Baking Cup Wreath

If you're looking for a craft project, or if you want to make a wreath for your spring or summer decor, look no further. My job requires me to watch a lot of videos and navigate some pretty popular websites, and when I came across this wreath tutorial, I knew I had to try it: http://www.hgtv.com/design/make-and-celebrate/handmade/baking-cup-wreath.

 

I bought a few wreath forms and used lots of coupons to pick up baking cups in a variety of colors from my local craft store.

I saw these at a craft store AFTER I bought mine -- this is a much better deal, especially with a coupon, so shop around!

My mom came over, and we fired up the hot glue guns. Here are a few notes:

• The online instructions don't explicitly tell you to flip the baking cups inside out before gluing one inside the other, but you should flip them. You can infer it from the photos, or just trust me. And you can flip a whole stack at once when they're still nestled inside each other from the package, then separate them out to start gluing.
• If you're doing this project by yourself, I suggest that you glue lots of cups together, and then spend time crinkling them all up into flowers. That way when you finally get to glue them on the wreath form, you can do just that without stopping to make more. Or, even better, get a buddy to make a wreath with you and you'll get to the fun part -- gluing paper flowers on the wreath -- even faster.
  
• You can make one-color blossoms or mix two colors. I made and used only one-color flowers, but my mom mixed some baking cups together and used two-color blossoms in her wreath for a different look.
• The tutorial says to put glue on the wreath and then put the flower in place, but the photo shows the glue being applied to the flower -- do it that way. It's much easier to get the flower where you want it when it has the glue on it. Also, hold each flower in place for a few seconds to let the glue set slightly before you move on to the next flower.
• I found it easiest to start at the top of the wreath and work my way around, covering the form as I went as opposed to scattering flowers and then trying to fill in the gaps. When I got back to the top, I left a gap and added a hanging ribbon with a little glue; then I filled in the space with the last of the flowers.

I liked the whiteness with pops of color in the inspiration wreath, so I started on the one below, made it about halfway around, and had to get more white baking cups. If you want to do one dominant color, buy twice or even three times the number of cups. You can always use extras for, you know, cupcakes and muffins.

My mom came up with her own variation: a cluster of flowers on one side and coordinating ribbons on the rest of the wreath. I like the lighter look, and the ribbons really brighten it up.

I gave my first all-color wreath to a friend for her birthday, and then I made another one as a Mother's Day gift for my sister. The yellow pops off her red door nicely. This would be a great project to feature team or school colors, fall colors, or red, white, and green for the holidays.