Graduation Celebration Door Wreath!

Graduation Wreath

Phew! It has been a whirling dervish of activity around here with my oldest daughter graduating this year! I've been working on several projects a little at a time to get ready for her party the second week in June, and here's the first completed one ready to share.  I made this wreath for the front door to welcome our guests to the party, and amazingly had all but the sheet of foam core ($1/Dollar Tree) among my craft supplies.  Her school colors are Columbia blue, navy, and gold so I wanted to be sure to make the wreath in those colors.  I started by measuring the interior circle of the grapevine wreath so that I could size the monogram correctly.  This happens to be the image I used for the top of her party invites, so I just uploaded it to my Cricut for cutting a template (be sure to weld little connection rectangles between the letters to keep them secure).  Of course, if you don't have a Cricut/Silhouette type machine you can just free hand it.  After tracing that onto the foam core board (don't press too hard!), I cut around it with an Exacto knife.  Don't worry if your edges aren't perfect because the glitter hides quite a bit.  I then used some craft paint (in the coordinating colors to the glitter I had selected) to paint the two sections of the monogram. I let this dry completely, then I applied a thin layer of ModPodge and sprinkled with glitter.  Let each color dry before moving on to the next color so the glitter doesn't stick where you don't want it to!
As the monogram dried between steps, I worked on attaching the flowers to the wreath.  I like symmetry, so I laid out my design first so that I could achieve just that.  Be sure to use an old pair of scissors or a pair of wire snips to cut the flower stems (2-3" long) because they are pretty thick wires to cut and might ruin a good pair of scissors.  Then, you'll just hot glue the flowers and leaves into the grapevine wreath until you get the fullness you want.  Next, I added the ribbons to the top of the wreath.  Lastly, I hot-glued the monogram at any point around the edge of the inner circle of the wreath I could make a connection to. I think it turned out really pretty, and I plan on adding a little "Come on in!" paper swag to the bottom when it's party time.  Cheers!