Sunny Spring Wreath

Today, my last day of my long holiday weekend, it was time to do some de-winterfying of the house, and some of the outsides too.  Now that Valentine's Day has come and gone, I'm playing by the rules that it's officially spring...

Which means: Spring Decor!

I've had a winter wreath with an ice blue ribbon on the front door for over a month and a half, and it just wasn't cheery to me anymore walking up the front steps.  SO... I made this one today:

Total cost?  $6

Here's what I did, and what tools I used. 

First, I started with four 6-flower bunches of yellow irises from the Dollar Store.  I also purchased 3 bunches of lime green pom-pom greens, but ended up only using one bunch.

I cut the floral stems off the main stem bunch, and was left with 6 flowers with 6" stems from each bunch.  I used a total of 24 flowers and 6 pom poms.

I laid the flowers out on the wreath form (that I got for $1) and made sure I distributed the flowers evenly.

 

  

To attach the flowers I though the wired stems would easily wrap around the wreath form.  Instead, I ended up using small snips of beading wire to attach them to the wreath form.

 

After, I placed the pom pom greens around the outside, and wired them on.

 

Then, hang on your still-needs-to-be-painted front door.  Love it, and so cheery!  I love the bright yellow, and of course, popped it up on the door already.  :)

 

  

  

 

  

Enjoy!

Fluffy Fabric Valentine's Wreath

Yesterday, hopefully you saw my post about phase 1 of setting up our new office/craft room.  If not, GO GO GO!

Anyway, if you did, you may have noticed that yes, I made another wreath.  What has blogging done to me?  I'm wreath crazy.  I swear they could make a group for us me.

This one shockingly took me some time to decide.

I had this, which was a good start:

But, what direction to go?  There are plenty of Valentine's wreath tutorials out there.  To be honest, I even tried a few out before I decided to go in one distinct direction.

First, there's this one found at The Idea Room:

...but I had already made my felt kissing balls, so I moved on...

I found a few other miscellaneous versions looking through Google Images (if you know what blogs they're from, I'd love to put a credit up!)

Cute, but too much work with all those yarn balls!  (Ha, if only I had known how long the version I DID make would take!)

I love the roses on the red wreath.  What else screams Valentine's Day than something like this?!   Still, I didn't have roses, and couldn't find a rose-out-of-fabric tutorial, so I moved on...

While not a wreath per se, I love the texture on this one, and I tried to figure out how I could do this to the wreath.  Unfortunately, I couldn't channel my inner girl scout, so I couldn't accomplish this one.

I love the texture on this bad boy.  Similar to the same issue I had on the rose wreath above.  sigh.

Totally cute with the scrapbook paper, but I had a heart shaped wreath, and I figured hearts on a heart wreath may make Z puke.  Or me.  I didn't want to temp fate.  

BUT, FINALLY, ALAS,
There's this version, from Little Birdie Secrets:

I knew this one could TOTALLY work!  So I started!

First off, I used much smaller squares than Little Birdie Secrets did.  I was making this, not a kid, so I figured I could deal with the time it would take.  And yes, it did take a lah-hot of time.

Here's my final version:

So,  the tutorial is below, even though you may have already read it online at the site I found it.

I used my Christmas present, a rotary cutter and mat, to power through cutting strips of my fabric, at about a 1" width.  I then cut those strips into squares that measured about 1" square.

Then, you use the point of a pencil, and some white glue.  First wrap the fabric around the point of the pencil, and then dab the point in the white glue.

Press the point of the pencil into the foam wreath, and it should stick.  The glue on the end also helps keep it in place.

That's about it.  Do this a few hundred times, over a few hours a few goods tunes and tv shows, and you've got yourself a snazzy wreath that's oh-so-fluffy, and perfect texture that you want!  :)

Next, use a 3M command hook to install on your new shelves in the office/craft room, and wah-la (sense my typing humor there.  Typing how I speak, you know)! 

(ok you can hang yours wherever you like...)

So, there you have it.  Oh, and if anyone knows about a "wreath's anonymous" meeting, you should probably let me know.

Happy Early Valentines Day to you and yours-

Flocked Winter Wreath

I'm giddy today!  I finished our winter wreath!

I got this idea while searching through Chris' awesome site, JustAGirl, when I found it a few months back.  I bookmarked it and finally got to execute once the Christmas Decor got put away a week ago.

Aren't you glad I teased you last night?   The other projects coming are just as good too!

I made this project with a few things I found on CLEARANCE (duh):

- 18" pine wreath from Michael's ($2)
- Can of white spray primer paint (had this on hand) (would have cost ~$2)
- Can of Santa Snow from Michael's ($1.79)
- Box of small 1" white glass ornaments from Joann's ($2)
- Ribbon (whole roll was $2.50)
- Beading wire, scissors, hot glue gun! (had these on hand... but we're talking no more than $10 for them all)

 

 

First, after looking at Chris' version for a few minutes, I decided what I wanted on mine.  I grabbed some pine cones from the stash in the garage (since, you know, who doesn't have pine cones laying around...) from the trip to Tahoe we took in November.  I also recalled the box of white ornaments I picked up specifically hoping to use for a winter wreath- of course on clearance!

Here's how she started...

And THEN...

...Then came the super easy steps:

1.  Spray to desired coverage with your white spray primer (I guess you could use regular spray paint, but I was closer to the primer :)  )

2.  Wait for that to dry for about 10-15 min.  (I did this, can you believe it!  See my first VOTW post for reference to my patience...)

3.  Read the vague instructions on the can of snow, and spray onto your wreath to desired thickness.  The can says thick spots won't dry properly.  I'm not sure what a "thick" spot is since it was pretty vague, but mine did dry overnight.

 

4.  Be Patient, and let it dry.  In my case, this meant tucked away in a warm bathroom overnight.  This way, no dogs noses ended up snowy, and the heater vent could blow right near it to dry it faster.

5.  Assemble your accouterments (decor pieces... I'm pretending I'm French again)...  I chose the white glass ornaments and opted for the smaller pine cones.  I sprayed the pine cones with the same white primer from step 1, and the went to work making the ornament clusters.  I just strung a few on some beading wire I had, and hot glued them together so they stayed in the shape I wanted.  I left about an 8" tail on them so I could wrap them through the wreath and secure.


*Remember to eat... if you're anything like me, and going project crazy right now, take advice from the boyfriend/fiance/husband, and remember to eat so you don't pass out and ruin your projects :)  Yes, I forgot to eat.  He prepared me dinner though, cause I was "in the zone" as he calls it.

 

 

6.  In the morning, attach said accoutrements via method required- wrap wired clusters to the wreath base, and hot glue those small pinecones in place.

 

7.  Try to wiggle those decor pieces, and if they're secure, go ahead and lift upright and attach your ribbon!  I got this great ribbon from Martha Steward at Kmart on clearance.  :)

8.  Hang, and again pat yourself on the back!  What a gorgeous wreath, if I do say so myself, and it's certainly helping me through the winter!  We don't get much snow where I'm from in CA, so at least this is a little reminder that it is snowing right now, somewhere!

 

Wow, as I look at it now, it does bear a striking resemblance to Chris' final project.  I guess I liked hers more than I thought!  :)

Don't you just love it?!  Where have I been this whole time... Do people really decorate for the winter?  Totally makes sense!  I can't really start to put valentines day and spring decor out yet, only a week after Christmas, right?!

Have you decorated for the winter at your place?  Do share!