December Photo Project - Dec. 4 - Wreath Tutorial




I have mentioned before that I am in the process of crafting a wreath for each month of the year. Today I made my January wreath.

I LOVE it! I think it's my new favorite one. I think I say that every time I make a new one. It was easy to make. I did the whole thing today during Brennan's nap and that included going to Michael's to get the supplies.

Supplies:
-a wreath form (I used a straw one because I wanted a larger wreath)
-gray yarn
-yellow (2), purple (2), white (1) pieces of felt
-hot glue gun
-scissors

I started by wrapping the wreath with the gray yarn (leave the plastic on the wreath). I had never wrapped a straw wreath in yarn. It took quite a while since I bought a large wreath, but I just watched tv in the background. I wrapped it once, not worrying too much if I missed a few spots here and there and then went back a second time just filling in the gaps.

I made two different types of flowers. I had never made either before and I like them so much better than the rosettes I've done in the past. I made the yellow and purple flowers the same way. I learned how to make them here, but I've included the steps below too.

Yellow and purple flowers:
For each flower, I cut one larger and eight smaller circles. Just freehand them, they don't need to be perfect.

With each of the smaller circles, fold them in half...

...and in half again...

...then take your scissors and clip the tip off the base, so the flower is now flat on the bottom.

You'll then hot glue each of those pieces onto the larger circle. Start on the outside and then add a few to the middle. I used six circles around the outside and two in the middle.

It should look that this when you're done. Such a cute flower!

I was even more excited about trying the the white flowers. I learned how to make them here. Again the instructions are below. 

White flowers:

Cut a strip of felt about two inches wide.

Fold the strip in half length-wise. Then use hot glue along the edges to close. DO NOT put glue on the fold, only at the edge.

Next take your scissors and make little slits (going about 1/2 way up) all the way along the fold.

Now start rolling it up, putting dabs of glue along the way to hold it.

I didn't take a close up picture of the white flowers, sorry. They are so super cute! Trust me; go make them!

It won't officially hang on the door until January, but I wanted to get a good picture of it. Hope you love it as much as I do!

Another New Wreath

I am definitely on a wreath-making kick right now. My goal is to have a different homemade wreath for every month. So far I have made them for August-December, so that's a pretty good start. I wanted to share my newly created December wreath.

I found my inspiration here on Pinterest. When I clicked on the Pinterest link, I was hoping to find a tutorial, but instead it took me to an Etsy page. I love Etsy, but I was not ready to pay over $40 for something I could make myself. I then googled "burlap wreath tutorial" and found this one. I basically followed those directions, but just didn't do so many "bubbles".

Here were my supplies (minus the cat):

I bought 2 yards of burlap, a styrofoam wreath foam, 100 greening pins, red ribbon, and a red flower. I first cut long strips of burlap and wrapped the entire wreath with that. That's optional, but I feel like it hid the green styrofoam better by doing that. I then cut out squares of burlap. I didn't measure them, but they were probably around 5 inches by 5 inches. I made the "bubbles" like the tutorial said; I folded the squares into triangles and then brought the left and right points to meet the center point. I simply pinned those "bubbles" all around the wreath.

Here's the finished product. I LOVE it! You could do any color ribbon and make it a fall wreath instead of just Christmas.

Halloween Wreath

Check out my latest nap time craft! I spotted a Halloween tulle on Pinterest several months ago and have been wanting to make one since. I finally got around to getting my supplies and worked on it a little last night and finished it up today during B's nap.

I didn't take any pictures of my progress along the way, but I did follow this tutorial. I bought an 18-inch straw wreath, two rolls of black ribbon, three rolls of black tulle, and a small roll of orange ribbon. I also used a few greening pins I had left over from a previous wreath.

I left the plastic wrapping on the wreath and then wrapped the whole thing in black ribbon. I then cut the tulle into strips that were approximately 18-inches long. I didn't measure them. I did find that it worked better to have a piece to use as a template and only cut one more at a time. When I started cutting a bunch in a row, even though I was using the template, many ended up too short. I was still able to incorporate the too short ones into the wreath. I just spread them out to add a little more fluff. I tied the tulle strips around the wreath.

I'm not sure if the orange ribbon is exactly what I want, but I really do like the wreath. It did look a little "goth" as Kyle said while I was making it, but I'm really happy with the finished product! I think I need to fluff it a little more based on the picture, but what do you think???

Naptime Craftiness

I just had to share a new Pinterest inspired creation!

