Suspend Corinne Bradd's hoop decoration from a height to add a folksy, floral feeling to your home

What you need...

• Embroidery hoop, 15cm
  Crepe paper, various colours
  Card
  Satin ribbon
  Yarn
  Chunky wooden beads
  Thread
  Needle
  PVA glue
  Sewing machine (optional)

instructions

1. Floral Hoop Decoration - 1 Cut four 70cm lengths of coloured yarn and fold in half, fix them to the centre ring of a wooden embroidery hoop at the quarter points with a lark’s head knot, then take all eight loose ends and thread them through the hole of a large wooden bead.
   
   2 Push the bead to the centre of the hoop while holding the yarn ends taut to ensure they are all the same length, tie a tight basic knot in the ends of the yarn and tie a loop of thin ribbon through this, trim the ends short, apply a liberal amount of PVA glue and push the bead back up the yarn to cover the glued knot.
   
   3 Trim several 4cm × 40cm strips of crepe paper across the grain and fold each strip in half lengthways, use a needle and thread to stitch a neat running stitch along the opposite side to the fold, 3mm from the edge and through both layers of crepe, gather up the edge and fasten off, or alternatively use a long straight stitch on a sewing machine and pull the top thread from each end to gather the crepe.
   
   4 Stretch out the folded edge of the gathered strip to allow the crepe to curl into a spiral, use thick PVA glue to fix a wooden bead to the bottom of each spiral to help weigh the paper down as it hangs, then fix the other ends of the spirals to the embroidery hoop, spacing them equally around the circumference.
   
   5 Cut several lengths of coloured satin ribbon, trim one end at an angle and seal it with a flame to prevent fraying, thread a wooden bead onto the ribbon and glue it in place about 2–3cm from the end, then glue the other end of each ribbon to the hoop between the crepe spirals.
   
   6 Trim a 4cm piece of green crepe paper along the grain and fold in half, cut leaf shapes from the folded edge and open them out, make at least 20 leaves from two colours of green crepe paper and glue them to the ring in sets radiating from each hanging cord, covering the glued ends of both ribbon and crepe paper.
   
   7 Snip petal shapes from folded coloured crepe paper in the same way as the leaves, rub your thumbnail into the centre of each to stretch and curl the crepe, cut a small disc of card and begin gluing petals to it in sets of three, staggering each set so the petals overlap, then trim a small strip of crepe paper across the grain, stretch one edge and roll it into a coil, secure the coil to the centre of each flower and fix the flowers to the embroidery hoop.