This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hobby Lobby. All opinions are 100% mine.

Hi everyone, it’s Julie from Julie’s Wreath Boutique. Hobby Lobby asked me to create an apple wreath for you all, and I decided to put a special spin on it to help you get ready for… back to school! I know, I know, those are the three little words you do NOT want to hear right now. But as we all know, it will be here before we know it so why not make a cute craft for it in the meantime? This is the sweetest apple wreath with a customizable center for writing messages, perfect for the first day of school pictures or for your favorite teacher’s classroom! This wreath might seem complicated, but I assure you it is not. The frame we create for this wreath also doubles as the frame for creating a pumpkin wreath, so this tutorial is a bit of a two-in-one! So to get ready for this wreath I walked up and down all the aisles (I always make it a point to check out their florals) to find all kinds of treasures and goodies. The end result is so fun and it can be easily tweaked to your own aesthetic, making it a unique and perfect addition to any home or classroom. Be sure to watch the full step-by-step video tutorial on this one because there are a few steps that are best understood visually. Below are all the materials needed for this as well as the written instructions.

Supplies

• Four rolls of red burlap
• 16” wire wreath form
• Heart wire wreath form
• Red chenille stems
• Plastic canvas
• Ribbon
• Black canvas
• Stickers
• Letter stickersOptional: Green felt

Directions

1. Step one is a lot of work, but stay with me. We are going to connect the heart form to the 16” wreath form using zip ties, wire, or chenille stems, whichever you have on hand. Start with the round form on your work surface and set the heart frame in the middle of the circle with the bottom point of the heart lined up with the center of the circle form. This 16” form has 8 brackets all the way around, so line up one of the brackets with the center of the bottom of the heart. Secure the bottom point to the bracket of the circle form (you may need more than one zip tie). Next we need to secure the two round portions of the top of the heart to the circle frame in the same manner using zip ties or wire. We are not going for pretty here so don’t worry about how it looks.

2. Next we need to give the circle form a bit of a haircut. The part of the form that spans between the two round portions of the heart needs to be cut off with heavy duty wire cutters. Clip off all 4 rings between the two brackets positioned at the round portions so that what remains has a general outline of an apple. After clipping the wire, apply hot glue around the cut wire ends to cover the sharp edges.

3. Now let’s grab that plastic canvas and lay it flat on our work surface. Place the wreath frame on top and we are going to cut out the canvas so that it fills in the inner circle of the frame. Use a dark marker to trace the inner ring onto the canvas and at the top we need to freehand a bit to help give the apple shape at the top. Refer to the pictures and video for the best way to do this part! After it is traced, cut it out and don’t throw away the canvas scraps.

4. Use zip ties to secure the edge of the canvas to the inner ring of the wreath frame all the way around.

5. Optional: If your wreath is going to be seen from the back, you may want to attach a felt backing. If so, then at this point you want to prepare the felt by laying the frame on top of it and using your dark marker, trace the outer edge of the frame onto the felt all the way around, cut it out, then set it aside for later.

6. Now it’s time to start filling in the wreath! Grab that red burlap and those red chenille stems. Cut the stems in half because we don’t want long ends sticking out. The stems are what will hold the burlap in place so we are going to place them poking upwards around and throughout the whole frame. Rather than working in a circle, we will move our way back and forth across the apple shape. To begin, pinch the end of the red burlap and secure it with a chenille stem by twisting and then tuck the stem ends back down into the frame so they don’t stick up anymore. Then move up the burlap and pinch the next section and secure it to the frame using the next chenille stem. The length of burlap between stems is roughly the length of your hand (6” give or take), and the spacing between chenille stems is going to be approximately ½ inch. Repeat this process until the whole frame is filled in! When one roll of burlap runs out, just grab the next roll and start it off the same way.

7. Let’s make the apple stem and leaves! Grab the burlap ribbon and some stiff green felt for this step. On the felt, you can freehand or trace some leaves and cut them out. I used two leaves but you can do more or less. For the stem simply cut a 14” length (or longer if you want a more prominent stem), fold it in half, and secure the ends to the backside of the top of the apple using a zip tie. Place the leaves where you’d like next to the stem and attach with a dab of hot glue! Easy peasy.

8. Next up is the sign! I chose the black chalkboard canvas because it fits in with the back to school theme and looked so good with the letter stickers. If you are gifted in hand lettering, you can freehand whatever message you like! Place the message and any other fun stickers you like on the sign until you’re happy with how it looks.

9. Grab the burlap ribbon once more and we are going to use it to frame out the canvas with just some hot glue. Cut four pieces of ribbon to cover each side of the frame, then we’ll glue it down to the front side and wrap it around the back and glue it down, then glue the ends flat. Repeat this process for all 4 sides.

10. Attach two chenille stems with a staple gun (or glue gun if you don’t have a staple gun) so that we can use them to attach the sign to the wreath. Once they are on, lay your sign on top of the wreath and feed the chenille stems all the way through to the back and out the canvas holes. Simply twist the ends nice and tight to lock the sign in place!

11. To hang the wreath, we’ll make a simple loop with a chenille stem and place it right behind the apple stem so that it remains hidden. Take a full length chenille stem and attach it to the canvas backing where the apple stem is and twist the ends to secure.

12. Optional: If you want to attach a felt backing, this is the time to do it! Two options for you: either secure the felt in place all around using zip ties (if you do this method, it is helpful to poke holes into the felt using scissors for the zip tie to pass through easily) or using hot glue. Just turn the wreath over, lay the felt so that it covers all the plastic canvas and chenille stems and secure in place using your method of choice.

That’s a wrap on the apple wreath! Well done for making your way through this one. There was a bit of a labor of love that went into this but I promise the end result is so worth it. Imagine how special this will make your child’s teacher feel this year! If you homeschool this would also be a sweet addition to your school space and make a fun prop for pictures. Thanks so much to Hobby Lobby for sponsoring this project, I really enjoyed walking through all the aisles to pull this look together. I hope you get inspired and put your own spin on this! Enjoy the rest of your summer and soak in the sweetness with those around you.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Hobby Lobby. All opinions are 100% mine.