DIY

DIY Fall Wreath

DIY Fall Wreath

Can you tell that I am thrilled fall is here? One of my favorite things about the season is the decor! A couple friends and I got together for an afternoon of crafts, where I made this easy to-do wreath! I purchased everything from Hobby Lobby, the mecca/mothership for crafters like me! Hobby Lobby has great deals and I was able to score the wreath, ribbon and flowers for half off! I highly recommend checking out their coupons here before heading over.

What you'll need:
16" or 20" Vine Wreath
Faux Flowers in fall colors
Wired Ribbon
3-5" Letter
Hot Glue Gun and Glue

How to Make Your Own Wreath:

Begin with your base vine wreath and roughly lay out where you are going to lay out all of your pieces.

The first attached piece will be the ribbon. Cut 2 pieces of ribbon for the tails of the bow and leave extra length. Next, glue the two pieces of ribbon onto the top center point of the wreath. Hot glue works best.


You will now need to make the actual bow, by cutting two ribbons of the same length and fold in half. Once you fold the piece of ribbon in half, hot glue to the ends together to secure the loop. Then take a third piece of ribbon, cut it to be around half the length of the ribbons. This piece will act as the center of the bow. Take the middle piece and wrap it around the two loops and glue it down on the backside of the bow. Once the three pieces have been assembled together, take the bow and glue it at the top, covering the spot where you've glued down the two tails.


Once the glue has dried and you've tested the bow to ensure that it secured onto the wreath, take your letter and place hot glue on the backside of the letter where it will be touching the bow. Place it down on the middle section of the bow and press down onto the letter until it is securely glued down.


Next you will begin to place the flowers into the wreath. You will use hot glue for this step as well. Place hot glue on both the spot you will be placing the flower and on the backside of the flower. Many faux flowers have a little stem on the backside, which you will push into the wreath, which helps to hold the flowers in place on the wreath. My recommendation is to find a flower arrangement with multiple flowers and little garnishes mixed in. Make sure to alternate colors and add the garnishes as you work down the wreath. I personally went a little bit past the half way mark to show off the vine wreath's bare look.



Once all of the flowers have been placed in, cut the ribbon tails so that they go about half way down the wreath. Then bend the wiring to give the ribbon so that they have a wave look to each side. Glue down the tail on the side of the bare vine to the base of the wreath and add in a couple of smaller flowers and garnishes to hold the bow tail down to help give balance to the exposed side of the wreath. 

Voila, your wreath is complete! Hammer in a nail and place it on your front door to get into the spirit of fall!

DIY Fall Wreath

Christmas Decor 


As usual, I found this amazing tree skirt idea on Pinterest and had to make it for our home! It is our first Christmas where we will not be traveling to visit family, so I decided to go all out this year. The tree skirt may look intimidating, but I promise that it is actually not difficult at all! The one thing about it is that it does take time and it requires about 30 hot glue sticks! 


What you need:
Old or inexpensive tree skirt
4 yards of burlap
4 yards of a cream linen fabric (or color of your choice)
Glue Gun and glue sticks 
Rotary board and cutter
Pins

Instructions:
Using the rotary board and cutter, cut 3" strips of the fabric (both the linen and burlap), don't worry about the length. Then take your old tree skirt and remove any emblems or decor that's attached to the skirt, so that you have flat fabric to glue the ruffles onto. You will begin the skirt with the linen fabric and make a small line of glue before beginning to fold the ruffles.

Image from The Johnston's Blog
Once you make your first line of glue, you will take the fabric and begin to pinch a small section of the fabric and press it down into the skirt, so that the pinched portion overlays the previous ruffle. I also thought of it as folding the fabric and overlaying it on the previous ruffle. 

Image from The Johnston's Blog
Image from The Johnston's Blog 
You will do this all the way around the skirt until the first layer is completed. Placing the burlap ruffles is a similar process; however you will want to make the ruffles before you glue them onto the skirt since the glue can be very hot. To do this, you will fold them the same way as you did with the linen and then stick pins in to hold the ruffle. You will not take the pins out until the strip has been glued down and the glue has cooled down.

Image from The Johnston's Blog
You will continue this process until you have covered the entire skirt. What I did with my tree skirt was take twine and make a thick braid to cover the edge of the skirt, which is the area that hugs the tree trunk. To make the braid the perfect thickness, cut 9 pieces of the twine and take three strings per section and begin to braid. I made the braid longer than the area it needed to cover, tied it off both ends, glued it down and then cut off the leftover braid. 


You can also close up the ends of the tree skirt by utilizing the twine. You will need to take a yarn needle and thread the twine through to create ties that can close up the tree skirt. 

Image from The Johnston's Blog

Not committed to creating a tree skirt, but love the look of burlap for Christmas decor? 


I also made this candle holder for our kitchen table, which is very easy to make. You just need to make a trip to Michael's (don't forget to go online for coupons) and pick up a simple glass vase, pine tree leaves with pine cones from the floral section, a candle, burlap and a cute, festive string. I actually found this string at Target recently and liked how the red gave the candle a pop of color.

Warning - I would not recommend that you light the candle as I could see this being a potential fire hazard! 




Pinspiring Presents


I love the holidays, I love crafts and I love pinterest! With that said, I wanted to share with you some of my favorite pinspiring homemade gifts for the holidays. These are my absolute favorite gift ideas out there on Pinterest. Some of these are the perfect gifts to make a batch and give to friends and coworkers, while some of these other gifts are perfect to give to close family and friends! My favorite is the serving tray, which involves taking a basic tray and sprucing it up with fun wallpaper and paint!

Serving Tray

Have fun crafting and happy start to your holidays!

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