DIY advent "wreath"

it is apparently impossible to find an advent wreath that is not 100% fugly. advent calendar? sure. every home decor site is blowing up with 851 ways to count down the days to Christmas. i guess not many design bloggers follow a liturgical church calendar. so what's a mildly religious girl to do? make her own damn advent wreath, i guess.

for the past 2 years i've gotten by with purchasing a live wreath from Trader Joe's and nestling some tiny IKEA candle holders amidst the boughs. it's fine. it's also boring, and huge, meaning the entire dining room table is taken up with wreath display, which is difficult come Christmas day, when you want to light all your advent candles AND stuff your face with delicious holiday foods.

so this year i decided come hell or high water, i was going to have a real, permanent advent wreath- even if i've already missed the first 2 Sundays. both Google and Pinterest searches yielded nothing, so i was on my own... i was trying to think of a new way to connect the IKEA candle holders when i came up with this idea. i always try to think cheap & easy, and this project only cost $4.00. almost everything we had was leftover from some other project...

1. Matt cut a 12" x 12" square out of leftover wood from our bookshelf project.
2. he sanded it down and i drilled five 7/8" holes for the candles to slip through (sandpaper and drill bit also left over from bookshelf project)
3. i sanded down the edges of the holes and then painted it green with leftover paint from our exterior doors.
4. inspired by this "before & after" from design*sponge, i took a black Sharpie and drew the design on the painted wood.
5. these IKEA candles (leftover from our wedding) slipped in quite snugly and didn't need any extra reinforcement.
6. i did buy four 3" wide round felt pads and affixed them to the bottom. they protect the table and give the "wreath" that slightly floating effect.


and the best part is, if i don't like the color/design next year, i can just paint over it...