After putting away the rest of my winter decorations and tableware, I couldn’t wait to get started on creating this Let Me Call You Sweetheart wreath for Valentine’s Day.

Gosh, I hate packing up holiday decorations and dishes! Tableware in particular, because I am constantly reshuffling things around in order to deal with a shortage of storage space. It’s my darn fault, because I just can’t part with my stuff.

I really don’t have much in the way of Valentine’s Day decor and specially dishes. In fact, it’s the holiday I have the least in terms of decorations. Maybe because it’s a more girly holiday and I raised two boys? And, there’s the calendar problem.

By that I mean, Valentine’s Day falls just after the big trifecta of holidays — Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not enough time after Christmas and winter seasonal decorations go down. Before you know it, it’s time for hearts, flowers and chocolate. OK, there’s always time for chocolate!

So, I decided I needed to make a Valentine’s Day wreath, and I had just the thing to help indulge my crafting itch.

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The Gift that Keeps Giving

After opening our Christmas gifts, the boys brought out one more surprise present. They explained it was to encourage my new blog, and help to fuel craft and party projects. That’s when they carried out this giant crate filled with artistic supplies and a very generous Michael’s gift card!

And look at that gift presentation! Maybe they do take a little after their mom? I teared all up because I didn’t really think they had been paying that much attention or were much interested in mom’s new hobby.

And, I loved that they made the time to shop together after coming home. I still smile when I picture my grown sons cruising the aisles of Michael’s LOL.

How to Create Sweetheart Wreath in 5 Steps

I’ve made a number of deco mesh wreaths over the past few years, and although some are more time-intensive than others, the process is pretty straight forward.

Steps

1. Gather supplies & embellishments
2. Prep wire frame base
3. Attach deco mesh to wire base
4. Cut & attach wired ribbon
5. Embellish with hearts

Although the Valentine’s Day wreath took only five steps versus the seven in Bewitching DIY Halloween Wreath, working with a heart-shaped frame was more challenging. I looked at several online tutorials, but it still required modifications as I went. So, I wouldn’t recommend the sweetheart wreath as your first deco mesh project.

1. Gather supplies & embellishments

• 12″ heart-shaped wire frame
• White pipe cleaners
• 12″ white deco mesh with silver metallic threads
• 3-6 different wire ribbon designs (2 1/2″ & 1 1/2″ wide)
• 5 red heart-shaped ornaments
• 5 pink heart floral picks

2. Attach pipe cleaners to wire frame

Match the color of the pipe cleaners to either the frame or main mesh material. The heart-shaped frame I found at came in green. I elected not to spray paint it white since I didn’t have any on hand. Wasn’t keen on the idea of spray painting in the garage with it so cold outside either. It didn’t show through, probably because of the density of mesh and ribbons I used in the design. 

Twist the pipe cleaners to attach, around the frame’s inner and outer rings. With a round wreath base, I recommend evenly space placement of pipe cleaners. This is not the case with a heart-shaped frame.

Initially, I spaced the pipe cleaner as I had seen in an online tutorial. This proved to be inadequate in order to have the mesh maintain a heart shape.

Space as needed

To start, I used 16 pipe cleaners, eight each on the inner and outer rings. Pipe cleaners were not evenly spaced, but attached at strategic positions to maintain the heart shape. See the picture as an initial guide. As I started attaching the mesh, however, I ended up attaching three more pipe cleaners — one each at the outer top curves and another on the inner rim at the point. In all, I created 19 pinch points to attach the mesh.

Finally, use one more pipe cleaner to create a secure loop on the reverse side of the frame. Position the loop at the top in order to hang the sweetheart wreath.

3. Attach deco mesh to wire base

One rotation of mesh (of three) around the heart shaped frame.

I used a 12-inch wide roll of white deco mesh to create the underlying sweetheart wreath, but you could use red, pink or a patterned material for a Valentine’s Day look. A lot may depend on the color door or wall where you hang the wreath.

With the smaller wreath frame, you might also choose to use a narrower roll of mesh. This would probably be easier to handle, but I wanted a puffy, very full wreath.