My inspiration came from here. And here.

This morning Brennan and I did some running around to pick up materials. I stopped by Michaels (yarn - $2.99 and felt $.23/sheet) and Home Depot (foam tubing - $.97 for six feet).

I realized I wanted my wreath to be thicker than the skinny tubing I bought at Home Depot, so I cut the tubing into two pieces and put the smaller pieces inside the larger one to give it some thickness.

I then started wrapping it with yarn. And wrapping and wrapping. I had read about people making yarn wreaths and they said it took awhile. I actually thought it went pretty fast. I just turned on my recording of "So You Think You Can Dance" and wrapped away. I did the first layer really nicely making sure the pieces were lined up side by side. I then went around the whole wreath a second time, but wasn't nearly as careful.

I then cut my felt into strips. No certain size.

Next, I started making my rosettes. I make them by starting to roll up a strip of felt into a tube and then when it's almost half way rolled up, I twist the rest of the strip and wrap it around the rolled up part. Then hot glue it to make it stay. I also cut a few leaves.

Finally, I hot glued everything onto the wreath! And got this final product!

So happy with it! What do you think?

Balloon Wreath

Check out the wreath I made!

I know it's a little crazy and bright, but I LOVE it! (Kyle says it's "fruity".) I am not quite ready to hang it up yet; I think I'll wait until it is a little warmer outside. It was super-dee-duper easy and fast to make.

I first read the tutorial from How Does She.

I then went and bought my supplies. I bought the straw wreath and greening pins at Michaels. I bought balloons at The Dollar Tree. Just as the tutorial recommended, I bought 100 greening pins and 150ish balloons, so I thought I was all set.

That is until I sat down to start making the wreath today and realized that I was going to need A LOT more supplies. Oops!!! At first I thought I bought a wreath that was too big, but now that it is finished, I think it looks the same size as the one from Missy's blog.  I certainly didn't have enough though. I used up my 100 greening pins before I had finished up all my balloons. At that point, my wreath was a little more than 1/2 covered with balloons. So I made a quick trip back out to pick up additional supplies.

With a wreath my size, I used a little less than 250 balloons and greening pins. The wreath is not covered completely, that would've taken forever and SO many balloons. I am very happy with how it turned out though.

I love Missy's idea of using it for birthdays. She puts the wreath out whenever someone in her family has a birthday coming up. If I was still teaching, I think it would be a cute thing to put on my classroom door when a student has a birthday. For now, I think it will be either my spring or summer wreath. Or if I can't wait to hang it up, my hurry up and get here spring wreath.

Friday's Fab Five

No lack of fabulousness around here this week!

1. Brennan got his first tooth! It is the front, bottom left tooth. And he really didn't seem to be extra cranky. He never woke in the middle of the night or anything. Check out my handsome boy!

2. We had friends over for dinner on Wednesday night, which is always fun! The Dishmons and McClures came over and Amanda cooked us White Bean Chicken Chili. It was delish! The Dishmons have Adah and baby girl #2 on the way. The McClures have four daughters, so Brennan was the only little boy. He was loving all the attention though! Both families are moving within the next week and we will miss them a lot!

3. Brennan got his flu shot yesterday. I really don't think shots are fabulous, but hopefully it prevents him from getting sick this winter. I feel very blessed to have the medical benefits associated with the military. I hear people complain about them all the time and I do know there are some hoops you have to jump through for certain things, but I think we have it pretty good. I have had to take Brennan to the doctor three times in the past five weeks. Once for an ear infection and twice for follow-ups and never once paid a dime. He has gotten a flu shot and two prescriptions and again we paid nothing. It is a huge blessing!

4. I read this earlier in the week from Shepherding a Child's Heart and it has stuck with me. Brennan is too young to start applying principals like this, but I think it applies to adults as well. I think it helps remind us we need to examine the "why" behind the way we act and the things we say.

"A person's life is reflection of his heart. Proverbs 4:23 states it like this: 'Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.' The word picture here is graphic. This theme is restated elsewhere in the Bible. The behavior a person exhibits is an expression of the overflow of the heart. You could picture it like this. The heart determines behavior. What you say and do expresses the orientation of your heart . . . Luke 6:45 corroborates this point: 'The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.'"

5. Check out what I made! I am loving this wreath. The directions are here. I followed them pretty much exactly except that I used three sheets of each color felt (except for brown---only used one sheet of brown). It cost me a little more to make it because I had to buy a hot glue gun. Now I just need to hang it on the door!