$3 Back To School Wreath

One week.  That's how long I have left until my oldest child starts kindergarten.  I'm feeling conflicted between trying to to happy for her and not to think about it, but it's hard NOT to think about it when I'm being reminded by her every. single. day. because she's so excited.  I was one of those kids who actually really loved school (including college) so I'm glad to see her feeling positive about this new part of her life.  And with all the school supplies on sale, I decided to grab a few things and turn them into something fun: a $3 back to school wreath.

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As part of getting ready for the new school year, I decided to hop on the back to school decor bandwagon and embrace the fact that my baby girl is growing up. *sniff*  And what better way to show some school spirit than a new wreath?  This one only cost me $3 to make and it turned out so cute!  My husband always rolls his eyes when I tell him I'm making a new wreath: "Don't we already have, like, 50 wreaths?" "No," I tell him.  "And besides, I don't have a back to school one."  And then he rolls his eyes again and lets me do my thing.  *wink*

Before we jump into the tutorial, I have to give credit to my friend Kelli for the idea behind this wreath.  She shared it on her Facebook page and Instagram and I asked her if I could share it with you all.  She kindly said yes.  So if you have a minute, feel free to go and check her out on Instagram at @adashofthisnthat.  I keep telling her she needs to start a blog because she is so darn creative!

Okay, so let's get started.

I grabbed all of my supplies from the dollar store and the rest I had at home already.  Here's what you'll need to make your own back to school wreath:

• 24 yellow pencils (dollar store)
• small chalkboard (dollar store)
• pack of flash cards (dollar store)
• glue gun
• chalk
• apple die cut (cut out by hand, bought at the store or cut with a cutting machine)
• 6" round piece of thick cardboard
• scissors or razor knife 

Start by cutting out your cardboard.  I actually just grabbed a small salad plate from the kitchen and traced around it.  You want to make sure that it's not bigger than your chalkboard, otherwise it will stick out on the top and/or bottom.  Cut it out using scissors or a razor knife.  Mark the center of the circle with a dot.

Take four pencils and set two of them end to end and the other two intersecting the first two so you make an X or + sign (depends on how you look at it).  Using your hot glue gun, run a line of glue down the bottom 1/3 of the first pencil and stick it to the cardboard.  Continue gluing the other three pencils down to complete the X. 

*Note: You'll want to decide ahead of time if you want the words at the top of the pencil to show on the front or not and then keep it consistent all the way through.

Next, take four more pencils and place them in the corners, or angles, of the X, as seen below.  Glue them down.

Lastly, use a mug and center the top of it upside down over the pencils.  Then use the remaining pencils and place two of them equal distance apart between each of the eight spaces you've created with the ends only going as far as the edge of the cup.  Glue them down and remove the cup.

Now you'll want to grab your chalkboard, flash cards and apple die cut and position them the way you want on top of the pencils, making sure to cover the cardboard backing.  Once it looks the way you want, glue it all down.

*Note: For my apple, I just hand cut an apple shape out of red paper.  Then I glued a popsicle stick to the back, cut the top at an angle and tied a piece of green tulle around it for the "leaves".

Use a piece of chalk and write "Back 2 School" on your chalkboard.

To hang my wreath, I just grabbed some jute twine I had on hand and glued it to the back of the cardboard.

And that's it!  The whole thing took me less than an hour from start to finish and now I have this darling new wreath hanging on my front door.  It's going to make a cute backdrop for next week's "first day of kindergarten" pictures and a fun way to jump into a new school year.

We actually made one of these for my daughter's kindergarten teacher and she loved it!  Such a fun way to ring in the start of a new year.