Meet Courtney from Life These Days

I'm so excited to introduce you to my friend Courtney this morning. She and I met years ago when we were both foot-loose, fancy-free gals living on the east coast. We've both moved, married and started little families since that time. The wonderful thing about blogger is that you're able to still keep in touch with each other's lives. 

I was so excited when she agreed to be Coffee Cups and Crafts very first guest blogger. She has an amazing tutorial to share with you this morning that I'm sure you're going to love! :D 

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My name is Courtney & I stay home with my 2 year old son, Berkley and I work part-time for a ministry called Passport.  I have a blog about Berkley, a blog of easy & quick recipes, and a blog about my own life (including any fun crafts I've run across)!  All of my blogs can be accessed from my original blog.

One of my favorite crafts to make is a ribbon wreath, and I was thrilled when Cristan asked me to post a guest blog with instructions on how to make this simple, yet versatile craft! 

Notes Before You Begin:

Buy more ribbon than you think you'll need.  It takes a lot of ribbon.  I'd say to plan on about 10-12 spools of ribbons (including at least 4-5 spools of the widest ribbon).  

It's possible to do this by sewing, but since I can't sew, I use hot glue.  

What You Need:

* Styrofoam wreath form (the larger the form, the more ribbon you'll need)  I've discovered that I like a wreath form that is flat on the front versus a complete cylinder.  It's just a bit easier to work with, but any type will work.

* One spool of wide ribbon for wrapping the wreath form

* 10+ spools of grosgrain ribbon for decorating

* Hot glue gun & lots of glue

* Scissors

* Ruler

* Pencil

Instructions:

Wrap the wreath form in wide ribbon.  This doesn't have to look good since it will mostly be covered by the other ribbons.  But, it makes for a good platform for the glue & ribbons and covers up any stray styrofoam.

I simply wrapped the ribbon and then secured it with a couple of pins at the end (I'm sure hot glue would work just as well.)

Cut ribbons into 4.5-5 inch strips.  I measured the first few of each spool of ribbon and then eye-balled the rest.  They definitely don't have to be exact.

 Place a bit of hot glue on one end of each strip- leaving about 1/2 inch at the bottom. (I found that I could put glue across 3 or 4 strips and still have time to deal with them before the glue got cold.)

Fold each strip over onto itself, creating a loop of ribbon.

Do this with every spool of ribbon until you have piles of ribbon loops.

Now the fun begins!  Spread open the bottom of each loop.  Put a little glue on that part and stick it down on the wreath form!

I started with the wider ribbons and made my way around the wreath.  That way, I could fill in later with smaller ribbons.

On the inside and outside of the wreath forms, just glue down the loops along the sides.

If you look closely you can see that I glued the bulk of the ribbon facing in one direction.

Then I added some more of the smaller ribbons going all different directions.  And I also glued some of the smaller ribbons on the inside and outside of the wreath.  I've discovered that the more ribbon I used, the better the wreath looks.  

I made the above wreath for a baby shower, and the wreath below for my son's 2nd birthday.  I plan on making these for all major events/holidays in corresponding colors! 

So, pick a few colors you like, buy a bunch of ribbon and have fun crafting!

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Are those wreaths not AMAZING!!! 

Thanks so much, Courtney, for sharing this tutorial. I want to make a jillion of these! :D