Wreath with Monogram and Flowers

Wow. I thought it had been a while before my last post, but that was 3 months ago and I haven't had a spare second to write anything. With school finally out for summer, my creative juices have started flowing AND I actually have time to work on my crafts.  I wanted to share with you a spring/summer wreath I made for my mother-in-law's birthday that I made inspired by pins on Pinterest.

Here's what you need:
-1 wrapped grapevine wreath form (I got mine at Jo-Ann's for about $4. It's 18", but I think any size would work the same)
-several bunches of silk flowers in your desired color scheme/ seasonal inspiration. (the amount you need will vary based on the fullness and size of your wreath and the size of the flowers you choose. I bought about 5 small bunchs of flowers- on sale for $1 a piece at Michael's- and only used about half)
-a hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks
-a wood moonogram letter

I started by pulling the flowers and leaves off of the stems.  For the flowers, I left a couple of inches on the stem in case I needed the extra length for placement in the wreath.  But, if the wire in the stem was too hard to cut, I just pulled off the flower top.  That's all you really need.  I separated the leaves and the flowers into two separate containers so they would stay in place, even if I walked away from the project or worked on something else in between.

Then, I placed my wreath flat on my table and started laying out flowers in a way that I liked.  Since this was my first one, I placed them before gluing.  In the future, I think I could glue as I go and that would cut back on the time this project takes overall (for me, it was about an hour and a half- from cutting the flowers to finish). 



When I felt comfortable, I went back and started hot gluing the flowers done.  I made sure to get glue on the stem and grapevine so it was secure.  Be careful, the petals are so thin the hot glue can come through and burn you. I just kept fillining in and adding until I was happy with the outcome.  I glued the monogram on last.  Here's what mine looked like when it was finished:

I have also seen these wreaths with address numbers or whole last names on them, both of which are good options. All in all, since I only used half of the flowers, this project came in around $8! It looks a lot more expensive, and I am very happy with the outcome. 

I am planning on blogging  and crafting more frequently over the summer, and even adding an etsy shop! On top of that, I am getting ready for my baby's arrival in Septemeber, so this will be a busy summer. Luckily, I have no intention of going outside since I live in New Orleans and need the air conditioning! Enjoy your summer and happy crafting!



Birthday Gift for a Man

This is the first gift I made this year as part of my resolution to make more gifts. 

I really struggled with what to make since it was for a guy, and most of the things I make are feminine.  My brother in law enjoys his last name and they just got married last year, so I thought a "B" mongram refering to their wedding day was a nice choice.  But to make it a little more masculine, I used beer bottle caps to form the B.  The first thing I did was paint an 11x14 canvas camel colored to match their living room.  Next, I modge podged over the whole canvas to seal the paint under the B. Then I laid out the caps in a B shape, and used hot glue to attach them one by one.  I was careful to put the hot glue on the inside of the rim on the bottle cap so no glue would show on the sides.   The next step was to cut their last name and wedding date with my cricut.  I used my design studio software to make it fit across the whole canvas.  The last step was to modge podge over the words, and voila! Done!

To round out his gift, I also etched Bs into 4 shot glasses [this guy really likes his last name :)].  Etching glass is surprising easy.  I use Armour Etch and cut stencils in vinyl with the cricut.  You put the vinyl sticker on the glass you want to etch, paint the Armour Etch on the surface, let it sit, and wipe and clean it off.  Super easy.

And lastly, I made some beer bottle cap magnets for him and a simple birthday card.

Altogether, the wall hanging cost me about $5, the shot glasses about $2, and the magnets and card were about $2 total.  All in all, I spent $9, but I think it looks like it is worth a lot more, which is what I was going for.  His birthday is tomorrow, so we'll see if it is well received.

Until next time, happy crafting!