no-budget christmas decor! jute & ruffle wreath.

i wasn't sure what exactly to call this wreath, since it kinda has a lot going on... jute, burlap, felt, ruffles [some of my favorite things!].
but really, the thing i'll always remember most about this wreath is that it is made out of a pool swim noodle.

you know, one of these?
crazy, right? this is what i used... 1 pool swim noodle, 2 rolls of red-stripe jute ribbon & 2 sheets of red felt. i had the noodle & the felt on hand [don't tell my daughter i chopped up & crafted her noodle!] oh, and also a bit of duct or masking tape [not pictured]. i did spend $2.50 on each roll of jute, so it's not entirely no-budget.
trim your noodle down if it's too long to bend into a wreath shape. i trimmed about 6 inches off mine, which is really easy to do with a bread knife [very similar to cutting styrofoam]. when your noodle is the length you want, bend it into a circle & secure it with the tape. tape it down nice & tight! you don't want your wreath popping open later...
the tape spot is a perfect place to start hot gluing the jute ribbon. you don't want to glue it straight to the noodle because it will melt! glue the end of the jute ribbon to the tape & then wrap the jute until it covers the wreath.
even with 2 spools of ribbon, i had a little spot where they didn't meet. i just wrapped an extra strip of felt around it & then that's where the felt ruffle will go.

take the 2 sheets of felt & cut one sheet into 2 pieces so that you have 3 graduated strips from small to large. i totally eye-balled it, & you can trim them up until they look how you want them to!
sew a gathering stitch or do a cheater squish-ruffle through the middle of each strip of felt. now you should have 3 long ruffles! make sure they're long enough to wrap around the fatness of your wreath. adjust the length of the ruffle if necessary.
glue them around your wreath one at a time, stacking them from large to small. i just did one strip of hot glue right along the stitched line on the bottom & then wrapped it around the wreath.
this is what the back of the ruffle looks like- i ended up gluing a little rectangle of felt to cover the edges to secure them & also in case the back shows since i knew i wanted to hang it on a mirror.
i immediately hung it with a bit of another type of jute ribbon from the back of the mirror. i absolutely love love love how it looks.
it took about 2 hours, which translates to 45 minutes if you subtract child distractions & photographing the steps. i also wrapped & re-wrapped the jute about 4 or 5 times trying to make absolutely sure the 2 spools would cover enough of it that i wouldn't have to go buy another one just to finish it! the whole thing is light as a feather & cost all of $5!

here are the other no-budget christmas decor ideas:

paper snowflakes

candy canes