The finished sweetheart wreath design averages 5″ thick.

Start on the outside rim of the wire frame, at the heart’s bottom point. Leave a 6-inch ‘tail’ of mesh, and twist the pipe cleaners to hold in place. You’ll be tucking that tail behind the wire frame when finishing the project.

As you move around the heart frame, leave the pipe cleaner ends ‘standing’ as you’ll need them to twist and attach the ribbon and heart embellishments.

Improvise when necessary

Reverse side after mesh tails are tucked under.

OK, so this next part is where things get a little tricky and improvisation is required. And, if you aren’t experienced in using deco mesh, may prove a bit challenging — especially because of the smaller 12″ frame.

Normally (depending on the circumference of a round frame and width of the mesh), I gather up about 9″ lengths of the mesh and create a ‘poof’ by pinching at the end. Next, just twist the pipe cleaner around that pinch point to attach and continue evenly around the wreath frame.

Well, that doesn’t work with a heart-shape base. This is where I improvised, gathering no more than 6″ of mesh at a time, depending on the distance between the pipe cleaners.

I also weaved between outer and outer rims of the frame. And, instead of two rotations, I did three. The third rotation was more to create color density because I used a white, somewhat transparent mesh. With red, a third time is probably not necessary.  Regardless, don’t forget to leave another 6″ tail. Then, cut the mesh from the roll and tuck behind the wire frame.

4. Cut & attach wired ribbon

Initially, I was only going to use three different, 2 1/2″ wide wired ribbons. In the end, I used six, layering them in two groups for more Valentine’s Day punch.

Valentine’s Day sweetheart wreath after attaching three of six different ribbon patterns.

Group 1:

• Black & white stripe
  
  

  Wreath with four layers of ribbon attached.

• “Happy Valentine’s Day” transparent red
• Raspberry w/ white polka dots
• Narrow (1 1/2″) pink ribbon w/ white & red kisses

Group 2:

• White w/ red hearts
• Narrow (1 1/2″) black & white stripe w/ red glitter hearts

Cut eight, 9″ lengths of each. For a finished look, fold each ribbon end in half. Next, cut at an angle to create a “V” cut.

Pinch the middle of each ribbon before attaching at the 16 pipe cleaner spots. Twist the pipe cleaner a couple of times after attaching each ribbon.

Shape the wired ribbons until you’re satisfied with the look, and to maintain the heart-shape of the sweetheart wreath.

5. Embellish with hearts

Using the remaining ends of the pipe cleaners, attach heart-shaped ornaments and floral picks. Begin, by hanging one red ornament in the center of the wreath. Pull one end of pipe cleaner through the ornament ring. Then twist both ends together to secure in place.

For the pink heart floral picks, insert the wired stems to the back of the wreath and twist around the frame. On the front side of the wreath, twist pipe cleaner ends around the base of each heart.

The heart embellishments were placed at 10 of the 16 pipe cleaner pinch points. To finish the wreath, go around and tuck the pipe cleaner ends under. They should be pretty short at this point and easy to bend back.

You probably will need to go around the entire wreath one more time; shaping and tucking ribbon that may have been smooshed while attaching embellishments.

Enjoy the Finished Product

When finished, the sweetheart wreath is very lightweight to hang. Because of the materials used, I recommend it for indoor use or hung outdoors in a well-protected, covered area. Mine is hanging on an interior door in the kitchen, where it goes nicely with black and white decorative accents.

A Fanciful Alice in Wonderland Theme Wreath is also perfect for a Valentine’s Day decoration or gift.

Or, make a quick and easy Queen of Hearts Roses and Teacup Grapevine Wreath.

Pair either wreath with the Queen of Hearts herself, for A Valentines Day Tea Party with Friends or In the Pink Valentines Day Table.

See her preside over the Romance & Red Roses Reign on Sweetheart Table.

And, check out Decorating with Red Heart Ornaments for Valentines Day for other holiday ideas.

Bee sweet!

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