Tag: Wreath

Craft Projects

Halloween Wreath

Jessica Smith

Dana asked me to make her a Halloween wreath so she can spookify her house. I told her that she should totally make one herself because they are easy and fun! She said she’d rather bake. I said I’d rather make wreaths than bake — guess that’s why we are best friends!

Dana picked up supplies for her wreath and dropped them off at my house, so I quickly got to creating a spooky masterpiece.

I used a wire wreath form and lots of spooky garland.

To start the wreath, I tucked one end of the garland into the wire wreath form. I dabbed some hot glue to keep it secure, then proceeded to wrap the garland around the outer edges of the wreath. Once the garland was all of the way around, I secure the end with hot glue and tucked it into the wire form.

Note: If you use hot glue on this sort of plastic garland, it smells like skunk. Oh so pleasant.

With the wreath part complete, I started to add the fun, spooky additions Dana gave me: Spider rings, glitter spiders, and  a glitter skull. I added all of these to the wreath with, yep, hot glue.

Totally spooky cute 🙂

Have you made any fun Halloween decorations this year?

Craft Projects

Yarn-Wrapped “S”

Jessica Smith

Good morning and happy Monday!

I showed you yesterday a quick and easy project my girlfriends and I made at our craft night on Saturday. Today, I’m sharing a not so quick and not so easy project that we tackled last weekend, too.

Inspired by many of the yarn- and twine-wrapped letters on Pinterest, Amy, Carrie and I set out to make pretty letters of our own. I made an “S,” Carrie an “H” and Amy a “T.” … we were one letter away from, well, use your imagination.

Anyway, instead of buying cardboard letters we chose to make our own to save some mulah. So, we destroyed several of Amy’s cereal boxes (her hubby was wondering why all of their cereal was in bags on the counter) and made letters of our own.

First, we traced letters onto the boxes, then cut out two of each letter.

Next, we cut thin strips of the cereal box and used them to create a 3D letter. We taped the thin strips all around on of the letters, before taping to top letter on top.

Mmmmm… Raisin Bran.

Once our letters were finished,  it was time to add our yarn and twine. I chose to wrap mine in a brown yarn with a little sparkle to it. Amy and Carrie wrapped theirs in twine. To start mine, I taped it onto the back and started wrapping. A couple of pieces of tape in, I realized two things. One: I needed hot glue, and two: I needed something to cover the tips of my “S.”

I cut out two small rectangles of fabric to glue on each tip of the letter, then continued wrapping and gluing yarn around and around and around. I used almost the entire ball of yarn — holy cow.

Hours later (yes, hours), I finally finished wrapping my letter. I think between the cardboard construction and the yarn wrapping, it took me about 2.5 hours.

Looking good, huh? Time to embellish. I whipped up a cute, fabric flower and a couple of leaves to glue to the letter.

Done!

Carrie had to go home before embellishing her flower, but Amy’s “T” got blinged out 🙂

So cute!? Just like her pup, Stover, who kept us company all night.

Once I got home from craft night I showed my finished product to the hubby — he was super impressed. Instead of hanging the letter up on a door or a wall, I put it on a shelf in our family room. It looks like it was meant to be there.

So what do you think? Will you be making a cereal box letter any time soon? I’d do it again!

Craft Projects, Dollar Store Crafts

Dollar Store Wreaths

Jessica Smith

Hello, hello, helloooooo! I am so excited to share this project with you! Yes, yes… I know I’ve gone a little wreath crazy lately. BUT, I am happy to share with you that you can make pretty wreaths for far less than I ever thought possible. My secret: The Dollar Store.

I visited our local Dollar Tree and it was a craft supply haven! I found wreath forms and fake flowers galore! GALORE! They had grapevine wreaths and green wreath forms (not really sure what those are called). I picked up six wreath forms and dozens of flower bunches. SO excited. I have two huge vases full of flowers now. WINNING.

The flowers aren’t quite as nice as what you’d get at Michaels or Hobby Lobby — but the flowers there are so pricey. SO PRICEY! Some of the bunches are $12.99! Everything at the Dollar Store is, well, $1. Duh. Can’t beat that.

I made two wreaths out of my new supplies and I still have a ton of everything left. Here’s what you do if you want to make your own dollar store wreath.

1. Buy supplies at the Dollar Store.

2. Pick out the flowers you’d like to place on your wreath form. I chose to use my grapevine forms for this project.

3. Start adding your flowers on with hot glue. Since these wreaths aren’t as thick as wreaths from Michaels, I opted for hot glue instead of wire so it would be easier to cover up.

4. If adding longer vines or flowers, make sure to tuck and pin in the vines along the way.

 

5. Keep adding flowers until you are finished! Embellish with any additional add-ons as you see fit. I left these two wreaths embellishment free.

All in all, I used four types of flowers on this wreath )with plenty left over in each bunch), so this adorable wreath cost me $5 to make.

It will be a perfect Fourth of July decoration with hints of blue in addition to the red and white.

 

My next wreath was a fall-themed wreath. I pulled out my bunches of brown, orange, yellow and red flowers. Using the same process, I created this autumn beauty.

This one as a bit more expensive because I used a wider variety of flowers…. let’s say $8. But, considering the wreath I made for my mom probably cost upward of $60, I’d say $8 isn’t too shabby. Is her’s nicer? Yeah. But unless you have them side by side, you’d never know.

What treasures have you found at your local dollar store?