Making A Life

On the third day of Christmas I made a clothes pin wreath.  We have a clear glass front door which means that if you feel the urge to have a midnight snack in the nude the neighbours can see all your bits and pieces.  It also means that anything hanging on the door should be nice looking from both sides.  Most door hanging decorations are only meant to be viewed from one side, the backs are typically unfinished or ugly.  My solution is a washi tape clothes pin wreath which is nice from both sides.  As a bonus the style fits with the modern aesthetic of the door.  Plus it was easy, fast and fairly inexpensive.

To make a similar wreath you will need:

• Washi tape – get it at the dollar store, Target or Walmart (don’t spend the big bucks at Michael’s)
• Clothes pins – dollar store
• Foam core – dollar store
• Chalkboard clothes pin – Michael’s
• Scissors
• A dessert plate
• Fishing line and a magnet (for hanging on a steel door)

Instructions:

1. Decide how big to make the wreath.  I held the dessert plate up to the door with a couple of clothes pins on it to get an idea of what the finished size would be.  I traced the dessert plate onto foam core, cut out the circle and then traced a circle that was 1/2″ smaller and cut out the center to make a foam core donut.

2. Using 5 red and 5 green patterns of washi tape I started making the clothes pins.  I made 10 clothes pins with each colour, so 50 pins total, with red on one side and green on the reverse.  When alternating red and green you will have a 10 pin repeat.  I would suggest not mixing and matching the tape patterns when applying them to the pins or it will be difficult to get a nice pattern on both side.  I would make a set of 10 that matched with a red pattern on one side and green on the back (but don’t use those tapes again in other combinations)

3. Decide on the repeat pattern, and clip the pins onto the foam core circle.

4. Write a message on the chalkboard clothes pin, and hang.