Spring Wreath: Lemonhead Edition

I was inspired by a wreath created by Matthew Mead in Country Home magazine this month. It’s made by hot gluing lemonhead candy onto a wreath form. As much as I love it, it’s a little small for a front door…not to mention that lemonhead candy isn’t exactly weatherproof. That baby would get sticky on my front door.

So I thinked…and I thunked…and I thinked some more. What could I use to get that look on a larger scale that wouldn’t get all sticky? Then it hit me…

PING PONG BALLS!

Do you want to make one like mine? Here’s what you need…

1. A 12 inch styrofoam wreath form

2. A gross (that’s 144) ping pong balls – You can find these on ebay pretty inexpensively. Get the cheap ones because we’re going to paint them.

3. Glossy yellow spray paint - I used Krylon Sun Yellow

4. Clear glitter - for the sugar coating

5. Hot glue

6. Spray adhesive

First you want to spray your wreath form with the yellow paint on both sides. Make sure you cover it well since the balls don’t cover every inch of it and you want any parts that show through to be pretty and yellow.

Once your form is dry, start hot gluing your ping pong balls in place. There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Just make concentric circles around your wreath. I started with the largest circle and worked my way in to the middle. But you could do it the other way if you’d rather.

My only tip would be to start each row of balls in about the same place at the top center of the wreath. That way if you end up with any gaps, they’ll be covered by the ribbon you use to hang the wreath? Does that make sense? Look at the picture above. It makes more sense than I do.

Once you get all the ping pong balls glued into place, you want to spray the whole shebang with several coats of your yellow spray paint. You’re going to need to turn the wreath around and over to get it coated really well so do a couple of coats. On my wreath, you can see the seams of the balls in a couple of places. If I had been paying closer attention, I would have turned each ball so that the seams were hidden.

Another hint: Don’t try to paint the balls before you glue them to your form. You’ll end up chasing the balls around your dropcloth with a can of paint until you realize that you’re a total knucklehead. Not that I did that or anything. I’m just saying.

Next you want to work in sections to give it a crunchy sugar coating. Spritz a small section of the wreath with your spray adhesive (you could probably use modge podge instead) and then sprinkle it with the glitter.

Now, I know the question is coming…”Is the glitter going to come off if it’s outside?” The answer: I don’t know. I’ll let you know if my stoop is awash in glitter after we get a rain.

And that’s it! A lemonhead wreath for spring! I hung mine with some pretty green ribbon and added some flowers to the top. You can do that too…or not…whatever works for you.