Do the after Christmas Maker blues got you down? You know what I’m talking about.
It’s the little (or not so little) feeling of depression that many of us experience a day or so after Christmas when the gifts have all been unwrapped and the last guest has gone.
It’s that letdown feeling we get after expending so much energy in crafting the perfect holiday for our families and friends.
It usually hits me when I contemplate all the work involved in putting away all my Christmas decorations and Christmas crafting supplies. Once it is all gone, the house looks kind of bare, doesn’t it?
Snowflake Wreath To The Rescue
What’s a maker to do (you might ask)? It’s too early to decorate for spring, but you can’t leave ALL your Christmas decorations out.
Now I know some of you may do this – and I am guilty of leaving a snowman wreath up year-round (I’ve got to do something about that this year!) – but there is a solution to this decorating and making conundrum.
We need to embrace the winter. There I said it. This summertime gal just said we need to embrace winter. Yep.
And the best way to hug up to winter is by using snowflakes in your winter decorating scheme. Let’s start our winter decor with a simple snowflake wreath.
A Word About Bases
You will need a base for your snowflake wreath. I like to see what I might have on hand that could work for a wreath base.
For the paper snowflake wreath described below, you probably want a flatter type base. The paper snowflakes are lightweight, so you don’t need a heavy base.
You could use a foam base – either a floral foam or cut a piece of styrofoam. You probably have some styrofoam leftover from Christmas packages somewhere.
Another lightweight option is to use heavy-duty cardboard. This is a great way to repurpose cardboard shipping boxes.
I cut a base from an Amazon box. I used scissors and an Exacto knife. Neither was the perfect tool for the job. A box cutter would have most likely worked better. Then you could use scissors to round it up a bit.
Create the Snowflake Wreath
I have created a set of snowflakes for this project, and you can choose to make two different types of wreaths with them. You can find them in my Maker Library.
The full tutorial is also in my Maker Library. It is project #01.
Crafting Supplies
The paper snowflake wreath is simple to make and you may be able to use materials you already have on hand. I was able to use what I already had in my stash. No trip to the craft store needed – a bit of letdown actually.
Supplies:
- 1 piece of cardboard, 12 x 12 (old cereal or Amazon box works well)
- 1 piece of WHITE cardstock, 12 x 12
- 6 sheets of WHITE cardstock, 8 1/2 x 11
- Hot glue or other adhesive
- Cutting machine and mats (e.g., Cricut Maker) or scissors
- String or yarn, 3 – 4 inches
- Snowflake Patterns and SVGs from Maker Library
- Adhesive foam squares, small, (OPTIONAL)
- Light blue or silver ink pads, (OPTIONAL)
- Liquid Pearls in white opal, (OPTIONAL)
- White or silver acrylic paint, (OPTIONAL)
First, we need a flat base. You could use a styrofoam wreath form or cut a flat circle from packing styrofoam. You could use cardboard or another stiff material. Cardstock is unlikely to be heavy enough to maintain the shape of the wreath.
Depending on what type of base you choose, you may want to cover it in paper or ribbon. Another option would be to paint it silver or white.
Next, decide on your snowflake shapes and cut them out. Two to three different shapes of snowflakes work well, but I think that a one shape design could be striking, too.
Glue your snowflakes to the wreath form covering it completely.
If using a Cricut Maker, download the snowflake SVG files from my Maker Library and upload them to design space. You will need to cut approximately 36 snowflakes to cover an 11.75-inch diameter wreath form.
With the paper snowflake wreath, I cover the entire base with snowflakes. I somehow ended up with an extra set of 6 small snowflakes, so my wreath actually has a total of 42 snowflakes.
Try Another Shape for Snowflake Wreath
Black Elk once said that everything tries to be round. That’s true this time of year, especially. Hello, waistline.
But you can break with the tradition and use a different shape for your snowflake wreath. You could make a swag of snowflakes. Or even try a snowman shape. Use your imagination and whatever supplies you have at hand.
Final Touch
Your wreath will need an embellishment of some sort before hanging. I like to keep it simple, so a nice bow or ribbon might be enough.
Make sure the weight of any embellishment matches the weight of the wreath. The paper snowflake wreath needs lightweight embellishments.
Do NOT use red ribbon. I know you might have lots of it leftover from all the Christmas crafting, but remember what we are trying to accomplish here.
We want to transition our decor and our crafting away from Christmas and embrace the winter!
Red is a strong Christmas color, so it’s best to leave it out of your winter decor.
If this is a hard pill to swallow, just remember that you can always add some red back next month with your Valentine’s crafting!
I’d love to see what you create. Please drop me a comment below.
Don’t forget to join my Maker Library for the free, step-by-step tutorial and the free SVGs! Just sign up with your email, and I will send you the password.
