Ribbon Tied Wire Numbers

This is the last birthday post, I promise! Until December anyway, when my Mancub turns 9.
I wanted to make something exciting for Daisey to wake up to on her birthday,
something that said, “Yay! You’re 10! How exciting!” This is what I came up with.

Ribbon Covered Wire Numbers

Supplies

The lid to a cardboard box
1 or 2 wire hangers
4 12 x12” sheets of pink cardstock
Pliers
Scissors
Spray Adhesive
Fray Check
Glue gun
Glue sticks
Various Ribbon and Fabric Scraps

Start out by bending the hangers into the number you want.
You’ll want to use the pliers or your strong husband for this part.

Begin tying your ribbon and fabric scraps around the wire numbers,
in the same way you would make a scrap ribbon wire wreath.
I used pink, purple, green and white scraps of ribbon and fabric
because those are Daisey’s favorite colors.

Glue a scrap of fabric across the sharp edges.

Secure it by tying a ribbon over the fabric.

Cover the wire in your scraps of ribbon and fabric.
Be careful not to slide the ribbon off the edge.
You can add as little or as many scraps, depending on what look you want.
I opted to squish as many scraps I could for a full look.

You can’t really tell that this is a number yet, but don’t worry,
you’re going to trim it down. There’s no rhyme or reason to this, just cut the ribbon
and fabric down, use fray check as you go, unless you want a frayed look. Again, it’s up to you.

Spray your box with the adhesive spray. I did this outside because it can make a big gluey mess.

Lay the paper across the box and smooth it out with a credit card
(or a video game arcade card that you forgot to return).

Measure the sides of the box and cut the paper to fit.
Using the adhesive spray glue the paper down onto the sides of the box.

Measure your purple ribbon and hot glue it onto the front of the box so that it looks like a frame.
I stress the word measure here because I didn’t.

The edges didn’t line up and it ended up looking like this.

So, I cut the hot pink into little squares and glued them onto the corners. I felt like it still needed something so I added some green buttons as well.

You can see my hot glue strings here. Don’t you hate that?
Well, let me tell you a secret that I learned a few years ago. If you blow your hair dryer onto the hot glue strings, they disappear and melt into the project! This is a lifesaver in making wreaths!

Now lay your ribbon tied wire down on the box lid and lightly trace where you want to glue.

Remove the ribbon tied wire and add hot glue to the numbers that you drew. Do this one number at a time, gluing carefully but quickly before the hot glue dries.

Press the ribbon wrapped wire number down on the box lid where you have hot glued.

You may need to add more glue to any gaps between the ribbon tied wire and the hot glued box.

Give it to your birthday girl and hear her squeal with joy because she’s 10! Double digits baby!

We used this to decorate our mantle during her birthday week. We decorate for different holidays, including birthdays. It’s one of those family traditions we have that makes the kids feel special.

After displaying it on the mantle, I hot glued a ribbon to the inside of the box so that Daisey could hang it on her wall or her door. It’s true she’ll only be able to use it for a year, but since I had all the supplies on hand this was basically a free project. I think her smile was well worth the hour it took to make it!

You could customize this project for a number of things.

If you only have 1 digit you could tie a hanger at the top and hang it like a wreath.
It would also be cute to make a monogram wreath.

You could make a wire circle and tie orange ribbon around it for a pumpkin or a triangle and tie green ribbon scraps around it for a Christmas tree.
The possibilities are endless. I hope you have fun with it!