Scrap Book Paper Flowers And Rolled Book Pages Make A Beautiful Wreath

 Hallelujah!  I am basically done with Christmas decorating, 2013.  I finished just in time for the impending ice event coming our way.  Hopefully, we won't need anything from anywhere because we will NOT be going out if we get ice and sleet as predicted.  Nashville is so very hilly and drivers are erratic on a good day.  Nope, not going anywhere.  We will stay in and listen to Christmas music and bask in the glow of the lights on the trees and elsewhere throughout the house.  There are many projects to be completed and baking to be done.  I am actually looking forward to it.  No need to go anywhere.  Yes, I like it.

Today, I thought I would share with you a wreath I made to hang in my tobacco basket during the Christmas season.  It was inspired by a similar one I saw over the weekend while shopping with friends on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.  That wreath was made on a grapevine wreath and I loved it.  It spoke to me.  It just wouldn't have showed up on the dark background of my basket.  So, I used an artificial greenery wreath instead.

The wreath had paper "flowers" and rolled book pages - so natural looking.  It just really appealed to me when I saw it.  Loved it actually and knew I would use it as inspiration.  I added some pine cones and Christmas ornaments and beautiful red burlap ribbon.  It's very easy to make.  Here is how you can make the paper "flowers."

First, cut 4 inch square pieces of paper in patterns that you like.  I used my trusty paper cutter that I got at Big Lots for $19.00.  It sure makes cutting things evenly and square so much easier than using scissors.  I chose 4 patterns of scrap book paper and cut each 12 x 12 piece into 4 squares, 4 inches on each side.

Next, you curl the corners by using a pencil and rolling the paper over the pencil.  You don't have to hold it very long, remove the pencil and it will curl.

This is how it should look.

Starting with the bottom piece of paper, hot glue a button in the middle of the paper.  Choose the next piece, hot glue the button in the middle and angle the paper so the curled corners are next to the first piece, not on top of it.  Hot glue that piece to the button below.  Continue up the stack until it looks like this.  I used buttons because I have a huge bag of them from projects past.

Make as many flowers as you would like for your wreath.

Now, tear some pages from an old book.  I have a Complete Works of Shakespeare (sorry Will) that I dismantled a year ago.  It was huge and has given me many pages for book page projects.  I just go get some from the stack.  Roll a page and use a glue stick to glue the last edge down.  You need 3 rolls per stack.  I turned the plain part of the pages to the inside and attached them to each other with a small dab of hot glue.  I did that so that only text is showing.

I used sisal twine, but you could use ribbon if you so desired.  Wrap it loosely around the middle of the stack and tie a simple shoe string bow.  Easy peasy.

Make as many stacks are you want to use.

Place the paper flowers and the book page rolls on your wreath where you want them to be.  Hot glue them in place.  I added pine cones and Christmas ornaments to fill in the wreath, then wove some burlap ribbon into the greenery.  That's all it takes.  Here's a closeup of details of the wreath.

Its really pretty and uses a lot of natural elements.  Here is the wreath in the middle of the tobacco basket and the decorations on the cabinet underneath.  I used lots of music and book pages in my decorating this year.

I will share directions for some of the other decorations I made as the days go by.  Book pages and music pages make for some inexpensive decorating elements.  There will be a picture tour of our home in days to come.

I hope the weather doesn't get too bad here or where you are.  If it does, enjoy your time at home if you are privileged to stay in and create something you love.  Christmas is coming!

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

Inspiration comes from many places.  Always look around for ideas when you are out and about.  donna

Deco Mesh Spring Wreath

I missed posting this yesterday because we have been helping our daughter and her family move to their new home this week.  We got home late last night and it just didn't happen.  Grandma and Pawpaw were toast.   Therefore, I am sharing this today to finish up spring decorating here at the little yellow cottage (for the moment).

This deco mesh wreath is hanging on the front of our house and is very easy to make.  I also discovered something when making this wreath.  Up to this point, I have been using a wire wreath frame for deco mesh and it takes WAY more of the mesh than making it this way using a straw wreath for the foundation and greening pins.  If you don't know what greening pins are, they are "U" shaped metal pins using in floral arranging.  You can buy them in any craft store and they are super useful for straw wreaths and floral arrangements.

To make this wreath, I used a 14 inch straw wreath form.  I made big loops of deco mesh and pinned them to the straw wreath, first on the left, then to the right, zigzagging around the wreath.  Continue around the wreath a second time filling in the blank spaces.  Easy, easy, easy.  I used only 1 roll of the mesh which I found at Wal Mart cheaper than any place else.  It cost less than $15 for the whole wreath.  I have used as many as 3 rolls making other wreaths.  I like this way a LOT!

If you look closely, you can see the ribbon I used for extra texture and contrast.  The best part about this  wreath on the front of the house is birds haven't built a nest in it.  I love natural looking wreaths, but they always end up a mess because birds nest in them and you know what happens without my explaining.  It ruins the wreaths.  Oh well.

I didn't want to use Easter eggs because then the wreath is limited to the Easter season.  These flowers were in my stash and are colorful and work for the spring season.  The polka dot ribbon was in two pieces.  I saved it from last year.  Love, love, love recycling/reusing things.  I wove the  ribbon through the mesh and pinned it with greening pins.  The flowers are just randomly poked in the straw wreath base.

