Make a Magnolia Wreath in 10 Mins. Seriously.

Magnolia leaf wreaths are so big right now and I was jonesin’ for one real bad.  I also needed a lil project for the weekend, so when I saw a pile of Magnolia branches on our neighbors curb on Thursday evening it was like the stars were aligning.

I couldn’t wait until dark so I could creep over and pilfer his garbage pile (not the first time, won’t be the last) to snag some of those branches to make this wreath happen.  This project turned out so beautifully that I just had to share how easy it was to make this Magnolia leaf wreath in a jiff!

Here’s what I used:

• One pile of pilfered Magnolia Branches
• One Medium U-Haul box
• Glue sticks & Hot Glue Gun
• Scissors
• Rustoleum Gold Glitter Spray Paint (optional but DEF recommended)

Here’s how I did it:

1. First, make sure it’s raining.  That’s when I choose to do all of my spray painting.  The humidity makes the paint take approximately 300 times as long to dry.  Super fun.  Especially when you’re as patient as I am.  Grrrr.
2. Cut the leaves off of the branches.  Cut as close to the branch as possible, so you have a nice long stem to glue.  I think I ended up with 90-ish leaves, but I had a bunch left over.  I would say for a wreath the size that I made, you’d be more than good with 60-75.
3. Take 15-20 leaves and lay them flat, spray them generously with Rustoleum Gold Glitter spray paint.

4.  While the painted leaves dry, plug in your glue gun so it will be getting all nice and melty, and go make your wreath form.  I used a medium U-Haul box so it would be rectangular and a little different than most Magnolia wreaths out there…  and I cut off one of the side flaps and used that as my template for the inside rectangle cut out.  The main piece is about 13″x15″ and the rectangular cut out is about  6.5″x8″.

Cut the side flap to 6.5″x8″ and center it in the middle of the large cardboard piece.  Trace around it, and poke your scissors through the middle to cut it out.  It’s a little awkward to cut, but you can get away with bending the cardboard a bit to make it work.  It will be covered with leaves after all.

5.  Next go gather up your sparkly glitter leaves and lay them to one side of the wreath form.  Lay the other leaves to the other side, then start laying them out on the top right corner of the wreath form.  The stem edge of the leaves should be pointing toward the left side of the wreath.  Dab a bit of hot glue on the stem and  slightly above the stem on the leaf and press it onto the cardboard.  Watch those fingers!  For the first leaves on the top right corner, the tips of the leaves should overlap the cardboard by about 1-2″.

Then just keep cruisin’ around the wreath form, sprinkling in the sparkly leaves as you go!  When you get to the top left edge, line the stems of the last horizontal leaves up with the edge of the cardboard, and then turn and overlap the leaves that will go vertically down the left side so that the top edges of the leaves again hang over the edge of the cardboard 1-2″.  Use that premise for the other three corners and you’ll be all set.

And in about ten minutes you have a beautiful Magnolia leaf wreath ready to go!  If you had time – and lots of leaves – these would make GORGEOUS chargers for a holiday table.  One under each plate would really be stunning.

6.  Though you’ll be tempted to hang  it up right away, don’t.  Lay it with the leaf side down and put some heavy stuff on top of it.  This will dry out the leaves and make them nice and flat so they don’t curl up as they dry out.  Leave it for a day or so and that should be plenty.

7.  When you’re ready hang it, just add a binder clip to the card board and use the metal part for your hook!  So easy!  And the wreath is light enough that the clip works like a charm, plus it gives a bit more dimension off the wall.  Perfect.

I am in love with my glittery little Magnolia leaf wreath, and even more in love with the fact that I could start and finish this project all during naptime.  If you try this out I’d love to see your finished product!

And make sure your neighbor is cool before you go creepin’ on their trash pile…