Easy Paper Autumn Wreath

What do you think of when autumn appears? Cosy hot chocolates and spiced lattes? The trees in your garden and lining your street turning a vibrant red, orange and yellow? For us, autumn brings new inspiration for our art and crafts. A wreath is a fantastic way to honour the season and add a pop of colour to your front door. They’re a beautiful decoration that will put a smile on your guests faces – as well as yours! The great thing about wreaths is that you don’t need to break the bank to get a nice one, you can make it yourself! All you need is some coloured paper or plain paper with some colouring pencils, string, a paper plate and some glue. Here’s how to make your own autumn wreath.

1. Make your frame

To create a round frame for your wreath, you can use cardboard or a paper plate.

Cardboard – draw and cut out a circle from your cardboard – you could use a dinner plate as a template. Then, mark about 1” inside that circle and draw a slightly smaller circle and cut that out. You should be left with a 1” frame that you can use as the base of your wreath.

Paper plate – Cut a small hole in the centre of your plate so you can get your scissors in. Then, about 1”-1.5” away from the outer frame of the plate, cut out the inside of your paper plate. This will make the frame for your wreath.

2. Attach string

Identify the point you want to be the top of your frame and tie a string to it. You can wrap it around a couple of times to make it more secure. Leave a good bit of length on your string so you have enough to hang it up at the end.

 

3. Create your paper leaves

There are a few ways you can do this! You can use:

  • Coloured paper or card
  • Old spare wallpaper (use the patterned side if it’s the colour you want to use, or you can use the plain side underneath and decorate it yourself)
  • Felt
  • Plain paper or card with colouring pens and pencils

We’ve created these fun stencils for you to use to create all kinds of shapes and sizes of leaves to put on your wreath! Simply print out the sheets, cut them out and drawn around them on the paper, card or felt that you have! Alternatively, you can print out a few sheets on plain paper and colour them in yourself. It’s time to get creative! Colour them in any shade you like, you have full creative control. You can make them more realistic by cutting holes or tearing off one end of the leaf like a little critter has taken a bite.

If you’re looking for something that looks more natural, you can also use leaves from outside. Put a sheet of thin paper over the leaf then rub a crayon or colouring pencil over the area with the leaf underneath. As you do this, you’ll start to see the shape and veins of the leaf appear in colour. Leave plenty of space around your leaf so the colour doesn’t run on to the space where you may want to trace over another leaf.

Once you’ve created your leaves, fold them vertically down the middle to add a little dimension to your wreath.

4. Glue your leaves to your wreath.

Glue your leaves to your wreath frame, alternating colours as you go. Try to disperse your colours evenly so there isn’t too much of one colour on one side. Keep adding your first layer so that your frame is no longer showing. You don’t need to stop at one layer though, keep adding your leaves on until it is full and looks how you want it to look. Extra layers can help add dimensions and fill in unsightly gaps.

 

5. Add embellishments

If your wreath looks a little bit flat, try adding some embellishments. This can be anything that brings variety to your wreath. Whether you choose to add a dash of different materials, a pop of a different colour, or something like flowers or branches – the choice is yours.

There are many different tutorials on how to create paper craft flowers that you can use to adorn your autumn wreath!

 

6. Hang your new wreath

Whether you put it on your front door, in your hallways or over a mantelpiece, it’s time to hang up your new handmade wreath. Put it in pride of place in your home!

We hope you love your new autumn wreath. Nothing quite beats a handmade craft that you can proudly say you made yourself. Don’t forget to check back here for our winter wreath tutorial!