DIY Sheet Moss Wreath

The time between the 4th of July and fall is a tough decor time for me especially when it comes to wreaths.  It’s way too early to put up my fall wreath and my neighbors will think I’m nuts (as if they didn’t already) for leaving the 4th of July wreath up till October.  Though this may not be a major issue to some on our house it is, our house is F L A T on the front …

As you can see in this picture taken before we bought the house.  It’s nice but definitely needs a little something extra!

Maybe a porch??? It is on the honey-do list after all.

Well thanks to Beth at Unskinny Boppy and her post on how to make a succulent wreath and Stacey over at Not Just a Housewife’s post on Moss Art, I was totally inspired to make a green wreath.  Since Matt was home I drug him to Jo Ann’s with me, he was great and patiently endured my 500 questions about what do you think if I did this, what about that.  But after about 30 min I knew he had met his craft store limit, I quickly made my final selections and headed out.

I ended up with a large grapevine wreath I wanted to be able to have dimension on the wreath.  You could use a foam form wreath or even a pool noodle if you like.  I also bought the largest package of sheet moss to make sure I had enough to cover the front 2/3 of the wreath.  Matt snagged a ‘K’ for me that he thought would work.  You will also need fishing line or a clear thread.

I started by unrolling the sheet moss and cut it in half length wise.

Holy COW this moss is messy, it went everywhere.  Be prepared for some vacuuming if you opt to do this on the floor like I did.  With the moss sheet cut in half I cut a section about 12″ long.  Since the wreath is curved (captain obvious here) I wanted to minimize the amount of bunching aka wasted sheet moss.  Basically creating a patch work sheet moss wreath.

The next two hours of my life consisted of placing the sheet moss on the wreath, hot glueing the sheet moss to the wreath, holding the sheet moss on the wreath, tending to hot glue burns … you get the idea.

I want to point out that I did not cover the entire back of the moss wreath.  When I started putting it on I noticed the back was uneven and a little sloppy and figured it would take forever to completely cover the back and make it look good.  Why does it have to look good you ask?  Thanks for asking, we have a storm door so you can see the back through the glass so I decided to take some muslin fabric I had laying around and created a cover for the back of the wreath to make it look more clean.

With everything glued in place I grabbed my can of polycrylic and went to town on my wreath.  Since it’s outside It will need something to protect it from the elements, I had a can of polycrylic and was ready to get this wreath D O N E!

While the moss wreath was drying I whipped out my cute little tub of Arles – Annie Sloan Chalk Paint I got in my swag bag at the Haven Conference and painted my ‘K’ front and back … remember on my house the front is just as important as the back.  The paint dried in no time flat and I was able to put a coat of polycrylic on it as well.  I left the tabs that were used to hang the ‘K’ on the store shelf on and trimmed them flush with the top of the ‘K’.

I wanted the ‘K’ to suspend from the middle of the wreath so using fishing line I created a loop for the ‘K’ to hang on (using the bottom of the tabs as a hook)  If your letter does not have any tabs you can use a staple gun to hold the line in place.

 I used some left over muslin as a tie to not only hide the fishing line but also as a way to hang my moss wreath.  I left the ends frayed but folded the raw edges inside to create a cleaner looking loop.

And finally my ‘In-between’ diy moss wreath is done!  Not sure how long how many years it will last, but if I get 2 seasons out of it I will be happy!

YEAH no more flat house!