It may still be in the 90s during the day here in southern California, but the evenings are starting to get cool, the leaves are finally falling and I am officially breaking out ALL the autumn decor haha!
My sister-in-law is lucky enough to have a fall birthday, and so this year she decided that for her birthday she wanted to do some fall crafts together! (can you tell that we are an entire family of DIYers?! haha!)
My project was this wreath, and I honestly can’t believe how great it turned out!
And the best part?! It took less than an hour and only cost about $5 to make!
You’d never know by looking at it that almost everything came from Dollar Tree, it looks like something straight from your favorite home decor store with a much higher price tag!
Keep reading to find out step by step how to easily recreate it and make a gorgeous fall wreath of your own!
Supplies needed:
- 18 inch wire wreath frame (Dollar Tree)
- Burlap (on hand)
- Raffia – (Dollar Tree – they call it excelsior)
- Stuffed owl (Dollar Tree)
- Foam berries (Dollar Tree)
- Plaid fall bow (Dollar Tree)
- Dried wheat (on hand)
- Jute twine – optional
Tools needed:
- Glue gun
- Glue sticks
As you can see almost every single thing you need for this project came from Dollar Tree!
I didn’t purchase the burlap at Dollar Tree because my sister in law already had plenty, but they almost always have burlap ribbon there that would work well too!
You can also purchase the jute twine there if you don’t have any!
The dried wheat I decided to use last minute and so I just took it from an arrangement in my house.
I had purchased an entire bunch of it from Hobby Lobby awhile back, and I believe it only cost around $3.50 on sale at the time.
I’m not sure if Dollar Tree has dried wheat exactly, but they probably have something similar in their faux flowers section.
You can also use something completely different, or just leave it out!
If you do that then you can buy all of your supplies at Dollar Tree alone!
STEP 1 – Wrapping the frame
The first thing you’ll do is wrap your wire wreath frame with the strips of burlap.
If you’re using burlap ribbon like you find at dollar tree then you won’t need to do anything before you start wrapping, but we were using a much wider roll so we had to cut it in half lengthwise so that the each piece only measured a few inches across before we wrapped them.
You can start anywhere, just wrap it around and around until you either wrap the entire wreath or your strip of burlap runs out.
If you wrapped the entire wreath using one piece of burlap, glue the end of the burlap down onto the burlap where you first started wrapping, being sure to glue it down at the back of the wreath so that it’s not visible from the front (if you need to you can cut or fold the end of the burlap strip so that it ends at the back of the wreath without sticking out)
Now go back and place a bit of glue underneath the spots where the burlap overlaps to keep it securely in place.
Make sure you only do that on the back of the wreath so that any extra glue that squeezes out from under the burlap can’t be seen from the front.
If you had to use multiple pieces of burlap like we did, just begin wrapping the second piece over where the first piece ended, and place some glue between the two pieces to keep them securely in place. Then once you reach the end, glue the end of the second piece of burlap to the beginning of the first piece where you first started wrapping the wreath.
You’ll probably want to go back along and add extra glue where the burlap overlaps as well to keep everything in place.
Don’t forget to do this on the back so that no glue is visible from the front!
You don’t have to be precise when it comes to wrapping your wire frame, since a good portion of the burlap will be covered up anyway.
If one part doesn’t turn out the way you like, just cover it up in the next step!
STEP 2 – Raffia (aka excelsior)
Next you will be adding some raffia to the bottom half of the wreath.
Dollar Tree calls it excelsior, and you should only need one of their bags of it to cover half the wreath.
Just take it out of the bag and gently pull at it to spread it over the half of the wreath where you want it.
Remember that you can use it to cover up any areas of the burlap that you don’t like as much!
Once you like the position the raffia is in, start lifting up one section at a time and place some glue underneath it on the burlap. Now push down on that area (carefully, so that you don’t burn your fingers!) for a bit until the glue starts to harden.
Now of course you can’t glue every single piece down, but as long as you get enough of it glued down underneath it should stay put nicely!
