I have a small collection of Santas, and I can’t remember how and why I began collecting them. I’ve not added to my collection in some time, till this year when I made my Santa Wreath. It’s quite a jolly wreath, and the fact that it was pretty easy to make made me jolly, too. I also have a link to a Santa craft round up from last year. And because Santa is all about giving, I’m announcing our giveaway winner!

You can make this jolly old wreath in less than an hour.

To make a Santa Wreath, you’ll need:

• STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam: 12” Wreath, or other size of your choice
• Red fleece, ¼ yd.
• Animal fur, shaggy fleece or felt, 1/8 yd.
• Faux leather, 1/8 yd.
• Belt buckle
• Buttons, four
• Cardboard, 12” x 1-3/4” strip (optional)
• Red jingle bells, 2”
• Red ribbon, 3/8” x 26”
• Low-temp glue gun
• Tools needed: Scissors; ruler; cutting mat & rotary cutter (optional); double-sided tape; straight pins; black, permanent marker; wire cutters

To make a Santa Wreath:

1. Cut a 9” x 30” piece of red fleece. Place the fleece on top of the wreath, and smoothly pull the fleece around the outside edge of the wreath. Flip the wreath over and pin the fleece to the back of the wreath. Repeat along the inside edge of the wreath, softly gathering the fleece as you pull it toward the back. Pin the fleece to the back of the wreath.

You’ll gather the fleece as you pin it on, and leave a portion uncovered at the bottom of the wreath. As you can see, you don’t have to be too exacting with the back!

2. Cut the white fleece or felt into two, 1-1-4” wide strips. Wrap the strips around the wreath, pinning the ends to the back and covering the edges of the red fleece.

The wreath is wrapped and ready for the belt.

3. Glue four buttons onto the white fleece.

4. Cut a 1-3/4” x 21” strip of black, faux leather.

5. Center 12” strips of double-sided tape along the top and bottom on the reverse side of the belt. Adhere the cardboard strip to the tape. Ink edges of the cardboard strip with the permanent marker so they blend in with the black belt. (Note: I found that the edges of the belt curled under without the cardboard. Yours might not and you can skip this step.)

Pardon the ugly photo, but I wanted to show you the back of the belt. I’ve used double-sided tape to attach a strip of cardboard, which keeps the belt from curling under.

6. If your belt has a prong (yes, I googled belt parts and this is the official name), cut it off with wire cutters. Slide the buckle to the center of the belt. Center the belt on the wreath, and pin the ends to the back of the wreath.

7. Cut 8” and 12” lengths of red ribbon, and thread a jingle bell on each. Tie ribbons together at the top and pin and glue onto the bottom of the wreath. Tie remaining ribbon into a loop and pin and glue to the back of the wreath for a hanger.

For more Santa crafts, check out last year’s round up of Santa crafts.

Crystal Santa by Debra Quartermain.

And now, the winner of our PEEPS party giveaway is . . . Ashley Flores, who plans to party with her sister peeps. I loved everybody’s answers, and decided to add a second prize – a copy of the book Peeps!, a fun book packed with recipes and crafts made with PEEPS. Susan Watson is the winner of the book Peeps! Ansley and Susan, please contact me to arrange for shipping your prizes.

What are your crafting plans for the weekend? Or, are you baking cookies, or trimming the tree?  My daughter will be on stage this weekend, so I’ll be at the theater and our holiday festivities are on hold for a few days. But, ’tis the season and I’ll have another Christmas craft idea and a new giveaway tomorrow.

Happy Christmas crafting.

Sharon