Front Door Valentines Wreath DIY + 8 Ideas

Includes free template download, full tutorial video, and 8 more bonus DIY valentine wreath ideas!

DIY herat wreath made from logs on a front door

Whether Valentine's Day is just around the corner, or you simply want to decorate your home with beautiful wreaths, you don't need to be an experienced crafter to make wooden DIY wreaths like these.

Also, have you what people charge on Etsy for a single valentine's wreath?! At least $70 for one like this, and that was without my floral wreath detail.

And the extra good news is that my design doesn't need to cost you a penny. But you may want to get enhance your DIY Valentine's day wreath using a drop of hot glue with some cheap dollar tree supplies.

Jump to:

💘 Why You'll Love this Valentine Decoration
🔨Tools & Materials
📋Instructions
🌹Decorations Ideas
🤝Care & Maintenance
💡Your Tips
❓FAQ
👷‍♀️Tool Safety
➕ 8 More Valentines Day Wreath Ideas
💬 Comments

House with a valentine's day wreath DIY hanging on the front door

💘 Why You'll Love this Valentine Decoration

Here's why we think these make the perfect valentine's day crafts!

Fun & free to make
Easy to personalize
No need to use fancy tools
Uses up scrap wood and logs
Takes a couple of hours to make

Free Wreath Plans PDF - you can sign up for my mailing list here to instantly download my free template. Note, the width of the wreath is 13" (33cm) and the height is 12" (30.5cm)

Tools for a how to make a valentine heart wreath tutorial

🔨Tools & Materials

Please note that as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links.

Free heart template cut out of ply
Logs or small branch, cut to ½" (12.7mm each
Clamps
Jigsaw
Hand saw with mitre box
Wood glue
Hammer
Straight pins or tacks
Combi drill
Natural or white twine
Hot glue gun

Tidy Tip: if you're making this in a craft room, a great way to minimize mess is to put rags or an old blanket on the floor to catch any sawdust!

Close up of pink and red roses glued on to a valentine wreath

Substitutions

If this is your first time making a Valentine craft out of wood, you don't need to spend a fortune on tools and materials for this type of wreath. So I've put together a list of some basic substitutes.

Plywood heart - if you want to make pretty wreaths for indoors, you could swap the plywood for cardboard or foam wreath form and simply cut with a knife. Note this is only really good if your logs are fully dry to glue on.

Logs - these are the cheapest option to make your own wreath, but ideally, the first thing you should have done is collected and stored them last year to wait for them to season. Wet wood is likely to warp and crack while it dries out, so you can't be too precious. Alternatively, you could use slices from a broom handle.

Jigsaw - this is solely to cut out the heart shaped wreath form. But in all honesty, the easy way would be to use a scroll saw or band saw. However, you can clamp your project down and even use a hand saw or coping saw and work around your penciled design.

Hammer and nails - this can be a bit time consuming, but if your log slices are completely dry, you can save time by hot gluing them to your backboard. Alternatively, you could use grab adhesives like No More Nails, Gripfill, etc.

Glue gun - this will only work with seasoned, dry wood. However, you'll need it or a grab adhesive to add heart garland decorations.

📋Instructions

Here's my step-by-step on how to make this fun wreath. You can also follow along with YouTube video.

1. The first step is to print, cut, and draw around the half-heart template on plywood. Then flip it over, line up and draw the last half.

2. Now drill a hole on the inside of the inner heart. This is to create an access point for a jigsaw blade.

3. Clamp your plywood securely, then cut out the inner heart. You may want to keep this to create a pair of fun DIY valentine wreaths.

4. Now clamp and jigsaw the outer heart shape. You should now have a template cheaper than a heart-shaped wire wreath form!

Heads up! When using a jigsaw, you'll need to constantly keep moving your clamps and heart to prevent any rattling. Just be patient!

A band saw or scroll saw would be a better way to cut, but they're not as common in peoples' workshops or shed.

2 for 1 - Save the inner heart! You can turn that into a heart wall decoration!

Tips for Cutting Log Slices

As you'll need quite a few wood slices for this Valentine wreath DIY, I recommend setting up a stop block for a quick workflow.
Avoid rotating the log between each cut as you'll likely have uneven cuts as the knots will knock it out of square against the fence or miter block.
Keep your hands away from the blade as per the manufacturer's instructions. I keep mine at least 6 inches away at all times.

Attaching Wood Slices

5. Position each slice and nail from the back through the ply and repeat until a single layer is complete.

6. Start overlapping a 2nd layer on top. But this time, use wood glue and longer nails from the front.

7. Repeat until the 2nd layer is fully complete.

8. Now add longer nails from the back to reinforce.

9. To hang, drill 2 holes at the top, either side, and thread string or twine through and tie in a knot. Alternatively, you could use wire and wire cutters.

10. The final step I did before decorating was stapled some burlap ribbon at the back of the wreath for detail while also creating a tab/loop at the top.

Tips: I recommend doing a dry day first for a visual. If needed, you could number each one and draw around them for reference while gluing or nailing on.

Make sure your nails are not too long where they poke through the front or back.

🌹Decorations Ideas

If you're making this as a gift, here are a few simple valentine's day decorations you could use, no matter what your skill levels are. This is definitely the most fun part to personalize your own DIY valentine wreath.

Wrap with burlap ribbon or grosgrain ribbon
Contrasting painted wood hearts
Personalise wood slices with your Cricut
Make a flower wreath by making red felt roses to glue on in different shades
Weave flower stems around
Attach dangling hearts (ie foam hearts from Hobby Lobby / Hobbycraft)
Paint it entirely to make a pink wreath or whatever different colors you wish

Christmas Decorations

Just because this is a Valentine's Day wreath DIY, that doesn't mean it can't be made into a Christmas wreath. You could easily use a pyrography wood burning pen to write Merry Christmas on the slices.

Spring Decor

It's easy to create Spring flower wreaths by focusing on pastel colors, or even faux eggs for a simple Easter touch.

🤝Care & Maintenance

If making outdoor Valentine's Day crafts, you'll need to treat the wood with a wood preserve once a year to prevent it from rotting in the elements.

I recommend doing this first and fully leaving it to dry before adding on any fun embellishments. Once treated with a wood preservative, it's fine to leave it on your front door all year round if you wanted.

If you're ok with a rustic look that cracks over time, you could make a new one each year as part of your family's traditional wreaths.

💡Your Tips

Here's a few tips from my YouTube viewers!

A perfect way for more skilled DIYers with a table saw, @totherarf says: "Cut your branch in half and glue the two pieces together in parallel then cut both pieces at the same time!"
To make it a super easy craft, @paulyh4531 says for next time "you should of grip filled them on"

❓FAQ

How can I dry wet wood?

If you're using green wood (logs that are still wet), you can try drying your wood slices in a microwave on defrost mode. Note, you may want to sand them flat if they warp.

What if I don't have logs?

Another idea you could try is making salt dough and a wood slice cookie cutter and paint bark and end grain detail on them once dry!

👷‍♀️Tool Safety

If you choose to use power tools for this project, it's important that you:

Wear appropriate PPE
Protect your eyes and ears
Wear a mask if sanding
Safety shoes
Preferably sand in a well-ventilated area
Don't wear gloves with power tools
Never use a power tool if you don't feel safe or comfortable
Keep your hands at a safe distance away from any blades

See more guidelines at HSE.gov.uk.

➕ 8 More Valentines Day Wreath Ideas

Yield: 1 heart shaped Valentine's wreath