Watermelon Wreath

Apparently I have recently decided that I really like wreaths.  I saw a really cute heart wreath on a blog somewhere made with burlap and got the idea to tweak it and create a watermelon for my front door.   

As I was buying the burlap Trudi gave me a hard time because it’s almost fall.  I would like to point out that it’s only August, and as much as I like fall, winter follows it and I HATE winter.  Winter means snow and cold, which I could live without.  So I’ll drag out summer as much as I possibly can, even if it's only in my head.  To help me drag out summer, here is my watermelon wreath.

I purchased a wooden wreath form, green and red burlap from a craft store.  Be prepared to use lots of hot glue for this one.  I think I went through 4 or 5 of those little sticks.

I bought ¼ of a yard of green and ½ of a yard of red and only used about half of the green and 2/3 of the red.  So you probably need 1/8 of green and 1/3 of red – depending on the size of your wreath form of course, mine is 10 or 12”.

To start, cut your burlap into 2 ½” squares.  I read somewhere of a special way to cut burlap so that it is straight, but I don’t mind the few ends that stick out so I didn’t bother.  I just laid it out as straight as I could get it and used my ruler and blade to cut the squares.

Then you will fold each square in half and then in half again.  Place a dot of hot glue in the last fold close to the corner and squeeze it shut.  Be careful with this one, the burlap is a "porous" fabric and hot glue hurts when you burn your finger; I think I still have a blister.

There is no right way to lay them out on the form, just place them as you see fit to get the result that you want.  You can always add more if you want it fuller.  I started with what I thought I wanted for the first couple of rows until I got the look I wanted and moved forward with that.  I used green for 1/3 of the form and red for the rest.

For the “seeds” I used foam.  The only black foam I had was the sticker foam, but it worked to let me draw my seeds on to get an idea of the shape before I cut them out.  I did three different sizes for some interest.  Lay them on your wreath to determine placement, then glue them on.

Last I used a piece of ribbon to create a hook for the back of my wreath.  Then hang it on the door (after it all dries of course) and enjoy summer for as long as you’d like.