Wrap It Up Wreath

Stamps: none

Inks: none

Papers: 100730 Whisper White Cardstock (or the 12 x 12 version), 116770 Christmas Cocoa Specialty paper (retired now)

Accessories:  ribbons: 110714 Real Red 1/2" striped; 115608 1" Real Red Polka Dot; 109034 Real Red 1/4" Grosgrain; 109052 Real Red 5/8" Grosgrain; 104827 Real Red Gingham, Big Shot 113439 Items: 114518 Box #2; 114890 Matchbox; 113460 Snowflake #2, rhinestone brad, 102023 Dazzling Diamonds glitter, 104294 sticky strip, 104045 Anywhere Glue Stick, 108362 Crop-A-Dile

Other: Pizza box top, adhesive craft fun foam, lots of hot glue (the only non Stampin' Up! items)

So my son comes home with this cardboard donut and says "I gotta decorate it and bring it back in 5 days. It's supposed to be a family project." Huh? I say. OK he had some ideas of what he wanted to do, none of them very feasible or good looking (since it's a family project and all). My thoughts were if it is to be a family project why not make something that can become an annual decoration for our house. Now he goes "huh?". I said boxes, presents, lets cover it with presents. He had a little trouble envisioning this, but was willing to roll with crafty mom on this idea.

We started by tearing up pieces of the Cocoa paper and gluing them to the "donut". Now he is starting to like it. He had fun with the tearing and gluing. Use lots of glue if you do this because when you then add the weight of the boxes to it you do not want the paper tearing off the donut (cardboard) when you hang it. Plus any excess is sure to be covered up. You are just trying to give some color to the background and not make it look like a cardboard box.  Trim off excess from edges. Set aside to dry.

Make the boxes! Cut the cardstock down (in half lengthwise). Run enough boxes using the 2 dies listed above to approx. cover the donut. Run them through one at a time unless you are using the Premium 117630 Crease Pad. Why? Because all the folds come out scored when running the dies through and if you add to many layers of paper you run the risk of cutting right through the folds instead of just scoring them. Blake happily ran all the boxes through Big Shot (Mr. Big to me) while I went and gathered ribbon. We both worked on assembling the boxes. I used Sticky Strip to secure them. Again, since I want this to be a permanent decoration I want to make sure the adhesive will last.

I did most if not all of the ribbon work. I tied them on in many directions trying to come up with an assortment of ribbons and various ties. Nothing was repeated. I used each ribbon type about 5 times and came up with about 5 different wraps.

By now he was really getting into the project and wanted to stay up and help finish it, but he needed to get to bed. Off he went after he got to see how I wanted to lay out the boxes on the donut. He thought it looked so cool!

To attach the boxes start by gluing the bottomest layer down first, the box that has the most surface area attaching to the donut. I went through at least 2 hot glue sticks gluing the boxes down. I like playing with hot glue. Continue until all boxes are secure and when you hang the assembly non even rattle a little. Lots of glue!

After it was done the middle of the donut looked bare. I grabbed one of my foam snowflakes I had made the previous holiday season as a tree ornament and glued that on. It did the trick. To make the snowflake, run the foam through using Snowflake #2 Sizzix die. Pull off the adhesive backing, and shake the glitter all over the adhesive. Tap off excess. Instant sparkle. Place brad in middle if desired.

Use Crop-A-Dile to make a hole at top of donut. Loop ribbon as a base loop (I doubled it) then tie on short sections for accents.

Voila! I love it. My son was so excited the next day to bring it to school. We put it in a box for him to carry on the bus but he wouldn't hear of it. He insisted that he be driven to school. There were some pretty awesome wreaths hanging in that hallway. It has been banged around a bit, but once the boxes are assembled with strong tape and lots of hot glue it does not look like it has traveled at all.

Ours is still hanging up. I am thinking about doing something similar for spring. It was a funny mom and son project. All in all it probably took 2 hours. Very fun.