Now that it’s officially spring (yay!), my girls and I gleefully took down our winter decorations and realized we needed new decorations for spring. I have a few flowery things, but not much. But, I’d seen something on Pinterest that gave me an idea and would also let me use up extra crafty materials without having to buy anything new. Score.

I’m not normally a hot glue gun kind of crafty mom, but I have to say that I’m liking my hot glue gun lately. Since that was the only “tool” I needed for this project, I’m gonna go ahead and say this is a REALLY easy one. Also, I made these 5 decorations in less than an hour, so it’s quick too!

Step 1: Tighten the hoops. Setting aside the inner hoops, I decided to use those for something else later. For these decorations, I used the 5 bigger/outer hoops that have the clamps you can tighten. These fasteners I tightened so that each hoop was fully round, wouldn’t flex, and they also gave me a nice place to tie on the twine for hangers later. My particular pack of embroidery hoops came in 5 different sizes, so I planned to do each a little differently but still wanted to hang them the same way.

Step 2: Cut strips of burlap and/or twine. I’d love to say I measured, but I didn’t. Depending on the size of your hoop and the style you’re doing, the length of your burlap strips will vary. Also, you could have less rough edges if you use burlap ribbon, but I had leftovers from yard fabric, so that’s what I used. As for the twine, first cut a short strand for each hoop you’re doing, and these will be used to hang the hoops when you’re done. I made mine about 10 inches long each so I had plenty of room to tie the ends together and give the hoops space to hang down from their future hooks.

Back to the burlap…

#1 I made my first strip of burlap long enough to wrap around the hoop and glue to itself like a solid band all the way around. It was also narrow enough that it would leave empty space at the top and bottom.

#2 My second burlap strip was a bit longer, and that hoop was smaller so that I had even more extra to work with as I wrapped it around the hoop. (This would be a bow.)

#3 My third burlap strip was pretty long, and this I wrapped around and around the hoop more like you’d do to make a wreath. But, instead of wrapping all the way around for a full wreath (which you could do), I tied mine just past the bottom to make it trail like a ribbon.

#4 My fourth burlap strip was wider than the others, and I made this long enough to weave between a crossing section of twine, plus long enough to tie off like a bow around the top clamp fastener.

#5 For my fifth hoop, I used only twine. I used 2 very long strands, but I actually didn’t cut these strands until I’d wrapped each around the hoop as far as I wanted, and then I cut them so I had exactly the amount I wanted.

(You’ll see each of these 5 later – for now I’m just explaining how I cut the supplies.)

Step 3: Attach the burlap with hot glue. With all this twine and strips of burlap cut, I started attaching them according to the designs I had planned.

#1 For the first hoop, I took my strip of burlap and lay it on top of the hoop, making one end start right in the middle of the hoop. Then I wrapped the rest of the burlap around that side of the hoop and stretched it flat under the hoop. With my glue gun hot, I squeezed out a line of glue along the side of the hoop where the burlap was ready to wrap. Quickly before this dried, I wrapped the burlap up over this side of the hoop and carefully (so that I didn’t burn my fingers) pressed the burlap against the glue so it would hold on that side. Holding the burlap stretched tight from that side to the other, I next glued the other side of the hoop and pressed the burlap to stick on that side too.

Next, I held up the first end of the burlap and placed a line to glue at the end, then took the other end, pressing it onto the first so the whole burlap strip was now like a band all around the hoop.

That done, I moved to the bottom edge and squeezed a line of glue between the burlap sides to join them together at the bottom. So, this made a kind of pocket out of the burlap.

#2 For the second hoop, I did much the same thing, except there was a lot more extra on both ends. Once each side was glued on, I flipped it all over and simply tied the 2 ends rather than glue them together. I used a double knot to get a nice plump tie, then I tucked the remaining ends under to help the look of the bow. The bow, then, is on the front with a straight, tight stretch of burlap showing in the back.

#3 My third hoop was the one with the really long strip of burlap, and this I glued onto the very top of the hoop, just to the side of my fastener. Once that was dried on, I wound the burlap strip around and around to make a kind of wreath, but I stopped just past the bottom, tying the burlap around the hoop and letting the rest dangle like a ribbon. I lastly took scissors and cut out an inverted “V” at the end to help the end look less chunky.

#4 This hoop was the most complicated but still pretty easy. I first started by tying on an end of twine at the hoop’s midway point of one side. Stretching the twine across the hoop, I put a dot of glue on the other side and secured the twine in place before wrapping it around and back to the other side, where I put another dot of glue to hold it in place. I did this again and again, going back and forth, wrapping the twine around and around the hoop, until I was happy with the section of twine.

With my widest strip of burlap at the ready, I squeezed a line of glue along the inside of the hoop at the top, starting just to the side of the fastener. Holding the end of my burlap strip, I pressed it into the glue so that the rest of the burlap ran up and outward from the hop. Once this was on, I lifted the hoop and pulled the rest of the burlap flat across the backside. (See below.) I made another line of glue along the outside of the hoop where the burlap met this other side, and I wrapped the burlap over this glue.

Next, I carefully pulled the rest of the burlap between the front twine and back twine – so, through the middle. This made the burlap wrap all the way around the hoop, and through the twine, so I glued the burlap over the hoop to glue it to itself back at the top. From there, I pulled the rest of the burlap to tie around the fastener.

#5 This last hoop only used twine. The smallest of my hoops, this one was easier to wrap twine around again and again (the same as before, with dots of glue at either end). This time, I also added another, crossing section of twine that ran over the first one, making an “X.” These ends I glued on the inside of the hoop to hide rather than tie another noticeable knot.

Step 4: Attach the twine for hangers. Now that all the wrapping and gluing and knotting was done, it was easier to tie on the twine strands to the fasteners. I threaded one end through the space between the screw and the hoop and tied the ends together. Voila – hanging loops.

On #1, I also added a little bow of twine around the fastener, just to add a little extra filler since that hoop was so big.

OPTIONAL STEP: Attach letters. I wanted something extra on my #1 with the empty stretch of burlap across the hoop. So, I used a marker and wrote out “SPRING” in big chunky letters. I cut these out, then glued them onto the front. This just added something extra and clearly defines the theme of these decorations. 😆 There are all kinds of things you could put on the front here, and I’m sure you could think of even cooler ways to add word art!

Step 5: Add the flowers. Until now, the hoop designs looked kind of blah and rough, but once the flowers were on, they looked quite pretty and cute. I used my favorite fake tulips from a big bouquet I keep in our dining room, so I didn’t want to glue or ruin any of them. Turns out, these stay REALLY well by just sticking the stems through the knots of burlap or weaving them through the twine.

You could cut down your fake flowers however you like if you don’t want stems sticking out, but I liked the look and balance mine ended up having. 🤷‍♀️ For #1 with that little pocket of burlap, I did bend the flower stems and tuck them inside so that only the pretty parts stuck out.

Step 6: Hang! I already had a few hooks in my dining room windowsill, plus I always hang different seasonal decor from a trio of old window frames in our entryway. You could hang yours from really anywhere!

That was it! This was a nice, easy, quick way to add some spring decor. These are a little more “farmhouse style” than I usually go for, but they’re cute, plus I can save my flowers once I want to change things up again.

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