Heart it Up

One of my most popular posts last year was my Valentine's Rag Wreath.

Tutorial here

These wreaths are so simple to make.  When I found a wire hanger hiding in the back of my closet during my most recent closet reorganization, a new Valentine's Wreath was born - this one in the shape of a heart.

I grabbed the scrap of silk panne leftover from this year's Halloween costume(I was Little Red Riding Hood,) and cut it up into 3/4"  wide strips.

The tying process can be done in front of the tv, it's pretty mindless work.

After an hour or so, the entire hanger is covered in fabric.

And here it is on our door.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.

Glitter Bell Wreath

Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, bring on the glitter & presents & trees!  I'm doing a silver & gold theme throughout my main floor Christmas decor this year.  I knew I had to buy some glittered bells when I came across them in Target's dollar section.

This project was so easy.  I laid out 10 of the bells in a circle alternating gold & silver.  I placed them on top of a tart pan to lift the center so that the wreath wouldn't dip in in the middle.

A couple of minutes with my trusty hot glue gun,

and a length of glittered ribbon from my craft room, and the wreath is complete.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.

Felt Flower Wreath

Sorry about the spotty posting lately.  Flood cleanup is still going on here, but my schedule has finally started to normalize.  To learn more about the historic Susquehanna flooding click here.  Autumn is my favorite season of the year and one of the reasons why I choose to live in NY.  I love the changing leaves, apple picking, fresh apple cider, and the crackle of a fire.  I usually start my autumn decorating as soon as school starts, but the flood pushed back my schedule a bit.  One of the first things I do, is put out an autumn wreath.  Last year I made both a rag wreath and a grapevine wreath in this post.  This year I attacked my overflowing fabric stash and made a felt flower wreath.

This is a completely no sew project.  I showed you how to make fabric roses with a needle and thread for this rose pillow, but this is a project for the non-sewers.  I started with a basic wreath form.  This is one of those dollar store willow forms.

I covered it with some yellow polyester double knit.  I like using both felt and double knit fabric in crafting, because the edges don't fray when you cut them.

To make the felt mums, I cut a 3" x 12" strip of fabric, folded it in half lengthwise and snipped along the folded edge every 1/4" or so.

I rolled up the strip(sorry about the color change, I forgot to continue to take pics with the first strip,)

keeping the base tight,

and put a dab of hot glue on the base to glue it to the wreath form.

For the larger open flowers, I cut scalloped circles of felt, layered them, pinched the bottoms and glued them in place.

The colorful flowers were 2" x 10" strips of polyester double knit glued to a felt disc.

I put a dab of glue on the felt,

and scrunched up the double knit,

continuing to glue and scrunch the fabric into a circular bloom.

I filled in any empty spaces with tight felt buds.  These were made by rolling up 1/2" x10" strips of felt, and placing a dab of glue on the bottom.

Voila!  Easy no-sew autumn wreath.  This entire project was made with random fabric on hand, and only 2 sticks of hot glue.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.  Don't forget to leave a wish here for the chance at an Amazon giftcard.  I'm linking this up to A Glimpse Inside's Catch a Glimpse Party, Home Stories of A to Z's Tips and Tutorials Tuesday, Southern Hospitality's Fall Door Decor party, and the parties below.

Valentine's Rag Wreath

I've made fabric rag wreaths before here and here, but I've never explained how to make them.  So when I made this pink one for Valentine's Day, I thought I'd take pics of the process.

This project starts with a wire hanger.  We don't use wire hangers, but the dry cleaner sends clothes back on them.  So instead of dropping them in the recycling bin, I reuse them in random projects.  Am I the only one who sees(and hears) Joan Crawford when I look at a wire hanger?  Come on fess up, I can't be the only one.

First you need to bend your hanger into a circle like shape.  It doesn't have to be perfect, because the shagginess of the fabric hides any odd bumps in your circle.  Then you need to pinch the hanger part and bend it down into the circle.  You'll hang the wreath from this.

Next assemble your fabric scraps.  I used four different pinkish fabrics for this project.  Don't ask me why I have so much pink in a house full of boys.  I may have a small fabric problem.  Let me know if there are any 12 step programs out there for this addiction.

I cut about a gazillion 3/4" x 6" strips of fabric.  You don't need to be exact, remember this is a rag wreath.  Perfection is not the goal.

I honestly don't know how many strips of fabric it takes to cover a wreath.  I cut out a bunch then start tying them onto the wire frame.  If I run out I cut some more.  I'd say that 50 of each fabric would be a safe number to start with.

Just keep scrunching them in tightly and tying on until you can't fit any more.  This is a super easy project that I banged out in one episode of the Nate show.  (For those of you unfamiliar that'd be an hour.)  I know that Nate took a bunch of flak early in the season for screwing up blogger day, but I like having the show on while working on projects.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.  I'm linking this up to Little Eme's Tute Your Own Tuesday, Elements Interiors' Whassup Wednesday, and Sew Woodsy's What's Up Wednesdays.

Photo Wreath & My Christmas Mantel

The boys got a snow day today, so it seemed like a good day to hang our stockings.  I'm so very late putting this mantel together this year.  It feels like this year has been so much busier, though I suppose it's possible I've been doing a bit more blog reading than in the past. :)

As soon as I saw this photo wreath in Country Living, I knew that I wanted to make one of my own.

I loved the idea of visiting the past to decorate my mantel and I loved the black & white, and sepia photos used in the Country Living Wreath.  With this as my inspiration, I delved into my photo files for pictures of Christmas past.  Looking through the photo files was really fun.  It's funny how pictures of Whirling Dervish taken so many years ago look so much like Snuggle Bunny today.  I grabbed a few pics from each year and even through in a couple of the boys sleeping in the Philly airport last year.  Fun Times.

I chose to make my wreath with black & white photos that had one little pop of color.  I opened up each photo in PhotoImpact and used the Duotone effect to create a slightly sepia toned black & white photo.  I then used the charcoal tool to color in one item to accent.  In this photo, it's SB's shoes.

I arranged the individual photos on a blank sheet and printed them out.

I then cut out each photo with my paper trimmer leaving a thin border of white around each pic.

Next I cut out a circle of cardboard to attach the photos to and wrapped it in foil.  It doesn't have to be real pretty since it'll be covered up with the pictures.

I began attaching the photos with glue dots making sure not to cover up anyone's face while overlapping the photos.  Glue Dots are acid free and will not degrade the photos.

To give some depth to the wreath, I elevated a few of the pictures with some foam squares.

I hung the finished wreath over my mantel.  The finished project looks like I have way more pics of SB than WD, but it's just that all of the young pics of WD look like SB.  I swear I don't love one more than the other.  With the last decade of pictures taken in digital, we don't look at old pics as much as if they were in albums.  I highly recommend taking a look through your digital pictures.

Underneath the picture wreath, I set up my stocking holders and laid a garland out on the mantel.  I always use floral wire to firmly attach the stocking holders in place.  My kids are past the grab a stocking and get bonked on the head stage, but even so it's a smart idea.  Their stockings are awfully heavy Christmas morning and I wouldn't want them to end up on the ground.

I sewed the boys' giant stockings for them each from one of those felt kits that comes with all of the embroidery floss, felt, sequins, etc.

Even our cat gets a stocking at Christmas.  This one I freehanded.

Before

and After

Thanks for popping in and checking out my Christmas Mantel and check out all of the other Christmas fun at Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday, Centsational Girl's Christmas Craft Link Party, and The Lettered Cottage's Mantel Party.