Last year we painted our front door blue and spruced up the front of our house. I built us an address plaque (tutorial for that here) and we bought a new mailbox. I’ve been planning on making a welcome sign for our front door to add to the curb appeal and finally got around to it.
I hope you enjoy this tutorial, and as always, I encourage you to get creative and add your own style! This wreath was actually really quick and easy to make. One of the fastest projects I’ve made in a while.
Let’s get crafting!
Supplies/Materials:
- 14″ diameter wooden round – either purchase one or cut one out. I’ve seen them at Michael’s Craft Store before, but I couldn’t find one so I cut it out of 3/8″ sanded plywood
- Medium grit sand paper
- Wood conditioner – I used the Varathane one
- Stain – I used Varathane Ultimate stain in Willow Grey
- Stencil vinyl – I used Oracal Oramask (You could also buy a pre cut stencil instead)
- Transfer tape
- Black paint – I used Rustoleum spray paint
- Wood sealer/finish – I used brush on polycrylic
- 10″ Floral ring – I used a silver one
- Faux flowers – I used a selection of blue flowers (mostly peonies) and some greenery from Michael’s Craft Store. You’ll want the ones with wire stems.
- Floral wire –
- Ribbon/string
- Painter’s tape
- 2 sets of velcro command strips (optional)
- Wreath hook (if you don’t have one)
Tools:
- Something to draw the circle – I traced a round sign, but you could also use a large compass like this or make a jig like this. (only if you are cutting out the circle)
- Pencil
- Safety equipment – eye protection, mask for dust and vapors, hearing protection
- Jig saw – if cutting out the plywood round
- Clamps
- Sander – I used a disk sander, but you can used whatever you have on hand
- Lint free shop rag or paint brush – for staining
- Cricut/Cutting machine
- Regular grip cutting mat
- Weeding tool
- Strong wire cutters
- Drill
- Small drill bit – I used a 7/64″ bit
Instructions
Step 1 Cut out your circle (skip this if you bought one). I drew out my circle by tracing another 14″ sign I made in the past. It’s pretty easy to make a circle compass out of a narrow piece of wood. I attached a video that shows a simple one above.
Next I clamped my piece of plywood to my workbench and cut out the circle with a jig saw. I had to rotate and re-clamp the piece a couple of times to avoid cutting my bench.
Step 2 Sand the circle. You’ll probably need to sand around the edge of the circle to get rid of any imperfections. Just make sure you don’t sand too much as that can make it more uneven. Remember – you’ll be covering this with flowers, so if it isn’t perfect that’s totally ok.
I used a belt sander to do this, but you could even do it by hand if you don’t have one.
Step 3 Wood condition the sign. I wipe on the wood conditioner with a shop rag.
Step 4 After 30 minutes stain the sign. I wipe on stain across the grain with a shop rag, let it soak in for 3 minutes and then wipe off the excess with the grain. Let it dry completely. I dried mine overnight.
Step 5 Cut out your design. Using Cricut Design Space, I created my design.
It’s So Good to Be Home
To access the SVGs from google drive:
- click the link above
- right click on the file
- click download
- save SVG or PNG to your computer
- upload SVG into your cutting software
The fonts I used for this design were purchased on Etsy. The sans serif font is called Farmhouse and the cursive font is called Sweet Lavender.
I cut out my design inside a 10″ circle to make sure it would fit inside my 10″ floral ring.
This helped me place the design exactly where I wanted it on the wooden round.
I cut out the design on Oracal Oramask Stencil Vinyl, weeded out the lettering, applied transfer tape and placed it on the wooden round, off center toward the right of the round. I wanted to have the bulk of the flowers on the left.
Before you remove your transfer tape make sure the design is well adhered, using a scraper or credit card. After removing the transfer tape I like to go over the design again. To avoid tearing the design I used a piece of transfer tape backing between my design and my scraper.
Add painter’s tape to the wood around your design to prevent the rest of the wood from being painted if you’re spray painting.
Step 6 Paint on your design. You could sponge on your paint for this step, but I used spray paint. I did extremely light coats, letting each coat dry for around 10 minutes before doing another. I did about 4 coats and then let it dry for 20 minutes and removed my stencil.
Step 7 After the spray paint dries completely, seal your design. I applied polycrylic using a clean paintbrush. I let that dry completely and did a second coat. Let this dry completely.
Step 8 Next, attach the flowers and greenery to the floral ring. Gather your supplies.
I laid out how I wanted the greenery and flowers to look.
Then I took the greenery, trimmed the stems a bit and then wrapped floral wire around the overlapping stems.
Then I began layering on the flowers, one stem at a time, attaching them to the greenery. This does create a bit of a lump, but it can be easily covered later.
Once I had all the flowers on that I wanted, I attached the whole thing on to the ring.
I used some of the floral wire to curve the greenery around the ring to surround where the text was. It took a bit of trial and error, but it’s an easy process to tweak as it isn’t permanent.
Step 9 After the majority of my flowers and greenery are in place, mark where you will drill the holes to attach the ring to the plaque and where you will put the ribbon to hang the piece.
I put the ring where it would go around the text and drew 6 pencil marks. I did one on either side of the ring in 3 locations that would be hidden by the flowers. Then I drew two marks near the top about 3″ apart where the ribbon would go.
Step 10 Using the small drill bit, carefully drill the 8 holes. I used a 7/64″ drill bit for this.
Step 11 Attach the ring to the plaque. I did this by cutting small sections of floral wire, threading one end through on of the holes, wrapping it once around the ring, then putting the other end through the opposite hole and wrapping them tightly together and folding them flat against the back of the plaque.
I did this for all 3 places (6 holes) the ring would be secured to the plaque.
Then I put some painter’s tape over the wire at the back so it wouldn’t scratch my door.
Step 12 Add any extra greenery to cover any spots where the wire is showing. I just needed to add one piece of greenery to cover my wire. I attached the greenery with another small piece of wire.
I knew I wanted to hide all this excess floral wire.
Attach the greenery together, if in separate pieces. Tuck into place to hide the big bundle of floral wire and secure with – you guessed it – more floral wire (just use a smaller piece).
This is where the lump of wire was visible, but it was easily covered by greenery.
Step 13 Adjust the placement of your flowers and greenery so that all the wire is disguised and the stems are curving around the ring, but not covering the text.
Step 14 Thread the ribbon through the top holes. I did this by pushing it through with a piece of floral wire. Tie a couple of knots at the back so the ribbon wont slip through.
Step 15 Time to hang up your creation! I did this with a wreath hook and 2 sets of velcro command hooks.
I put two velcro command strips on the back of my wreath where it would be touching the door, with the corresponding pieces on the door. This prevents the wood from banging around and scratching your door and the strips come off really easy without damage.
This picture isn’t the best, but you can see the velcro command strip. I put one on either side of the door. it gives the sign extra support and keeps it from moving around.
You’re finished!
This entire piece was made without gluing, so if you want to change out the arrangement later you can easily do so. You could even make rings for different holidays and just change them out to bring new life to the wooden plaque! The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
Admire your wreath!
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Happy Crafting!
The Walnut Grove 