Learn how to make and change a wood bead wreath for every season of the year!
A wooden bead wreath can make SUCH a statement! Today I’m showing you how to make a bead wreath the EASY way, and how you can use it for every season of the year.
Hiiiii! I am SO excited to share this week’s DIY with you guys! I have had this project on my radar for what seems like forever!
I’ve seen these wood bead wreaths on Etsy and Pinterest and think they are just SO unique and make such a statement!
I finally decided to make one, but with a fun and unique twist: I wanted to make this wood bead wreath work year-round…for each season. An “interchangeable” seasonal wreath, if you will.
Related: $5 Buffalo Check Fall Wreath
I started by making this a summer bead wreath. But I knew I wouldn’t be ready to put it away at the end of the summer. So with a few little tweaks, I made this wreath to be easily changed for each season of the year.
And you won’t believe how easy it is!
I wanted to make this wood bead wreath work year-round…for each season. An “interchangeable” seasonal wreath, if you will.
DIY Wooden Bead Wreath
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Seasonal Wreath Supplies
So I learned something new when I decided I was going to make one of these wooden bead wreaths: the wood beads aren’t actually beads at all. They’re actually split wood balls…bead halves.
Instead of stringing a wooden bead onto a wire ring to make a wreath (which is what I had originally planned on doing), I learned from the owner of the Etsy shop Toying Around (where I got the wooden beads) that many of these wreaths are made from hot gluing split wood beads onto a wreath form.
Here is a full list of supplies that I used to make this wood bead wreath:
>>2″ Split Wood Beads: Etsy shop, Toying Around or Amazon
Size Variation: Split wood beads come in several different sizes. I used 2 inch wood beads halves, but you could also opt for 1.5″ split wood beads or even 2.5″ to give you a different look.
>>18″ Embroidery Hoop: Craft store, like Hobby Lobby
Size Variation: Just like the split wood balls, you can also choose a different size for your embroidery hoop. I originally wanted to go with a 16″ hoop, but my craft store was sold out. I also had someone on Instagram reach out to me to say she made a wood bead wreath using a 20″ embroidery hoop and she loved it!
Pro Tip: Grab your embroidery hoops at a craft store, like Hobby Lobby, when they are 50% off to make this project even more budget friendly.
>>2 Different Types of Greenery: Walmart
I used boxwood and baby eucalyptus for my greenery. Walmart has a small selection of greenery that cannot be beat, price-wise. Each “bunch” of greenery was only $2…the best price I’ve seen anywhere.
If your particular Walmart is out of stock or doesn’t carry the type of greenery you’re looking for, you can never go wrong with Amazon!
>>Mini Chalk Board: Dollar Tree
I say this again later, but if you’re planning on switching up this wreath to go with each season (I’ll show you how!), my advice is to go ahead and buy several of these mini chalkboards now so you don’t risk them being out of stock later on.
>>Faux Lemons: Any craft store, like Hobby Lobby, or Amazon
I just love lemons and summer! I think they just go hand and hand. The faux lemons that I used came from Hobby Lobby, but you can also get them for around the same price on Amazon.
>>Mini Clothespins: Any craft store, like Hobby Lobby, or Amazon
The mini clothespins will be used to “clip” your seasonal accessories onto your wood bead wreath, allowing you to easily change out the accessories each season.
>>Velcro: Amazon
This is what you’ll use to attach that mini chalkboard sign to you wreath, making it easy to remove and replace with a different one each season.
Related: DIY Farmhouse Towel Rack (Using Scrap Wood and Velcro)
Other supplies you may need depending on what you have on hand:
Hot glue gun, hot glue, wire cutters or scissors, paint (chalk or acrylic), chalk pen, and vinyl.
Now the Fun Part! Let’s Make This Wreath!
To see the whole thing in action, check out my time lapse from Instagram!
Beads
As I mentioned before, these are split wood beads. So these bead halves are simply hot glued onto the embroidery hoop to give the “illusion” of full beads….which I think is a genius hack!
1. To begin, I hot glued 20 of the 2″ split wood balls around an 18″ embroidery hoop, starting at the top and working my way down each side, with the “fat” part of the hoop (what’s that thing called anyway?) being at the bottom.
If you’re more of a visual learner, you can see a time lapse video on Instagram.
With the amount of split wood beads I had (20) and the size of my embroidery hoop (18″), the wooden beads did not cover the entire hoop. There was quite a bit of space left on the bottoms and sides, but don’t worry! I’ll show you how to cover that up where you won’t even see it.
