Fall into Wreath Obsession

With extra yet unpredictable time on my hands, I spend way too much time browsing the internet. These leads to swooning over crafty blogs. [I know. I know. There's dishes to be done, laundry to fold and a house to pick up, but that can't be done 1-handed while holding a demanding beautiful babe like surfing the internet can!] Note: all but one of my posts in the past 32 days, including this one, has been typed one handed! :)

The One-Handed Cause
I don't mind too much! :)

Back on track: Something I stumbled upon is Pinterest. I really have no idea how it works or how to use it but I knew a couple friends have talked about it, so I headed over there and searched their names. Stalker-ish, eh? Anyways, I came across adorable Fall wreaths and then hundreds a lot of blogs/crafty sites with tutorials of gorgeous wreaths. Hence the trip to the craft stores upon Mister's arrival home from work!

I remembered that we had a couple yards of burlap from my grandparents' garage sale--gotta love those "I'll find something to do with this some day" pick-ups--so as Ains snuggled with Chris on the couch I sprawled out with my supplies on the floor.

Fall Decoring Supplies
Fabric Remnants, Ribbon, Leaves, Wreath

At first I thought I was going to make a Fall wreath like the one on this site and then some flowers like the ones on this site. [I like the overall consistency and look of the burlap flowers on the burlap wreath, but didn’t find any other color burlap in the remnant section at the fabric stores.] So that's what I set out to do. Well as with so many of my projects, I found something different I liked better, on accident! I read about how to best cut burlap straight and I followed that tutorial. I realized though that as I went to pull the burlap strand out to create my guide, I liked the effect that it had on the burlap and made a ruffled look. Nevertheless I pulled it all the way out and cut the strip. Then I got to thinking that it'd be prettier if I had the ruffle since my wreath was pretty small. So that's what I set out to do, and here's the jist of how I did it.

Supplies:
Wreath [Mine was a skinny little thing from the Dollar Store]
Burlap
Scrap Fabric for Flowers
Hot Glue Gun [I don't know how I've gone this long without owning one!]

Using the method for cutting a straight strip of burlap, I cut a strip of burlap 2.5" and then wrapped it around my wreath. [I read that if you purchase a straw wreath, to leave the plastic on it so it makes it easier to wrap. This is especially important if you wrap the wreath with yarn!] I needed two strips to wrap all the way around my 13" wreath, securing it with dots of hot glue.

Burlap wrapped Dollar Store Wreath

Then I cut two 5" strips of the burlap. These are the ones that I made the ruffle with. At the 2.5" mark I pulled the string of burlap, careful not to break the string so that I would be able to tie it and "hold" the ruffle. I then secured the ruffle onto the burlap covered wreath using my glue gun.

The next step was to make some flowers. Using a couple Fall-colored fabrics, I set out to make a couple different styles. The first one I made was what's called a button flower by some sites. Basically you cut 8 circles of the same size. [I used the top of an oversized coffee mug as a template.] Then with each circle, you fold it in half and then in half again. [You now have a quarter-circle. Use glue as needed to hold the fabric together.] I used a little scrap of felt to glue 4 of the quarters onto. Then with the remaining 4 quarters, stagger the top layer. The flower can be topped with a button for its center, hence the name. [You can check out The Ribbon Retreat for a full, better tutorial.]

Basic explanation of button & poufy flowers

I made this type of flower in 2 different sizes, but instead of using a button for the center, I ended up putting the one flower on the other and then "finishing" the top flower using the Poufy Flower method. I couldn't get the 9th circle to look as nicely as The Ribbon Retreat ladies could, so I gave it a little help by gluing it where necessary to give it the look I desired.

Poufy Flower Layered on Button Flower

Finally I made two other flowers [brown & yellow] using the rosette method describe by this site. Basically you made a knot at the end of a piece of 2-3" folded fabric and then wrap the fabric around the knot creating the rosette. One thing that I didn't notice when following the tutorials was the suggest to glue as you wrap as needed. I didn't do this, and so I just had to hold tight as I wrapped. next time I'll definitely use the glue every so often method!

Rosette Flowers

The last thing to do is to position the flowers how ever I liked!

Finished Product
inside our house!

I hung the wreath on the inside of our front door. I figured it'd get more appreciation because we have an ugly screen door with flowered gating aka completely blocking the wreath.

After this project, I'm pretty such that I'll be making a wreath for every season! :)

Last but not least, yesterday was Ainsley Jo's 1 month birthday, so we had to take a couple pics! I'm hoping to take a pic every month in a white onesie on the chair to document her growth. Hopefully I stick to it! :)

She wasn't the [most] cooperative!