Supplies:
- Rectangular wood frame. I have had my frame for awhile, so I do not remember where I purchased it from.
- Metal letter M. Most craft stores have metal letters. Pick the size that works best for your frame.
- Wooden letter E. I used my laser cutter machine to cut out my letter E, but most craft stores will have wooden letters you can buy. You can even buy them already painted white.
- Small wreath
- A little wood trim or a piece of a nice frame. I used a piece of trim that was left in our garage when we bought this house.
- 2 strips of wood. I just used some scraps I had in the garage.
- White acrylic paint
- Glue: I gorilla glue, hot glue, and some wood glue for some of the wood pieces. You could just use hot glue or gorilla glue for everything. I used different glues for different parts just because that was what I grabbed at the time.
- Flowers to decorate the wreath. I used sola wood flowers that I will dye purple for my decoration.
- Very thin black sharpy marker
- Optional: blue painter’s paint
I started out by taping off the edges of my frame so I would not get white paint on the edges. I then painted the center of my frame white. It took a few coats. I then added a little tan colored paint to my white paint and painted my wooden letter E. Once the E was dry, I went back with some black paint and dabbed the edges of the E until I was happy with it. For the H I painted the trim white and let it dry. Once it was dry, you can either go in with a sand paper and rub some of the white off or dry brush a little black on to accent the details a little more. For the sides of the H make sure the wood is cut down to a size you are happy with, and that they are the same height. I painted the sides the same color of white. When this white was dry, I felt it still needed something. So, I took a very thin sharpy marker and made some lines down these pieces of wood. It is okay if these lines are a little crooked or not perfect. I am not sure if I 100% like these lines, but it did need something.
The wreath came together in a circle when I purchased it. So, all I had to do was glue it down to my frame. I used hot glue to glue the wreath down. I used gorilla glue to glue down my metal M, and wood glue to attach and glue down the H and E.
Once all of these pieces were glued down, my piece still needed a little something extra. I thought about gluing magnets to my wreath and making wood cut outs that would attach to my wreath for each season. The wood cut outs would also have magnets on the back. This would allow me to easily attach a different piece depending on the holiday/season. However, I decided to just keep it simple and attach a few sola wood flowers to the wreath. I decided I would probably not change the pieces out very often and that I just liked having flowers that would stay on all year around.
Purple is my favorite color. So, I decided to paint the center flower purple, and leave the two smaller side flowers their natural colors. I mix my acrylic paint color in regular tap water; warm water tends to work best. Here is a video I made to show the water to paint ratio I use. You do not want your paint to thick or to watered down. I then mix my paint and water together and test the paint to water ratio. I found a plastic fork works best, and to whisk your paint and water with the fork. Stirring the paint and water with a paint brush will also work. I did not use glycerin this time, since I was only gluing a few flowers onto a piece that would be hanging on a wall.
I then dipped my flower into my paint and water mixture. I wanted the center of my flower to be yellow. So, I tried not to get purple in the center of my flower. I rotated the flower in the paint sideways. Since I only needed a very small amount of yellow paint, I just dipped my paint brush into the yellow paint, and then into my glass of water, instead of making a mixture. I then used my paint brush to paint the center of my flower yellow by hand. Now, allow your flower to dry overnight. I place my flowers in empty egg cartons to dry.
The next day my flower was dry and looked good, no touch ups were needed. I applied a good amount of hot glue to the back of each of my flowers and attached them to my wreath. I decided to place them at a slight angle instead of directly at the top or bottom of my wreath. Since the flowers were being attached to a green wreath, no additional greenery was needed.
I really like how this turned out. There are several different ways you could go about making this piece, depending on what you have available to you. I like that it is simple, but has a lot of different textures and things to look at.
