How to make a festive papercraft wreath

As we approach the festive season, why not set yourself a craft project to create a unique door wreath to decorate your home. You might usually make a Christmas wreath with off-cuts from your Norway Spruce, or have an artificial one you bring out each year, but making a papercraft wreath is an opportunity to showcase your creativity and change-up your festive decor.

Papercrafting can be a fun, mindful process and is also an ideal activity to get the whole family involved with in the run up to Christmas. You can save your papercraft wreath and reuse it, or recycle it when the season is over.

Graphic designer Chris Stenner chose the Christmas ivy wreath for his festive decor, but there are a range of designs of varying difficulties on Creative Park if you want something simpler, or have young children who want to get involved.

Find out how Chris got on, and discover top tips for making your own papercraft wreath.

You will need

• Canon Creative Park app or website
• Canon Matte Photo Paper
• Canon PIXMA printer, such as the PIXMA TS7640i
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Glue stick/glue gun/glue dots/sticky tape

Before starting your Christmas wreath, have a look on the Creative Park app or website and decide which template is your favourite – remembering to consider the difficulty rating and the time it takes to make. You could make this simpler Christmas wreath if you have younger children. Chris chose the ivy Christmas wreath, but there are also wreaths for Halloween, as well as a heart-shaped photo wreath and a floral design, so you can make a fun door wreath whatever the season.

Chris printed his designs by connecting his smartphone to a PIXMA printer and used the Creative Park website to download his templates; you could also do this via the app.

Chris was impressed with the vivid colours from the PIXMA TS7640i. "The colours were so bold and bright, which made the red berries and holly leaves pop against the brown of the wreath," he says.

Carefully read the instructions before you get started, and follow the steps as you go along. Cut out your designs using scissors or a craft knife for the trickiest areas, and set these aside, making sure not to confuse the different elements. Once they are cut out you need to fold and score along the dotted lines to make it easier for the templates to keep their shape when you start glueing.

Chris used PVA glue, but whichever method you choose, make sure to give your models enough time to dry before handling. Chris found that if you're using PVA, you may need to peg or clip your designs in place while they dry, to make sure they keep the correct shape. "The glue didn't dry as fast as I wanted it to, but using clothes pegs to hold together sections while drying really helped the process," he explains. "While the main section was drying we could get on with making the smaller elements."

If the design requires curving the paper you could choose a faster drying glue gun to make this part easier.

Once all the individual elements are finished and dry, it's time to glue them together. For the wreath Chris made, the star and holly designs go at the bottom with the 'Merry Christmas' banner at the top, but the other elements such as the presents and the red berries can be placed wherever you prefer. To personalise your design, why not add red recyclable glitter to the berry templates to add an extra festive touch.

Once your wreath is made, it's time to add any final touches, be it glitter, sequins or even cotton wool snow. When it's finished, attach some string or ribbon through the loop to secure the wreath to your door. You could hang it from a door knocker or use a stick-on hook.

To protect it from harsh weather, you could also display your wreath indoors over a mirror or window, or even on the inside of your front door. "I think the wreath would look really good hung from the bannisters in the hall," suggests Chris. "When people open the door it makes an impact as it's the first thing they see."

Some of the smaller Creative Park templates are also ideal for fashioning your own wreath design – maybe glue together snowflakes or holly from this wall bouquet to make something unique. Why not get creative and pick and choose your favourite parts of different templates? The small festive gift boxes on Chris and Eli's wreath, for example, could be used in a different design.

Whether you're looking for a crafty activity to do with friends or family, or you just want to have a go at making your own festive decor, Creative Park has all the inspiration you need to create your own Christmas displays.