. Cut thinner, similar shapes out of lavender, light blue, and red felt, and fringe the edges. Hot-glue them on top of the light pink felt, then glue the whole arrow's end to the bottom of the dowel.

Materials: Yarn: Cascade Yarns Magnum yarn in magenta, $23 for 123 yards, purlsoho.com; Wreath: 15" heart foam wreath, $10, thecraftplace.com; Felt squares: 6" wool felt squares, 50 cents each, tadaastudio.com

March: Blooming Flowers

Wrap 1 1/2-inch green-and-white polka dot ribbon around a 12-inch foam wreath. Pin the ribbon ends to the back of the wreath with straight pins. Go to hgtv.com/diy-wreaths to learn how to make your own felt flowers, or buy premade flowers at crafts stores. Pin the flowers to the wreath using straight pins with colorful heads.

Materials: Ribbon: Offray polka dot ribbon in apple green, $4 for 9 feet, joann.com; Wreath: 12" extruded foam wreath, $4.50, hobbylobby.com; Premade flowers: Die-cut flowers, from $1 for a set of 3, tadaastudio.com; roses: For similar styles, try etsy.com/shop/theparisianprincess.

April: Colorful Eggs

Cut adhesive mailing labels into straight and wavy strips using crafting scissors. Stick dot stickers (available at office supply stores) and the strips onto ceramic eggs—you'll need at least four dozen eggs. Spray-paint one side of the eggs, and let dry. Flip the eggs over and spray-paint the other side. Let dry, then peel off the stickers and hot-glue the eggs to a 14-inch foam wreath. Use hot glue and straight pins to fasten two pieces of grosgrain ribbon to the back of the wreath for hanging.

Materials: Eggs: Dyeable ceramic eggs, $16 for a set of 12, eggnots.com; Paint: Montana Gold Acrylic spray paint in white lilac, viola, sweet dream, and polar blue, $8, dickblick.com; Wreath: 14" extruded foam wreath, $5, hobbylobby.com; Ribbon: For similar styles, try jkmribbon.com.

May: Floating Butterflies

Coil raffia-covered wire into a 16-inch circle. Re-coil twice to form the wreath. Add a loop of wire at the top for hanging. Use a butterfly paper punch to create about 60 butterflies from patterned scrapbook paper. Cut thin metal wire into 20 four-inch pieces. Glue one end of each wire to the center of a butterfly, then glue another butterfly on top of it. Wrap the other end of the wire around the wreath. Fold the remaining butterflies in half and glue their creases to the wreath.

Materials: Raffia-covered wire: $4.50 per roll, Michaels stores; Paper punch: EK Paper Shapers large butterfly punch, $12.50, createforless.com; Paper: For similar styles, try scrapbook.com; Metal wire: Bead Landing 24-gauge; Stringing wire, $3.50, Michaels stores

June: Garden Style

Make a bouquet of artificial flowers, and secure with a piece of wire. Use another piece of wire to attach the bouquet to the hose over the zip tie. If necessary, hot-glue the ends of the hose to the coil to keep them in place. Fill a small metal pot with floral foam, and push in the flower stems. Hot-glue the pot to the hose.

Materials: Hose: Gilmour 25' Flexogen hose, $17, amazon.com; Flowers: For similar styles, try Michaels stores; Pot: Mini metal pail bucket in yellow, $4, jampaper.com

July: Stripes and Stars

Wrap 1 1/2-inch red-and-white-stripe ribbon around a 14-inch foam wreath. Pin the ribbon ends to the back of the wreath with straight pins. Cut eight 10-inch pieces of 3/8-inch red ribbon. Wrap them at evenly spaced points around the wreath, tying them in the back. Trim 15 bamboo skewers to about five inches. Fold four-inch pieces of 1 1/2-inch blue-and-white-patterned ribbon around one end of each skewer, then hot-glue the ribbon together and cut a triangle out of the tip. Stick the skewers into the foam, securing them with hot glue.

