Glitzy Holiday Monogram Wreath

Inspired by a photo on Pinterest, my first holiday project this year is a glitzy, sparkly monogram for my new last name!

This project was inexpensive and super easy!  It's also a fun project to do with kids as young as 6.  Here's how I did it.

Materials:

• A letter cut-out.  These are available at the craft store.  I didn't like the size or shape of the available "M's," so I cut my own out of a piece of leftover plywood using a jigsaw.
• Craft paint in silver or gold
• Balls.  I took apart four floral stems with glittery berries on them, as well as a strand of beaded garland.  You can also use Mardi Gras beads.
• Craft glue
• Ribbon

What to do:

• If you're making your own letter, draw the shape on a piece of wood.  Cut out using a jigsaw, and lightly sand the edges.
• Attach hangers to the back of the letter if desired.  Do this before attaching the balls - if you do it after, you risk crushing the beads.  I used a fencing staple as my hanger. {yes, I did do this project at our family farm!}

• Paint the letter with silver or gold craft paint.  This way you don't see wood through the spaces between the beads.

• While that's drying, remove the berries from the steps and cut the beads apart.  I put mine in a large frisbee and mixed them up so they'd be random.
• Start gluing the balls to the letter using craft glue.  I made sure to mix up big and small, silver and gold, to create a look of controlled randomness.  I made sure to use lots of the Mardi Gras type beads because I had more of them and they're cheaper.  I couldn't completely cut the strings off of them, but once they were glued down, you could hardly see them, and with so much going on they're not noticeable.

• Don't do one whole side at once.  I did each corner before filling in between them so that if I ran out of one kind of ball it wouldn't be obvious.  It turns out I had exactly the perfect number of balls, a none of the ones from the stems were leftover.

•  Let the glue dry completely.

•  Add a pretty bow and hang!

This project took 2-3 hours to complete (it's hard to be exact on the time, because my cousins got interested in it and wanted help making their own).  It cost about $15, which includes the floral stems, beads, ribbon, paint, and glue, but not the wood (thank you Michael's half-price Christmas sale!).

If you have Mardi Gras beads, wood, glue, and paint on hand, you could do it for free, like we did for the kids!

I’m sharing this at the Dare to DIY party hosted by Decor and the Dog, Maybe Matilda, Newly Woodwards, and Two Twenty One!