Christmas wreath and garland

I am such a fan of Christmas! I love, love, love it!! I love decorating my family room, hanging our stockings by the chimney with care, putting up our wreath, decorating our tree. It is so beautiful!  This year I finished with the everyday decor in the den, so I needed something to put in there. JoAnn's was having a HUGE sale on Christmas decorations so I went crazy and this is what I came up with:

1. Gather your supplies

2. I used a foam wreath. Normally I don't use this particular kind because they are a bit pricey and you can make them cheaper by using plumbing foam instead, but since they were 50% off and I didn't want to make a trip to the hardware store (not like my husband couldn't have used the excuse!) I went ahead and got it. The extra long plain garland was also on sale, so the combo was cheaper than buying a pre-made plain wreath. I just kept wrapping the garland around the wreath, gluing as I went, and it got bigger and fuller as I wrapped. Don't worry if there are extra spaces, you'll cover them up with fun stuff.

3. I rummaged through the flowers and the mini decoration bins and found a bunch of cute things to put on my wreath. The little peppermint candies and the berries were 50% off and only .79 to begin with! What a steal!

4. Using the same garland... well, the same type, obviously a different garland! I doubled it up to make it fuller. I glued randomly down the line so it would stick together.

5. I used the same theme for the garland as I did for the wreath. For the berries, I got a garland of red beads and loosely wrapped it around the garland. I placed all my accessories and when I was happy with the results, I glued everything down. I made two of these.

6. To hang them up on the window box, I re-bent some ornament hooks that I already had (.99 for a box of way more than I need!) and made them into double-ended hooks, one end hooked over the top of the window box and the other hooked outward for the garland to hang on. To hand the wreath, I used the 3M Command wreath hanger that will just come right off when the holidays are done. The hook can be used over and over again, just with new sticky stuff.

7. I was very pleased with the results and it is something I can put out every year!

What Christmas crafts are you doing this year?

Merry Christmas and happy crafting!

Thanksgiving Wreath

My goodness, it has been a whole month since I posted something! I have lots of pictures of the things I do to share here, but apparently I've been doing a lot of "doing" and not a lot of "sharing"!!!

This is the wreath currently hanging on my door. It is perfect for the holidays and it couldn't be any easier!! It is even easier than the yarn wreath and less time consuming too because you don't have to spend the time wrapping the yarn around anything.  It really only takes the amount of time you need to lay out your design.

For this wreath, I bought the plain branch wreath form instead of the Styrofoam.  I also just browsed through the silk flower section of the craft store and picked out the flowers that were the most Fall like to me. I also found a cute fall ribbon to use. 

I got married in the fall and made use of a lot of fake fall leaves because, lets face it, I couldn't depend on nature in Southern California!  I still have a ton left over so I included some of those too.

1. Just lay your bare wreath on your workspace. Start laying out your flowers. I took the stems off of mine because I didn't need them, but if you need them, keep 'em on!

2. Using your hot glue gun, start gluing everything down. This is a bit tricky because there is a lot of open space in the wreath that wasn't there in the yarn wreath, just try to finagle the flowers and the glue in the spaces. It is easier than it sounds.

3. Tie your bow. If you  have your own tips and tricks for this, please use them (and share!!) but I just did my version of this video tutorial I found on YouTube: http://youtu.be/hS7hK9dau50

(I saw this little accent at the store and thought it was the cutest thing!! A nice little vintage accessory for my wreath!)

I hope you like this wreath and I can't wait to see what you create!

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Crafting!

Halloween Wreath

As I said before, I'm pretty much obsessed with yarn wreathes now.  So here is another one that I just put up for Halloween!

 1. Wrap, wrap, wrap! This is the long part, once you get past this part, you are in the clear!

 2. I spaced out the orange yarn, but the wrapping was more or less the same process. I had the hubby hold the wreath for me while I did it and that made it much easier. The little felt ghost was something I bought premade, but you can EASILY make one yourself. I would have if this cute little guy hadn't been on sale for practically nothing.

 3. Paint your letters!!

 4. Hang it up! And get ready for the season!

Happy Crafting!!

Yarn Wreath Tutorial

It is no secret I am obsessed with Pinterest and this is the first of many crafts I've made that was inspired by wandering around Pinterest. I must say, I LOVE them!! So many different color combos and different things you can do with them and they are really SOOOO easy. This may have been my first yarn wreath, but I can guarantee it will not be my last!!

Supplies:  
1. Wreath form. I used a 16" floral circle. You can use regular styrofoam. I've also seen people use plumbers foam and make their own circle.
2. Yarn in color of your choice. Yarn ranges in texture and price. Don't go crazy expensive; you don't need to. Just pick up regular run-of-the-mill yarn. But keep in mind you will need quite a bit, so don't get one of the small skeins. A medium size will do.
3. Accessories. For my wreath, I picked up a cute faux flower stem from from the floral dept. and a plain pre-cut letter "W". Just pick the flowers off the stem. You don't need the whole thing.
4. Paint in color of your choice, if you picked an accessory that needs painting.
5. Hot Glue Gun

Instructions: (The pictures were facing the right way on my computer, I promise. Not sure why they are sideways now... Blogger has changed. I'll figure it out...)

 1. Start winding your yarn around your wreath form. Button down and get comfy, this part takes awhile. I found that the bonus to using florist styrofoam is that the yarn just sticks to it on its own. No need to glue as you go.

 2. Finish your yarn where you started. You'll see I have both ends hanging out. This is where you will glue down one of your accessories. That's what will keep it in place.

 3. Paint your letter. Once the red dried, I painted white polka dots. Sorry I forgot to take a picture, but I think you can figure it out. 

 4. Dry fit your flowers. Make sure they lay out how you want them and make sure they start and finish where you want on the curves of the circle.

 5. See here where I spread the yarn and can see the styrofoam underneath? You can stick the ends of the flower stems in here and they stay pretty well.

6. Squeeze a dot of hot glue and stick your flower in place, making sure the small stem sticks into the styrofoam.

7. Just for fun and a splash of green, I added a couple leaves from the leftover flower stem. Just hot glue those down. Careful not to burn your finger!

 8. The "W" is glued on over the two ends of my yarn, holding everything together. (I threw on the little "Hello" last minute :0)  )

 So cute, right!?!?  And super easy!! Got it all done in an afternoon!

Happy Crafting!