July 3, 2017
Here’s a little-known fact about me – I love making wreaths for my front door. In fact, I refuse to put one on my door that I haven’t handcrafted myself. Anytime I see one in the store for upwards of $30, my hands get sweaty, and my heart starts palpitating as I think to myself “why would someone pay that much for that when they could just make it?”.
OK, Ok, so I realize not everyone has the desire to hand make stuff for their house, and that’s ok too. But this craft is totally simple to complete, and it’s one of the most cost effective wreaths I’ve ever made. You could totally go grab the materials this morning and have this patriotic wreath on your front door by lunchtime.
Yes, my door is covered in pollen – no I didn’t clean it off for the picture. No, I’m not ashamed. Yes, my allergies are terrible, thanks for asking!
I saw this tutorial on Pinterest and just had to make one of my own! Please make sure to check out the original tutorial over at Home Crafts by Ali – such a great site for DIY projects!
Materials Needed:
- Wire wreath – choose what diameter you want for this project – the one I used was 14″ in diameter
- Plain wooden clothespins – I used 68 in total for my 14″ wire wreath – adjust as necessary for the diameter you choose. I also recommend having a few extra for missteps, miscounting, etc (hey, just being honest – I did both of those things!)
- Wooden craft stars in various sizes (they sell a pack with tiny to fairly large at most craft stores)
- Red, white and blue paint – I used the cheapest bottles I could find of acrylic paint from the craft store. Those that cost $0.99 are perfect for this project. If you like the shades I chose, I used Craft Smart “Holiday Red”, Craft Smart “Navy”, and Apple Barrel by Plaid “White”
- 3 foam craft paintbrushes (or 1, and just wash out between colors)
- Hot glue
- Twine, ribbon, etc to hang wreath (optional)
Steps:
Lay out a drop cloth or trash bag to protect your work surface.
Decide how wide you want each of your stripes to be ie how many clothes pins you will need of each color. This will depend on how large your wire wreath is, and how spaced out you’d like the clothespins to be. I recommend placing some on the wreath before paint to measure.
Note: my blue section ended up being 17 clothes pins, and I had 3 white sections and 4 red sections. Full disclosure – I don’t remember how wide/how many clothespins I originally wanted to comprise the individual stripes. I do know I counted wrong, and some have 8, some have 7. I think it still looks good, so just plan for a few extra, and just play it by ear once you go to attach the pins. Don’t make it more complicated than it has to be, this is a simple project.
Paint a number of clothespins you need for the stripes, and stand the clothespins up on the more narrow end to dry. This is the most challenging part of the project, so if you can handle this, you’re golden! I did not bother perfectly painting the inside of the clothespins.
You can’t tell when you look at the wreath. I also tried squirting paint into a bag, and rolling the clothespins around it inside – I felt like this ended up being messier, took longer to get the clothespins coated, and wasted paint, so it wasn’t worth it to me. But if you try it out and it works, more power to ya!
Paint however many stars you’d like to incorporate, and lay them flat to dry as well.
Allow all of your materials to fully dry. This shouldn’t take too long. Test them after a while to see if paint comes off when you touch them. When no paint comes off, you’re all set to build your wreath!
Yes, things got messy. That’s how I roll sometimes. 
Attach your clothespins to the wreath alternating along the different “levels” of the wire wreath. I alternated between the innermost ring and the middle, but you could definitely alternate them however you wish! In the original tutorial, she hot glued the pins to the wreath form. I was able to get a pretty snug hold on the wires with my clothespin, so I chose to completely skip this.
Once your stripes are positioned how you like, attach the stars to the blue section with hot glue. I tried to add all my large, then medium, small, etc to make sure they were spaced out, and one size wasn’t all in one section.
Add twine or ribbon if desired and hang!
Wasn’t that so easy? I just love this wreath! I made this last year for the 4th of July and left it up all summer. It is just so fun, and different than any other patriotic wreath I’ve ever seen.
How about you? Are you the type that likes to make your own wreaths, or are you more of a timing saver, who prefers to buy them pre-made from the store? Let me know below! Make sure to Pin this page so you can come back to it!
Lastly, I hope everyone had a safe, fun, holiday with their friends and family!
Stay Dairing
