Hymnal Wreath Tutorial

3 years ago, at our annual fall craft day in little Mentor, one of the attendees brought a  Hymnal Wreath make and take for us to try. Yes, she brought enough of these cones for at least 5 people to create one of these large wreaths!! 

I have had so many compliments on the wreaths, I thought I'd share a tutorial. I believe the success is in the little tips she gave! So grab a cup of java and have a sitz, cause this may get long!

The first thing you need is a card board circle for the base of the wreath. I use cake rounds I buy from Walmart or Hobby Lobby. This is a 16 in round but you can use any size. You will want to find the center.

The last two photos show finding the center by drawing your horizontal and verticle mid lines.

Once you have the center you will need to draw two circles for the layer lines. Yep, thats a pencil, string and a straight pin, pretty high tech and not my favorite, but it works! Precision trammels can be put on a ruler or a yard stick for great results but I have not purchased those yet.

Once you have your two circles (do notice they are not perfect but its OK as long as you are close the cones will do some of the work for you!)

Now for the cones, any hymnal will work. Just pull out the pages and trim up the torn side. 

Making the cones takes a little practice but once you get it, you will be on your way.

Wrap those babies tight.

Below you see what I call a bad cone. Too loose and will not create the structured, professional look you want.

Now, below this text, is a good cone. All wrapped up tight as a bug!

You will need scotch tape to secure the very end of the cone. You should not need to tape at the top if you have the cone well wrapped.

Next, hold the cone in front of you with the top tip facing you just as you would like to see it on the wreath. Pinch the bottom if the cone 1/4 to 1/2 inch is good. Then you will staple the bottom. This will give you a flat piece to glue to the cardboard circle. You will need anywhere from 70-100 cones. depending on the size of your circle. It takes no time at all. Wrap them all, staple them all and on to the next step.

Now....put a hole in the cardboard and if you are really super organized and more decisive than I am, go ahead and put your ribbon that the wreath will be hung with through that hole. Nothing worse than getting all those delicate cones glued down, just to realize you have no way to hang the beauty! True story...and I actually forgot that step initially in the tutorial, good thing I reviewed.

You are ready to get the hot glue gun out and go to work. CAUTION hot glue is HOT!!! I had huge blisters the first year I made these things. You want something to use to be able to push the hot glued tip onto the cardboard. I have used a ruler end or a pencil eraser. Below you will see I used my cricut spatula.  Save your fingers people!!

Now for the glue. Work the outside circle first. I do this in quarter sections that you have after finding the center. I glue a cone on each side of the quarter section using my outer drawn line as a guide. 

I then eyeball the middle of the quarter section I am working on and add another cone. This creates two small sections.

By focusing on small sections the task is much less overwhelming and you will get a nice circle when you are completely finished. 

Cones will vary in width a tad. Working the small sections also allows you to try out the cones you want in each section before glueing them down, this helps to get the "full" look, no big gaps.

Once you finish the outside row, stand back and admire your work...because it is a little work!

Repeat the same process on the inside circle.

Yeah!! You are getting closer!

Now you can add the decorations! I find this part a lot more challenging than the cones. Those round ornaments don't like to sit still! I use glittered snow flakes (Walmart and Hobby Lobby carry them) on the outside around the ornaments.

Here is a look at the finished wreath.

Here a couple smaller wreaths done with 4 inch circles. They still turned out pretty good sized.

These are only one full layer with a few strategically placed to hide some gaps and a few to give added deminsion.

Hopefully this has been helpful! Happy wreath making and Merry Christmas.

Eva