Valentine's Day Ruffled OlyFun Heart Wreath

Categories: Decor, Oly*Fun, Holiday, Winter, Outdoor

Valentine’s Day is creeping up on us. This ruffled OlyFun heart wreath is so easy that a beginner could make it. I love mixing patterns, so I stenciled, doodled and painted on Jet Black, Snow White, and Metallic Red OlyFun. I chose colors that were strong basics, and matched my bigger glittery porch wreath. OlyFun comes in 19 colors and 4 metallics, making for custom color combination. OlyFun doesn’t fray and cuts like paper, making it great for many projects. I found the heart wreath base and the chenille stems at a dollar store. I used a DecoArt Americana Split Angles stencil to create a pattern on the Jet Black OlyFun. You can chose a different repeating pattern stencil if desired.

What you need to make this project

Materials: OlyFun in Jet Black; OlyFun in Snow White; OlyFun in Metallic Red; Wire heart wreath base; Red, white, and black chenille stems

Supplies: Scissors; Plastic table cloth; DecoArt Americana Stencil in Split Angles; White fabric paint; Silver fabric paint; Foam round pouncer brush; Round paint brush; Paper plate; Red fabric marker; Black fabric marker; Wire cutters; Decorative nail/upholstery tack; Hammer

Quick Shop

Instructions

Step One

Cut strips 6″ tall by OlyFun width. This wreath needs at least 3 in Jet Black, 6 in Snow White, and 13 in Metallic Red. Set the white and red strips aside.

Valentine's Day Ruffled OlyFun Heart Wreath 1

Step Two

Lay a plastic table cloth on your work surface. The fabric paint does bleed through OlyFun when applied heavily, so if you care about your work surface protection is strongly recommended. Lay on Jet Black strip on the work surface. Starting at one end, lay the staggered angle stencil half on the OlyFun. Pour a glob of white fabric paint onto the paper plate. Pounce the round foam brush into the paint glob gently. On a clean section of paper plate, pounce the brush, to get paint off excess and fill the brush circle. Gently pounce the brush onto the stencil, working on end to the other. If the paint is too heavy, it will bleed beyond the stencil edges. Find the right amount of paint and pressure to lightly fill the stencil. If will look like not enough until the stencil is removed, in which it will look decently covered. It’s ok if the coverage is splotchy. That gives it a distressed look. Once you are done stenciling once, move the stencil down, matching up the angles to the previous section. Keep painting and moving the stencil down the OlyFun strip, until it’s complete. Move the painted strip to a different covered surface to dry. Stencil and move the other Jet Black OlyFun strips. Set all the strips aside to dry. Rinse paint off the round foam brush and stencil when finished.

Valentine's Day Ruffled OlyFun Heart Wreath 2

Step Three

While the black strips are drying, grab the white strips, red and black fabric markers. There is no perfection with this pattern. Altering colors for each row, draw short lines of various heights. This should go quickly, as perfection isn’t required. These will take a few minutes to dry.

Valentine's Day Ruffled OlyFun Heart Wreath 3

Step Four

Back to painting. Lay out one Metallic Red OlyFun strip onto your work surface. Squeeze a blob of silver fabric paint onto the plate. Using the round paint brush, swipe the silver paint onto the fabric, at different angles. Paint each Metallic Red OlyFun strip with this pattern, setting each one aside to dry before starting a new strip. Again perfection isn’t required and the strokes shouldn’t be fully opaque.

Valentine's Day Ruffled OlyFun Heart Wreath 4

Step Five

Cut the chenille stems in half with wire cutters. I found the shorter lengths were easier to work with and less wasteful than the full lengths. Fold the shorter chenille stems in half. Starting with the inside heart, wrap a black chenille stem around the wire once. Add a new chenille stem every 1″ along the wire. They will slide. This is ok. Repeat for the middle heart with white chenille stems, alternating the placement and increasing the amount of stems used. Repeat for the outer heart, with red, using more stems than the previous row. I had to tweak the stem amount and length (cutting them in half) as I started adding the OlyFun, to achieve desired ruffle fullness. This photo shows the wreath form before I changed my plan to the above description.

Valentine's Day Ruffled OlyFun Heart Wreath 5

Step Six

Start a the bottom front of the smallest heart, with the Jet Black OlyFun strips. Half inch accordion pleat one strip end. Lay the pleated strip end onto an open chenille stem. Wrap the ends around the pleated OlyFun, and twist the ends together twice at the base. About 6″ down the strip, make 1/2″ accordion pleats. Lay the pleated strip section onto the next open chenille stem. Wrap the ends around the strip and twist twice. Continue pleating and securing the strip until you reach the end. Temporarily secure the pleated end. Pleat the end of a new strip. Untwist the chenille stem from the previous strip end. Overlap the pleated ends of the old and new strip about 1″. Wrap the chenille stem over the pleated ends, tightly twisting the stem together by the base. Add the remaining black strips using this same pleating and securing technique. Repeat for the white and red rows. Fluff up the ruffles. I found adding the red row was easiest done on the wreath back, due to the fullness of the previous two rows.

Valentine's Day Ruffled OlyFun Heart Wreath 6

Step Seven

Flip the wreath to the back. Working one chenille stem at the time, pull the stem ends to the back on opposite sides of the ruffles. Twist the ends completely together. Wrap them around the wire base. Repeat for each chenille stem, for a neat appearance and extra secure connection.

Valentine's Day Ruffled OlyFun Heart Wreath 7

Step Eight

From the Metallic Red OlyFun, cut a strip 2″ wide by 12″ long. Fold it in half. Insert it through the top of the outer heart wire row. Fold over the ends again. Poke a decorative nail through the strip layers. Using a hammer, nail the wreath where you want it hung. I centered mine with the porch light.