June 01, 2020

How to make a grapevine or willow wreath with sola wood flowers

You know how sharks have their own week every year? I thought it was about time us crafters dedicated an entire week to wreaths! I know, it's silly and a little quirky but that's pretty much my whole vibe so we are going to roll with it .

Day 1 of wreath week is all about the willow/grapevine wreath!

What You'll Need:

willow wreath using sola wood flowers

 

Here is what I used:

  • 12" willow wreath from Dollar Tree (you can follow these steps for any size willow wreath. They also work for any size grapevine wreath!)
  • Sola wood flowers (magnolias, hydrangeas and munchkins from Oh You're Lovely for this wreath)
  • Greenery/filler
  • Hot glue

Create Your Greenery Base!

making a willow wreath

Before I started, I spray painted the willow wreath. This is an optional step but can help create very different wreaths even when working with the same wreath form!

To start your greenery base, select your largest, flattest leaves and mark your edges by placing greenery at the points where you want your greenery to end (see top left photo for an example). I marked the top edge, the bottom edge and the widest point on the side. Once I felt good about their placement, I hot glued the end of the greenery piece and stuck it into the wreath form.

Next (top right photo), fill that section with the same greenery. You don't have to worry about covering everything as you'll be adding more greenery and then flowers to fill in! You can hot glue as you add or you can place everything first and glue when you are happy with it.

When your leafy greenery is all in place, it is time to turn to your longest, wispiest greenery/filler (bottom left and right pictures)! I do this second because they can be a little wild and unruly but the layers after this step will help tame them.

Add Flowers and Large or Colorful Fillers

sola wood flower wreath tutorial

 

Here is a system I use to create the final look from the above picture:

Step 1

  • Add your largest flowers first. This ensures there is room for them and helps create pockets of space for smaller flowers and colorful or large fillers.
  • When thinking about flower placement, I always start near where I want my "center" or focal point to be.
  • You can glue as you add them or glue after you have them where you want them!

Step 2

  • Add your largest filler bunches. These can take up a decent amount of space too so adding them now is a good idea.

Step 3

  • Add smaller flowers. I tend to like to fan out from my center point, largest to smallest.

Step 4

  • Take a step back, see if there are any gaps you want to fill, and then...

You're done!!

Bonus Wreath!

simple sola wood flower wreath

When I was prepping the willow wreaths from Dollar Tree, I also painted a smaller one off-white. And then I needed to make another wreath, just because! So here is a bonus wreath showing how dramatically different these can be when you play with spray paint and different flower/greenery color stories!

If you have a wreath type you would like me to showcase in upcoming weeks, please let me know in the comments