Burlap Wreath with Monogram

Hello all!

I've been so busy crafting, I haven't had time to write about all the good stuff I am doing.  But, that changes today. :)

The first project I want to tell you about is the burlap wreath I made for my front door. All finished, it looked like this:

Truth be told, I would have preferred to make it without the bow at the top, but I ran out of burlap ribbon.  In the future, to make a wreath of this size, I would plan to use 1.5 rolls, rather than just one.  However, I  do like the way it came out.

To make this wreath, I used a wire wreath form from Michaels, a roll of burlap ribbon, a monogrammed plaque that I got on clearance, floral wire, hot glue gun/sticks, and black ribbon to finish the bow:

You'll notice the bag of silk flowers off to the left.  I had intended to tuck flowers in around the folds of the burlap, but as I moved forward, I didn't like that as much as I thought I would so I left them out.

To start, I wrapped one end of the burlap with wire to the wreath form. I bent and fluffed the burlap to make folds and volume to my taste.  In addition to wrapping with wire, I also added hot glue to help hold things the way I want them.

As I moved around the form, I made sure to cover the wire and glue with more folds.  Again, having another roll would have allowed for more fullness and being able to complete the form all the way around.

After I finished with the burlap, I hot glued the monogram plaque to the back of the form.  Sorry, no picture for that step.  At this point, you can personalize your wreath the way you'd like to.  Add flowers or a wooden monogram, etc.

All together, this wreath took me about 1.5 hours, and about $15 to make. Not too bad, if I do say so myself.

Happy crafting!

Halloween Wreath with Felt and Ribbon

Don't ask me why, but I was inspired to make a Halloween wreath in late Spring.  Chalk it up to Pinterest overload, I guess.  Side note: Pinterest has also given me a little craft ADD to the point where I have 3 or 4 projects going on at a time.  Anyway, this was one that I managed to complete (even though it took me a couple of days and a few projects later).

Here's my finished wreath:

Materials:

18" flat, round wreath form
1.5 sheets of felt in 4 colors
3 colors of ribbon
wooden letters
Lots of hot glue

First, I cut my felt into 5"x1" strips with my rotary cutter.  I cut 5" pieces of ribbon too.  I tied them into knots as I went, and placed them in a shoe box so they wouldn't get all over when I was working on other projects. :)

Then, I laid my form out and started hot gluing these knots on randomly. I just eyeballed it to find a "pattern" and thickness that I liked.

In the future, if I used this same technique on this same form, I would wrap the form with black (or whatever color was appropriate) ribbon to hide the form so I wouldn't have to worry about any showing through. 

I coninued the wreath in this way, all the way around.  And, here's what it looked like after gluing the pieces all over:

(Please ignore the messy background- that's a byproduct of my craft ADD).  If the form was smaller, like 12" or 14", I might have left it like this.  But, I felt like it was calling for something in the middle.  I brainstormed for a while, and decided to get some wooden letters spelling BOO. They came unfinished, so the first thing I did was paint them.  I used regular acrylic paint in purple, orange, and lime green.  Then, I added polka dots using the back of a dried pen in a contrasting color.

From here, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  I knew I wanted them in the center of the wreath, but they weren't big enough to stretch across on their own.  I decided to cut long strips of black felt and have the letters hang from the top of the wreath.  I doubled the strip over and knotted the loose ends. I wasn't worried about the knot showing, since thats how I made the rest of the wreath, so I hot glued the knotted end of the felt to the top of the letter, like this:

I attached the folded end of the strip to the back of the wreath form in varying lengths with more hot glue.  And here it is again:

I like the way it came out, even if it wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I started. This technique was so easy, and I think it lends itself well to other holidays/ occasions.  I have some other wreaths in mind in this style, but it'll have to wait until I try all the other ideas on my Pinterest craft board.  If you'd like to see what I have on my list to do, check out my Pinterest board DIY and Crafts- To Try.  Find it here:

http://pinterest.com/lalandry925/diy-crafts-to-try/

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!