Christmas Craftiness

As I mentioned previously, I wanted to find a creative way to decorate with candy canes that could be placed out of reach of the felines. Deciding on a candy cane wreath, I quickly got to work, breaking out the glue gun for the first time in probably 5 or 6 years! I don’t love the final product, and I certainly learned some lessons immediately after starting it, but it was fun getting crafty again. It has been far too long.

If you would like to make your own candy cane wreath, here is the step-by-step with tips on how to do it better than I did:
Step 1: Supplies

6” wood ring from Michaels
Candy canes - I bought the first cheap ones I could find, but the ones I got from Target last year looked a lot nicer than these ones.
Glue gun
Fishing line
Red Ribbon - This wasn’t part of the original plan, but a way of hiding the imperfections.

Step 2: Glue Gun

Add a strip of glue to the wood ring first and attach the straight part of the candy cane to it, making sure to keep the hook on the candy cane as tight to the inside ring as possible.

Step 3: Candy Canes

Continue gluing the candy canes to the wood ring.
Learn from my mistake: At the beginning, I kept the candy canes too close together, leaving little-to-no room for them to curve in a circle.  If you maintain a more even spacing, you should end up with a consistent pattern.

Notice how mine go from being tightly packed together on the top half to being spread out and angled near the bottom.  This can be avoided with some planning.  To fill in the large gap at the end, I broke the remaining candy canes to fit.

Step 4: Ribbon

This step was added to hide the ugliness that resulted from my poor planning, but I think it ultimately looks better with the ribbon.  Weave it around and through the candy canes until it’s a solid red (no gaps).

Tip: Using a thinner ribbon works best.

Step 5: Fishing Line
Tie a loop in the fishing line and then tie the bottom strands around the wreath where you would like the top to be.

Step 6: Finishing Touches
Because these candy canes were cheap, they have extra plastic wrap sticking off of the ends. If yours have this as well, you can choose to trim off the extra plastic like I did. It also helps to clean off any stray glue gun stands to create a finished look.

Step 7: Hang and admire!

Happy Holidays!