This year for Christmas, I wanted some fun and whimsy to add to the decoration mix. After all, all three girls are now old enough to understand what is going on at Christmas time. So we have a lot of fun things planned to do with our girls, and I wanted my mantel to reflect the fun of the season.

The first step of adding some fun to this year's Christmas mantel decoration is to create a wreath. I am still using some pallet wood as a backdrop for the mantel, so I wanted a fun wreath to contrast with the rough texture. I thought it would be fun to create a fun drinking straw wreath and add in some bamboo stir sticks for additional texture.

Here's what you need:

12 red and white striped straws
12 green and white striped straws
24 bamboo coffee stir sticks
silver spray paint
glue
cardstock and something to cut it with


First, spray paint all your stir sticks. This can be difficult because the air from the spray paint can will blow your stir sticks.


Cut the green straws in half. Lay out a trial run of your wreath. I discovered that I liked the look of the stir sticks on top of the shorter green straws.


So I glued all the green straws into pairs and then glued the stir sticks on top of them.

Then I laid out the straws again, alternating between the two types. I measured about a 6" interior circle, so I used that to make my cardstock circle to be the backer of the wreath. I used 2 layers of cardstock, and cut them both (separately) with my Silhouette Portrait. Depending on the thickness of the cardstock, you may only need one later.


Then, I just glued the straws down and used a ribbon to hang up the wreath! I love the impact of this wreath, and how I used items I already had on hand to make it!