Do you have that one crafty co-worker that sees a craft project and thinks of you? And sends you a picture? Well, I have one of those co-workers! It is great because we can show each other our projects and bounce ideas off each other.
A couple of weeks ago she showed me a picture of this super cute candy cane wreath. I immediately said “I could totally do that!” The next day I stopped by the store and got the supplies I needed… and then they sat on my craft table for weeks. Only having 3 weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas has really thrown me off. I kept telling myself I had time. Oops!
So this week I finally got around to putting this project together. All it took was a box of 24 candy canes, a pair of bows, some leftover ribbon, and a glue gun.
This project is pretty much a bunch of hearts, made out of 2 candy canes each, glued together. The first step was to lay out the candy canes to figure out how many I need. I have a cutting mat that I leave on my craft table for those messy projects, paint, gluing, etc., so I laid out the candy canes on that. Once I figured out how many I needed (18) I started gluing each of the hearts together.
After I had all the hearts created I put them all back together to create the shape of the wreath. But then how should I glue them together and not mess up my shape? I tried a couple of ideas and finally decided to treat the side that was facing me as the “back” and run a line of glue down each of the side of the heart. It looked a little messy from my point of view, but once I turned it over it was mess free!
To finish it off I added one of the red glitter bows I purchased. They came in a set of two, so I have one for another project, and since it was pre-made all I had to do was glue it on. Then I used some sparkly red ribbon I had in my stash to create the hanger. I looped it around two of the candy canes which added a bit of stability.
With all the crazy flavors that candy canes come in these days, there are a lot of non traditional colors that you could make your wreath. So definitely take a look at those ‘weird flavors’ that you might otherwise overlook.
Even though I only needed 18 candy canes for the wreath, I’m glad I had 24 since a couple of them were broken. It never hurts to have a couple spares when you are working on a project. Worse case scenario you can hang them on the tree or eat them (my personal favorite).
And if you live in Florida, or any other ‘warm winter’ state, DON’T HANG THIS OUTSIDE. The hot glue will get warm again and the whole thing will fall apart. So hang it on the wall, the inside of the door, or in your office at work (where mine is going).
*Update: After hanging up for a bit I realized that this wreath wasn’t exactly structurally sound. Thankfully I was able to easily fix it! I used clear plastic packaging and cut a ring that I glued behind the center of the wreath. It was a quick fix that took no time at all and gave the wreath the extra strength it needed.
Super cute idea for next year, when I have my crafting mojo back.