Sunday, October 2, 2011

Welcome Wreath

I wanted to create a pretty something for the front door to welcome autumn.  This idea has been brewing in the back of my mind for some time.  It's really pretty simple, but it took lots of ribbon and lots of patience.  I bought four coordinating rolls of fall ribbon at Michael's.  They're all 1.5 inches wide and wire edged.  I chose two prints and two solids.  Of those four, two are semi-transparent and two are opaque.  I thought that the mix of colors, textures, and weights would be perfect. 

In addition, I needed pony beads.  Actually, I stood in Michael's and looked at those packages of plasticky pony beads, and just thought, 'Yuck.  No class.'  I had some faceted beads at home and figured I'd just use them.  Ha!  That's what thinking will get me.  This plan had me feeding a full width of double-wired ribbon of various weights through the holes in the beads.  (Keep in in that it's at least 100 miles away for me to go to a Michael's store.  That's Montana for you.)  I was nearly done before I started.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Here's how to make this wreath.  First, wrap a foam wreath form (I think mine was 10 or 11 inches in diameter) with electrical tape.  It's wonderful, sticky, and solid black.  A perfect base.

Next, cut all four rolls of your wire-edged ribbon into four inch lengths.  Easy peasy.  Just don't use the sewing scissors.  Your mom will kill you..........right, Mom?   {Yes, I'm fifty years old, but if my mom knew I used my sewing scissors to cut wire edged ribbon, I think she'd still have my head.  For the record, I didn't.}  Choose four fall-toned colors of pony beads.  


Here's where I went wrong.  I assumed that I'd just be able to use those little faceted beads I had at home.  But the ribbon just wouldn't fit in their freakin' tiny holes.  (Huff, puff.)  So there I was, with yards and yards of beautiful ribbon cut into four. inch. pieces. and I hadn't bought the right beads because I just wasn't thinking.  Dead in the water.  I said aloud, "I should have bought those pony beads."  I must have sounded pretty pitiful, me with my bits of ribbons and no prospect for completing the project.  MMM's mom said, "Oh, there's a bunch of pony beads back there on that shelf."  What?  Just like that?  She's not rich, but she's rich in craft supplies.  And they were perfect.  Thanks, MMM's mom - you're a sweetie.  Back to the 'How-to'.

Feed a bead onto the end of each of the pieces of ribbon, and slide it down about an inch.  After you've completed the whole lot, heat up the hot glue gun.  Carefully dab a bit of glue onto the end of the one inch end of the ribbon.  Allow it to cool a tiny bit.  I am so good at burning myself, and this project had lots of opportunity for that, but I was patient and managed not to burn myself once! When it's cooled a little, slide that bead back onto the end of the ribbon, over the top of the dab of hot glue.  If you're really slow and careful, you can twist the bead, and the glue will make sort of a tiny 'cap' like the cap on an acorn. Set it aside and allow it to cool completely.  You'll have something that looks like this:


 When you have all the ribbon beaded and glued, it's time to start attaching them to the wreath form.  My first row was the darkest solid, a nice mossy green.  I started right at the highest point of the curve of the wreath and made each subsequent row closer to the internal or center diameter. 


The last row, the orange transparent organza, is actually glued on the back, and curled forward to the front.  


When I was done gluing ribbon on, I just added a beautiful autumn spike of silk flowers that I also picked up at Michael's.  Here's the finished product.  Isn't it lovely?  Sometimes, I even surprise myself.  I love it.






And by the way, I love Picnik:




And here's a nice shot of my photography assistant (He worked very hard.)  His name?  Mr. W.  I need to protect his full identity.



What's on your door, welcoming fall visitors?

Love,

Sass

I'm Linking up at

Southern Hospitality
Home Sweet Butterfly
The DIY Showoff 
All Things Thrifty
Common Ground 


P.S.  I have not been paid anything by anyone for anything I did, bought, or said.  I included references just in case you had any questions.

30 comments:

  1. How great is that and what patience you have.
    Cute idea but I still don't think I could pull it off. I love how it looks like a sunflower.
    Kathy

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  2. Thanks, Kathy - I thought the same thing!! Blessings!

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  3. That is awesome. Feel free to link up to the Success U - Wednesday Linkup Party at www.thestuffofsuccess.com

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  4. Love it! It really looks like an open sunflower. Mr. W is so cute!

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  5. This is so pretty, Kathy! I love the detail and the photography is beautiful! I'm including a link back in the DIY Fall Festival highlights! ;)

    Thanks for sharing your creativity (thanks to Mr. W. too! Adorable!)

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  6. Wow - This is sooo original. I just love it.

    I cannot imagine living 100 miles from craft stores. Eeeks. Actually what I cannot imagine is how much I would spend each time I visited one - tee hee.

    Again - gorgeous wreath!!!

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  7. This is such a beautiful wreath! I love the way you used the ribbon & the colors you chose.

    It obviously took some patience to make but looks well worth it. How long did it take to finish it?

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  8. I saw your wreath on the DIY Showoff Blog and it is absolutely gorgeous! I love how imaginative it is. Thanks for sharing!

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  9. Susan - I actually have a Joann's here in town, but Michael's is 100 miles and Hobby Lobby is 240 miles. Gas is the initial cost, and then, you betcha, I drop a dime or two getting supplies and other pretties!

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  10. Jenny - It did take patience. I guess I did it over the course of two evenings. But well worth it! Thanks so much for your kind words.

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  11. Just love this wreath Kathy and I shared your post and one of your photos today in my blog post. Hope this is okay...just wanted to share the blog love...have a wonderful weekend.
    Fondly, Roberta
    http://con-tain-it.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/11/day-21-the-31-purge-tie-a-yellow-ribbon.html

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  12. This is beautiful. Who knew pony beads could look so good? I may have to got to Michaels!

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  13. How did you attach the ribbon to the wreath? I am going to make this wreath this week.

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  14. This wreath on Pinterest made me stop trolling through the fall wreath section, I thought I can do this and it's not the same fall wreath that everyone has, I have just about everything I need, just need 1 more color of ribbon, bought everything from Jo Ann Fabrics. Should have it done by the end of next week. Thanks

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  15. I made this wreath and it took me only 4 hours, your notes were great, and thank you for the inspiration.

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