STEP 3 – Owl & berries
Now to add some cuteness!
Aren’t these little owls from Dollar Tree just adorable?!
I wanted to buy them all…I might have to go back, haha!
If you can’t find them at your local Dollar Tree, you may be able to find something similar at another store.
I even saw a few cute little owls and squirrels in Wal-Mart’s fall decor section! And Hobby Lobby pretty much always has something similar as well!
Try to line up your little owl in the center of the raffia, and then once you have him in place, lift him up slightly and start placing glue underneath.
You’ll have to use quite a bit of glue to get a good hold so that he’s not lose, especially towards the back.
Don’t be afraid to go back and add more if he doesn’t feel secure enough to you!
Next you will be adding the berries!
They came in a bunch with stems from Dollar Tree, but I just pulled the berry bunches off the stems before gluing. This left me with three separate bunches.
They have a lot of different colors of these too so you can pick whichever you like, or mix and match a few!
Just make sure to be very careful with the styrofoam berries, since they break easily!
Take your berry bunches and lay them out on top of the raffia below the owl (at the front of the wreath) until you like the placement, then start gluing!
You want to try and avoid getting glue directly on the berries as much as you can though. Try to mostly put the glue where the plastic stems are.
I’m pretty sure I did get a bit of glue on my berries and I didn’t notice any melting, but that’s what usually happens when styrofoam meets hot glue so to be on the safe side try to avoid it as much as possible!
STEP 4 – Bow & wheat
Now for this step, it’s time to add the bow!
This bow is another one of those things I can’t believe came from Dollar Tree! So flippin’ lovely!
I think it looks great off to the side, but you can place it wherever you prefer!
If you are using wheat or something else around the bow as well, make sure to lay it all out on the wreath together to see if it’s arranged the way you want it before you start gluing! If your wheat stems are very long like mine were then you may need to cut them first!
Now starting with the wheat (because the stems sit underneath the bow) start gluing down one piece at a time.
Try to keep all the pieces arranged while you’re doing this if you can so that you can keep checking to make sure your still in the right place with each piece you glue.
Next remove the little silver wire tie that comes inside the bow, and then glue it on over the top of the wheat stems!
STEP 5 – (Optional – twine hanger)
I knew that I didn’t need a hanger on the back of my wreath, so I skipped this step, but if you do need to have a way to hang it on the wreath itself you can add a quick and easy jute twine loop to hang it from!
There are two simple ways to do this:
Option 1: Tie a piece of jute twine in a lose loop around the top of your wreath, leaving enough length so that it hangs where you want it to.
Knot it and then cut the excess off the ends.
Option 2: Make a loop using the jute twine, and tie the ends in a knot. Glue the bottom of this loop directly onto the back of your wreath near the top.
Be sure to use plenty of glue so that it can hold the weight of the wreath!
And voila! Just like that, your beautiful fall wreath is finished!
Total cost
Total cost for my wreath:
- $1 – Wire frame
- $1 – Raffia
- $1 – Stuffed owl
- $1 – Foam berries
- .50¢ – Bow (comes in a 2 pack)
- $0 – Burlap
- $0 – Dried wheat
Total cost: $4.50
Can you believe that?! Less than $5 to make something MUCH nicer than half of the ones you see in stores!
If you didn’t have burlap, jute twine, and dried wheat on hand then it might cost you another $3-$5 for those, but all in all it’s still amazing to think that you can create a wreath like this for less than $10!
You would probably pay 4 or 5 times that for a fall wreath at most home decor stores right now!
I feel those cozy fall vibes lifting my spirits every time I look at it, haha!
I hope you liked this easy dollar store diy fall wreath tutorial, and felt inspired to make your own!
Remember that you can add whatever you like to your own wreath, as little or as much as you want!
Get creative and feel those cozy fall vibes lifting your spirits as well!
Have you made one of your own? I’d LOVE to hear about it in the comments section below!
