"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" Tulle Wreath Tutorial

Today we're kicking off my newest blog series, Sew {Cook, Paint, Craft} a Song of Christmas!  I've invited some wonderful bloggers to join in, and together we will be showing you our projects inspired by Christmas songs.  We'll be posting Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until Christmas, so be sure to check back often!

Now, on to the first project!

When I was a kid, we always had snow at Christmas.  (Sometimes we even had snow for Halloween!)  My siblings and I built snowmen, made snow angels, and walked to school in five feet of snow, uphill both ways.  Okay, I don't think it was uphill even one way.  But still, there was a lot of snow.

Now we live where it's warm most of the year.  And I love being warm.  I love playing in the pool, going on walks in the warm evenings, and wearing short sleeves year round.  (Although I did that when I lived in a cold climate, too.  That's what coats are for.)

I love warm weather, but something about Christmastime just makes you want snowflakes.  And hot chocolate.  And sparkly, fresh snow, glistening everywhere.  And a fire crackling in the hearth.  (Yes, I really do like to be warm.)

So here's my homage to days gone by, back when I was a kid and we always had snow for Christmas, my "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" tulle wreath.

When I was making this wreath, I told Boo it was a winter wreath because I wanted it to last for all of winter, not just until Christmas.  

"It looks cold."

Mission accomplished.  :)

You know I'm always up for a quick and inexpensive project, and this wreath certainly is that.  

What you need:
A wreath blank.  I cut mine out of cardboard--two layers, to give it a little more body.  After I took this picture, I decided to cover the wreath blank with paper to be sure no brown would show through.  Ribbon would also work, but why waste pretty ribbon on something that won't be seen?  My wreath blank is 8.5 inches in diameter, with the inner circle 6 inches.

Tulle.  Buy it on a spool, rather than off the bolt--it's so much easier that way.  I bought one spool each of white, light blue, and glittery white.  I'm not sure how much I ended up using, but I bet less than half of the tulle I bought.

Extra, optional stuff to personalize your wreath.  I ended up using two of the three sizes of beads I bought, and a length of navy blue ribbon.

Cut your tulle into strips.  I cut mine to 14 inches long, but it will depend on how big your wreath blank is, and how big you want your finished wreath to be.  I saw this cool trick on Pinterest somewhere for quickly and easily cutting your tulle to even lengths.  Just wrap the tulle around a piece of cardboard the length you want your tulle to end up; cut down one side, and there you go.  (The cut size is twice the finished size, since you double the tulle over when you tie it on.  Make sense?  Okay.)

Fold the tulle in half and lay it under the wreath blank...

...And then pull the loose ends around the top and through the loop.  Squish the knot right next to the one before.  If you want to.  I wanted my wreath to be nice and full, so I squished my knots as close together as I could.

{This is the same technique you use for making those cute tutus you see all over, by the way.  Just tie the tulle around elastic, or my favorite, ribbon, and you have a tutu!}

I alternated colors white, blue, white, glittery, white, blue, etc.

I like how the wreath looks at this point, but I felt it didn't look quite finished.  So I sewed my sparkly, icy-looking beads on to the wreath, sewing through the knots.  You could probably use hot glue to attach your beads, but I wanted to be able to remove mine if I decided the wreath was better off without.

And I added a ribbon to hang the wreath. The wreath was up too high without the ribbon, but with it--perfect.

I've never had a wreath on my door before.  I feel very grown up.