Hi all you crafty people! We recently had a Mardi Gras wreath program at Central Library and I'm going to do a tutorial for those of you who couldn't make the program.What you'll need: 1 wreath form, glue gun, scissors, Mardi Gras beads (about 60 strands), and ribbon.
We used a 12-inch floral ring as our wreath form, but you can use straw, wire, or Styrofoam forms if that's what you can find. You can also use a larger size, but keep in mind that it will take more beads and more time and will also be heavier.
You can wrap your wreath form in ribbon or paint it so that it blends in nicely. This one ended up green.
Snip your necklaces with your scissors so that they become a long strand of beads rather than a loop. 
Wrap your wreath form completely with a single layer of beads, attaching the strands with a minimum of hot glue. It took about 16 necklaces to wrap our 12-inch wreath form. Make sure to wrap it tightly so that the beads are close together with as few gaps as possible.
The top layer of the wreath is made up of braided beads. Take a strand of purple, green, and gold beads and snap them together by twisting the beads together. The strands should be about equal in length and the beads about equal in diameter.
This is what your strand of braided beads should look like when you're done. You may find it easier to braid your beads if you hold down the end of your strands with a heavy book or tape.
Start wrapping your wreath form with the braided strands. Use hot glue to attach the beads to the wreath, being careful to not use too much. You don't want the hot glue to show. Wrap the beads as tightly as possible so that there are no gaps.
Once you're done wrapping your wreath form, it should look something like this. If you do have a few gaps, no worries! Cut a bit of a strand of beads and hot glue it in the gap. It will blend in with your wreath and no one will be able to tell.
Go ahead and dress up your wreath with a bow and other fun pieces if you like.
Here's another fun example.
You can even use other colors of beads if you want a non-traditional wreath! Have fun, guys! Leave a comment if you need any further clarification. Happy Mardi Gras everyone!
*this tutorial is adapted from Sew in Love's blog post: http://sew-inlove.blogspot.com/2011/02/mardi-gras-bead-wreath-tutorial.html