This whole project took about 20 minutes.  It couldn't be much easier and it is so colorful on the front of the house.  It actually shows up better than any wreath I have made to go on the cedar shake.  Yay!  Score one for the deco mesh.

Since spring is officially here and we are only one week from Easter, you might want to give this project a try for your home.  This mesh is super lightweight and is great to hang inside or out.  It comes in a variety of colors and can be found at Old Time Pottery, Michael's, JoAnn's, and Wal Mart here in Nashville.  It comes in two widths - 10 inch and 21 inch.   I used the narrower width for this wreath.  You can be very creative with it, there are no set rules.  Go crazy, use your imagination, have fun!  Let me know what you make.  Better yet, post a picture.  

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“Creativity is not so much a boundless well, but an all-you-can-eat buffet of elements for your creative endeavor.  Eventually you've eaten your fill, and it's time to digest and then make something.  But at some point, it will be time to return to the restaurant.         

Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Spring IS Coming, Meanwhile It's Wreaths, Egg Trees and Arrangements

So it's finally the first day of spring and an evil trick has been played on us.  Punxsawtawney Phil was oh so wrong about an early spring this year.  Blast that groundhog, he had everyone so excited.   There were flurries of snow falling when we came home earlier this evening.  SNOW!!  That is no way to start spring in my book, even though I remember when I was young it snowed on Easter Sunday one year.  Guess that is the uncertainty of springtime.  This too shall pass.  Hopefully.  Soon.

In the meantime, it looks like spring here in the little yellow cottage.  We are ready whenever it decides to officially warm up and trees begin to leaf out.  Some trees are flowering, forsythia are blooming, and hyacinths and daffodils are looking jaunty.  I know it's coming.  Just bear with my complaints.  I am getting older and impatient.  I want it all now!!

Let's talk about the inside for a minute.  The picture above is the top of the cabinet inside our front door that I like to decorate for seasons and holidays.  I made a beautiful moss covered wreath to hang on my shutters that have found a home on top of the cabinet.  It was so very easy to make.

I found a bolt of moss ribbon for lack of a better description at Tuesday Morning and it looks like this unrolled.

It had originally been $16.00 and I got it for $6.99.   I simply wrapped it around an 8 inch straw wreath and pinned the beginning and end with greening pins.  How easy is that?  I used one of the little bird's nests that came in a set of three and hot glued it to the moss.  Adding a little feathered bird made the wreath complete.  I hung it with a piece of hot pink double faced satin ribbon.  It took about 10  minutes to put it together and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

See the straw wreath peeking through?  It makes me think of forest floors covered with moss, birds chirping in the trees as they sit on their nests, waiting for their babies to hatch.  That is one of the beautiful things about spring - all the newness of life.

Can you see my egg tree on the right?  Let me tell you how it came about - quite accidentally actually.  Our daughter moved to a new home about a month ago and she had some pieces she no longer wanted to keep and asked me if I wanted them.  Sure.  Everything is useful sometime right?   Her older sister had given this candle holder to her as a gift about 15 years ago when she was in a different decorating phase than now.  It came from Anthropologie and  looked like this.

It was sort of bronze with red glass beads and little birds on it.  It was pretty, but I decided to do this with it.

Spray paint can work wonders on just about anything.  This is the same piece spray painted white.  Like it?  Thanks.  And as soon as it dried, a lightbulb went off in my head and I knew exactly what i would do with it.  I made it an egg tree for Easter.

I decorated some of my sheet music eggs and sat them in the holders where candles normally go.  The little hanging eggs came in a package from the Dollar Tree.  It looks just like I hoped it would.

For the left side of the cabinet, I made a little arrangement that has a real earthy look to go along with the moss wreath.  I filled a dollar glass vase with some black river rock for weight and added some moss covered rocks.  Now, don't go and pay a fortune for moss covered rocks at some fancy schmancy store.  You can get packages of them from my favorite place - the Dollar Tree - along with the river rock.  Two dollars is all you need to spend.  If you need the vase, then $3.00.

The flowers are some that I had in my stash.  The spike gave nice height to the arrangement and looks like unmowed spring grass,  and the little pink and green flowers added color.  You don't need styrofoam to hold the flowers.  Just stick them in the center of the where the rocks all meet and you are done!  Maybe $5.00 total in the whole arrangement.

I used some more of the green burlap ribbon I found at Wal Mart to complete the vignette along with two little ceramic bunnies that I had.  Flopsy and Mopsy.  What story are they characters in?  Done.

Now, we are just sitting here enjoying all this "spring" in our house and waiting for the elements outside to cooperate.  Don't know about you, but we are ready.

Everyday Donna

Things to Remember:

“A Robin said: The Spring will never come,
And I shall never care to build again.
A Rosebush said: These frosts are wearisome,
My sap will never stir for sun or rain.
The half Moon said: These nights are fogged and slow,
I neither care to wax nor care to wane.
The Ocean said: I thirst from long ago,
Because earth's rivers cannot fill the main. —
When Springtime came, red Robin built a nest,
And trilled a lover's song in sheer delight.
Grey hoarfrost vanished, and the Rose with might
Clothed her in leaves and buds of crimson core.
The dim Moon brightened. Ocean sunned his crest,
Dimpled his blue, yet thirsted evermore.” 
― Christina Rossetti