Materials: Red stripe and red ribbons: For similar styles, try papermart.com; Wreath: 14" extruded foam, $5, hobbylobby.com; Stars ribbon: Stars 1 1/2" grosgrain ribbon in blue and white, $3 per yard, mjtrim.com; Blue pinstripe ribbon: For similar styles, try fabric.com; Blue strip ribbon: Jenna Striped 1 1/2" grosgrain ribbon in navy, $9 for 25 yards, papermart.com

August: Pinwheels

Make 12 pinwheels out of double-sided scrapbook paper. Go to hgtv.com/diy-wreaths for pinwheel instructions. If you don't have double-sided paper, glue two pieces of paper together. Push a colorful scrapbook brad through the center of each pinwheel, bending the prongs in the back to secure. Hot-glue the pinwheels to a 14-inch embroidery hoop.

Materials: Paper: For similar styles, try scrapbook.com; Brads: Elements brads in medium, $3.50 for a set of 48, americancrafts.com; Embroidery hoop: 14" Darice wood hoop, $4, createforless.com

September: Back to School

Cut a four-inch circle from a piece of cardboard. Hot-glue about 50 unsharpened yellow pencils on top of it in a starburst formation. Center a cork trivet over the cardboard and hot-glue it to the pencils. Paint a, b, and c chipboard letters with crafts paint. Let dry, then glue the letters onto the cork.

Materials: Trivet: Heat 7" trivet, $3 for a set of 3, ikea.com; Chipboard letters: Kids Play 3" lowercase chipboard letters in white, $6, hobbylobby.com; Paint: Apple Barrel acrylic crafts paint in crimson, $1 for 2 ounces, plaidonline.com

October: Spiderweb

Paint a 14-inch foam wreath with orange crafts paint. Let dry, then stick a dozen T-pins into the back of the wreath so they’re evenly spaced. Tie twine to one pin, then wrap the twine around the wreath, looping it around the front and the pins in the back to create a web. Snip excess twine; tie the end to a pin. Paint small wood circles with black crafts paint. Hot-glue eight short pieces of black twine to each circle for legs, then stick two round yellow stickers on for eyes. Hot-glue a longer piece of twine to each circle’s back, then hot-glue the other end to the web.

Materials: Wreath: 14" extruded foam wreath, $5, hobbylobby.com; Paint: (wreath) Apple Barrel acrylic crafts paint in jack-o-lantern, $1 for 2 ounces; (circles) Apple Barrel acrylic crafts paint in black, $1 for 2 ounces, both plaidonline.com; Twine: Black hemp 20-pound spool, $5.50, hemptwines.com; Wood circles: For similar styles, try joann.com; Stickers: My Mind’s Eye enamel dots, $5 for a set of 60, scrapbook.com

November: Woodland Scene

To make the owl, cut a three-inch circle out of burlap and hot-glue it to the front of a preserved moss ball. Hot-glue two artificial daisies for the eyes and an acorn for the beak. Hot-glue sheet moss to the bottom of an 18-inch grapevine wreath. Insert a wood skewer halfway through the bottom of the owl. Stick the other end of the skewer through the moss and wreath. Secure with hot glue if necessary. Hot-glue small pinecones and artificial mushrooms, along with small tufts of sheet moss, around the wreath. Loop braided jute (for similar styles, try mjtrim.com) around the top for hanging.

Materials: Moss ball: 6" reindeer moss, $15, jamaligarden.com; Daisies: For similar styles, try Michaels stores; Wreath: 18" grapevine wreath, $4, save-on-crafts.com; Sheet moss: Preserved sheet moss, $4, joann.com; Mushrooms: 4 1/2" decorative mushrooms, $13 for a set of 4, jamaligarden.com

December: Holiday Argyle

Cut 25 two-by-five-inch strips of red felt. Wrap the felt around a 16-inch wreath, overlapping the pieces slightly and securing them with hot glue. Cut 16 two-inch diamonds from green and white felt. Hot-glue them to the wreath, alternating colors. Wrap elastic silver cord around the wreath so it crosses in an x over each diamond. Hot-glue the cord ends to the back of the wreath, then hot-glue a jingle bell in the center of each diamond. Tie a bow with taffeta ribbon and use straight pins to attach it to the bottom of the wreath.

Materials: Felt squares: 18" wool felt squares, $4, tadaastudio.com; Wreath: 16" extruded foam wreath, $8, Michaels stores; Silver cord: Metallic elastic cord, $2.50 for 5 yards, joann.com; Bells: Hourai 13-millimeter bells, $4 for a set of 12, tohoshoji-ny.com; Ribbon: For similar styles, try joann.com