Christmas Wreath

So you can just buy a wreath that you like from your local box store and skip this step buttttt… if you really want that one of a kind unique wreath start at your local craft store (I like dollar tree) or box store. Get a wire frame wreath they are normally near the fake flowers, get some ribbon, pipe cleaners and colored burlap. 

First I made little 4inch bows with the ribbon and 4inch curls which i tied with a pipe cleaner. I then started to tie the pipe cleaners to the wire frame.

I then took some shiny garland in the right colors and wrapped around the bottom 1/3rd of the wreath and placed a large bow tied with another pipe cleaner to make it stand out. 

My favorite part of any craft using my Xtool D1Pro laser to design and cut out my project. So I included my XCS file here where I use the ignore feature to separate the designs. 

So since XCS can't import new fonts yet, I go to Canva and find one that I like and write my words and save as a JPEG with no background. Next I will import the picture to the XCS removing any background or white space doing this allows the outline to work better. Then I use the outline image set to 0 to outline the words then delete the picture. Now you are left with just the outline I set this to the settings for cutting walnut. On my machine I have included the settings. I have found that if you speed up the laser and do extra passes it makes for a cleaner cut and that beautiful black wood char on the edges. 

Now that the words are cut out they can be flimsy so I like to add a background to them plus it makes the walnut stand out. I use the outline function set to 2mm and place a nice white wood in this case birch plywood in the machine. I put the words on ignore and output on the outline, I then cut out the background. 

Now you can use your favorite glue but I like Gorilla ultimate wood glue for its waterproof capabilities. after the glue is set I take it over to my painting table and spray on a few coats of polyurethane, I like the glossy stuff for my Christmas items. 

After the polyurethane has dried (about 24 hours yes this takes forever) try not to touch it as it drys. I used hot glue to attach to my wire frame and ribbon wreath.