"Merry" Christmas Wreath 🎄

christmas Dec 03, 2025

If you’re looking for a bright, festive, and elegant Christmas project to display or gift this season, this glass-embellished “Merry” canvas wreath is a show-stopper! We’re combining hand-painted details, a rustic grapevine-style wreath, glass leaves, and glossy resin for a sleek finish. This project is MUCH easier than it looks, and the final result is absolutely gorgeous.

Step 1: Paint the Background

Start by covering your 10x10 canvas with a solid coat of white paint. While the paint is still wet, add a small blob of Americana Hauser Light Green onto the surface. Use your brush to loosely smush and blend the white and green together until you get a soft, mottled finish.

For added texture, take the plastic wrap from your canvas packaging and lightly pounce it over the wet paint. This gives the background a subtle marbled effect, mostly white with just a touch of green swirling through. Let the canvas dry completely.

Step 2: Add Your Wreath Circle & "Merry"

Once the background is dry, place a paper plate in the center of the canvas. Trace around it using a brown archival pen, pencil, or watercolor pencil. This circle will be your guide for placing the painted grapevine and glass leaves later.

Before you add any greenery, the lettering must be done, otherwise it becomes too difficult once the glass is applied.

Tape your “Merry” tracer into the center of the canvas, slide graphite/tracing paper underneath, and trace the letters using a stylus, pen, or pencil. This gives you clean, accurate guidelines for painting the word later.

Paint the words with your boldest, brightest red. Use a ¼" flat brush for maximum control. The flat edge allows you to paint slim, sharp lines as well as thicker strokes. When finished, add a few tiny white highlights using a detail brush. These little strokes instantly make the lettering pop with dimension. Let dry.

Step 3: Paint the Grapevine Wreath

Return to your traced circle. Using a brown archival pen, draw loose, sketchy branch lines that extend outward from the circle’s edge. Think of a rustic, imperfect grapevine wreath: nothing is symmetrical, nothing is even, and that’s exactly the charm.

Next, water down some Americana Raw Umber until it’s inky and easy to pull into thin lines. Use a small brush to thicken the branches you just drew - twisting the brush as you paint so the strokes stay naturally irregular. Continue adding branches until the wreath looks full and organic. Let dry.

Step 4: Adding Your Glass Leaves & Berries

To make the beautiful greenery, take a sheet of green glass and use wheeled nippers to break it into small leaf-shaped pieces. Use all different greens: opaque, translucent, deep forest, apple green, etc. The variety makes the wreath look lush. Before placing them, lightly grind just the tips on a honing stone so no one gets poked handling the finished piece.

Working section by section, add your glass leaves around the wreath line. Mix large pieces, small wedges, curved shapes, and long skinny pieces. Keep the overall leaf direction “flowing” around the circle, but don’t worry about perfect spacing - nature isn’t perfect and neither is a grapevine wreath!

As you place each leaf, glue it down so it doesn’t shift when resin is added.

Use the strand of red jewelry beads from Hobby Lobby - they're inexpensive and perfect for this project. Snip off individual beads and glue them in clusters of one, two, or three around your leaf groupings. Keep the bead holes horizontal so they’re less noticeable.

Step 5: Prepare & Add Resin

Place your canvas on risers so resin can drip freely if needed. Make sure your surface is level. Mix 2 oz of ArtResin total (1 oz resin + 1 oz hardener). Stir for a full three minutes, scraping the sides and bottom of your cup the entire time.

Start by applying resin directly to all the glass pieces. You want every leaf and bead coated, especially the tips. Once the glass is fully covered, gently spread the remaining resin over the rest of the canvas using a gloved hand.

Use a torch or heat gun to pop resin bubbles. Keep the heat source moving at all times - never let the flame touch the resin directly.

If you're a member of The Shattered Circle, you'll find this tutorial in your classroom under Art Shattered Weekly Facebook Lives, search for "Five Days of Christmas".

If you don’t want to miss my Facebook LIVE art instruction, make sure you are on my texting list. I always text 10 minutes before I’m going to go LIVE, so you won’t ever miss it. You can text “Hey Cindy” to 901-519-2923.

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