As I mentioned earlier, if you want more “bead coverage” on your bead wreath, I suggest using a 16″ (or even 14″) embroidery hoop instead.
Greenery
Once the wooden beads were hot glued around the tops and sides, most of the bottom half was “open”. I used 2 different types of greenery from Walmart: baby eucalyptus and boxwood.
Walmart is one of my go-to places for greenery for projects because it’s sooooo cheap! Each of these bushes was only $2. Amazon also has a good selection of greenery if you are looking to buy more than one bush at a time.
2. Separate each stem from your greenery “bunch” by using scissors or wire cutters. Then start hot gluing your greenery stems in an arrangement you like, starting from where your wooden beads end (that way you can make sure your embroidery hoop is not showing).
I started by hot gluing all of the baby eucalyptus stems on each side, and then filling in some empty areas with a few stems of boxwood.
*Note: I tried using floral wire to secure the stems in the beginning, but I found hot glue just held so much better.
Don’t worry about covering the “fat part” of the embroidery hoop (y’all totally know what I’m talking about right…? The part with the screw! Does that thing have a name??). Your mini chalkboard sign will cover that part!
Lemons (or other seasonal decor)
Now for the lemons. As I said, my whole vision for this wooden bead wreath was to make it work in my home year-round. So I wanted to find a way to easily switch out the seasonal accessories, which in this case are the lemons.
I decided that “clipping” in seasonal accessories was the way to go, and would be the easiest way to change the bead wreath out easily for each season.
3. Hot glue mini clothes pins to the faux lemons (or whatever “accessory” you are using), and simply “clip” them onto the greenery in various places. You can easily finagle it to where the clips won’t show at all.
This was one of my favorite parts of the whole wreath! Here are some other ideas of what you could use for different seasons/holidays (using the same clothespin method):
- Fall: pumpkins, leaves, pinecones
- Winter/Christmas: ornaments, snowflakes, berries
- Spring: flowers, additional greenery
Pro Tip: A great time to stock up on little seasonal accessories like this is during “after holiday” sales at craft stores. Buy after the season and save them for your wreath next year.
Sign
The mini chalkboard I used came from Dollar Tree for just, you got it….$1! I decided to paint the edge white using 2 coats of chalk paint I already had on hand.
This is also the time to add whatever wording you’d like to your chalkboard. You can simply write something with a chalk pen, or you can use a die-cut machine if you have one to cut the words with vinyl.
Since I don’t have pretty “decor” handwriting and I prefer my projects to look put together, I opted to use vinyl.
Pro Tip: I like to keep a large collection of vinyl colors on-hand for occasions like this. Amazon is one of my favorite places to get bulk vinyl sheets in a variety of colors.
My other idea for making this wood bead wreath interchangeable for each season was to make the mini chalk board sign easily removable. I wanted to make sure that it was easy to remove and add a new sign whenever I was ready to move into a new season.
How did I do it? Well, it involves a simple swap: rather than hot glue, use Velcro.
4. To attach your sign, simply apply Velcro to the back of your mini chalkboard and press it on the “fat part” of your embroidery hoop. When you want to switch up your wooden bead wreath for the next season, just take the sign off and attach a new one!
*Note: Each time you attach a new sign, you’ll need to apply half of the velcro on the back of the sign. The other part of the Velcro will permanently stay on the embroidery hoop.
Pro Tip: If you plan on using a different chalkboard sign for each season, go ahead and buy all of them NOW before they become unavailable.
Final Thoughts on This Wooden Bead Wreath
This DIY wood bead wreath took me a little less than 30 minutes! Much faster than I was expecting! And I’m already anticipating the next holiday so I can switch out the seasonal accessories and sign! (mini pumpkins…I’m looking at you!)
Right now, it’s parked safely on my pantry door….inside. I can’t really say how it would hold up outdoors in the elements, and I’m too scared to find out! Either way, I think it’s the perfect statement piece no matter where it’s located!
I hope I’ve encouraged you to try one yourself…and to make it work year-round for you! I’d love to see what you come up with! You can find me hanging out daily on Instagram, or you can always shoot me an email!
Happy crafting, friends!
Related seasonal DIY posts:
- $5 Buffalo Check Wreath
- Dollar Tree Spring $1 Kraft Paper Scroll
- DIY Chalk Painted Pumpkins
- DIY Yarn Wall Hanging in Just 20 Minutes
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