Deck the halls with bags of coffee -- my upcycled holiday door wreaths

In the past I've made all kinds of holiday decorations. This year, all I wanted was a pair of upcycled wreaths to adorn my double front doors. Simple, right? 

Ha! What started as a daylong project has turned into a month of trial, error, and tears.


I started with the Crafty Chica's instructions for making a wrapping paper wreath. Instead of wrapping paper, I wanted to use foil coffee bags. I've been stockpiling them for more than a year, so I was confident that I had enough for at least 2 large wreaths. 

I spent two evenings cutting the flattened bags into 6-inch squares and rolling them into slender tubes. A glue stick and a small strip of clear tape kept them wrapped up.

We go through pounds of Tony's Coffee (my husband's favorite brand), which comes in plain chocolate brown bags. Blah! Luckily, my coffee-loving friends save their more colorful Starbucks and Tullys bags for me.

To mount the rolls, Crafty Chica suggests gluing them to a flat pressed-cardboard round surface. But I had to rebel. I bought two large wire wreath forms.

Glue wouldn't work on these. I tried wire, then string. Finally, I came up with the perfect solution -- rubber bands! I raided my husband's stash of rubber bands (thank you, Harbor Freight). The clear small ones worked perfectly. Slipping each roll through the tight band felt a bit like weaving. 

Here's one wreath in process.

The best part about using rubber bands instead of glue was that I could easily adjust the roll spacing. Plus, no sticky fingers! And once this holiday was over, I could remove the rolls and use them again next year! Little did I know that I would be re-using the rolls much, much sooner.

I loved the way the finished wreath looked on the door. I spent another evening weaving a second one. My front porch had never looked more festive!

But the next day, when I opened the door to admire my masterpieces, I noticed something long and shiny on the welcome mat. Two rolls had come loose and fallen off one of the wreaths. I wasn't worried. Probably just the wind. New rubber bands and the wreath would be good as new.

Unfortunately, rolls kept falling. The rubber bands were disintegrating. I tried bringing the wreaths inside, away from the cold weather. But it made no difference. After a few weeks, both my beautiful wreaths looked like this.

Kind of like a Charlie Brown Christmas tree -- sad, anemic, unwanted. 

My husband recommended hot glue. It would probably work with a flat surface, but with the wire form it was hopeless. And I stubbornly refused to give up on the form or the original idea of a goop-free wreath. So I turned to the savior of many a desperate home-owner:

Duck tape!

So far, the repaired wreath has weathered 3 nights outside. I'm hoping it makes it all the way until Christmas.

Tonight I will re-make the second one. Keep your fingers crossed!