Dreaming of Spring

We have had an unusually snowy winter here in Richmond this year. As a teacher, I have loved getting some snow days, but now I am ready for sunshine, warm breezes, leaves and flowers sprouting, and spending some much needed time outside.

I hung my spring/summer wreath on the front door yesterday, a simple DIY you can find here, and I am not embarrassed to say I have had my spring mantle up since I took down my Christmas decorations. The time between Christmas and spring is a weird time for decorating anyway. By the time Christmas is over I am done with winter and am ready for spring, so I figure why not bring spring inside. 

Here is my spring mantle look. I created it with items found around my house, which is the best kind of decorating because its free! 

I love the pops of greenery for a fresh bright look. The yellow birdie was a Hobby Lobby find a few years ago (although I feel like they often have things like that), and the fresh tulips are from Trader Joe's. I was lucky and happened to be in Trader Joe's when the tulips were on special for $1.99 a bunch. Prices like that make splurging on fresh flowers an easy decision!

Even though there is leftover snow outside of my window right now, a weather forecast of temperatures in the 60s this week, and coming home to this cheery front door, give me hope that spring is closer than I think. 

Summer Wreath DIY

Well its been a little quiet around here. Hubby and I have been dealing with a tragedy and blogging has been the last thing I have cared about recently. I think that I will eventually blog about what we have been going through both as a means of therapy for myself, and in hopes of reaching out and connecting to someone else who is going through the same thing we are.

But, for now I just want to talk about wreaths, and in particular my summer wreath DIY project.

I am not much of a DIYer, in fact my DIY Pinterest board is called DIY--I don't. I just don't seem to have the patience for DIY projects. However, in light of recent events I have been looking for some things to pass the time and distract myself, and I decided that I would make a new wreath for my front door.

I almost took a picture of my current wreath to show you how totally disgusting and in need of replacement it was, but then I realized well...it was totally disgusting, and I didn't think you needed to see that. Let's just say we have a bit of a spider problem around our house, and my cheery yellow floral wreath had turned into haunted house halloween spider web fest. 

Luckily, I have a wonderful friend who is crafty and she helped me plan my design, took me shopping for supplies, and crafted with me. Its much easier (and more fun) to keep your patience and be crafty when you have a friend to enjoy it with. 

Here is my final product:

The original plan had been to wrap the entire wreath with the moss and use the burlap as my accent, but I ran out of moss and was not going back to the store (plus it was kind of expensive). All of my supplies came from Hobby Lobby.

The supplies I used are:
- styrofoam wreath form
- wide burlap ribbon (one 30 ft. roll)
- moss ribbon (three 3 ft. rolls)
- one package of floral pins
- three pre-made burlap rosettes
- hot glue

To make the wreath start by pinning the beginning of the roll of burlap ribbon against the back of the wreath form at a slight angle. Continuing wrapping the ribbon around the form being sure to keep it very tight. After wrapping twice around stop and add a pin on the back to keep the ribbon tight and in place. Continue until the wreath is covered (I ran out at the very end. I started the moss on the area that wasn't covered so you couldn't tell.) Follow the same procedure with the moss. Glue on your flowers.

The wreath was super easy, even for someone who is craft challenged like me. I love the look of the burlap and moss against my cheery yellow front door.

The good news is that my wreath is flat enough to fit between my front door and the storm door, so it is protected from the weather and the yucky spider problem. 

I think this wreath will be the start of my craftiness. Stay tuned for more projects. 

Adventures in Christmas Wreath Making

Two Saturdays ago I went with two friends to Deck The Halls, an annual fundraiser for Hilliard House. You can read all about Hilliard House and this fabulous event here.

We got to the farm where the event was being held a little later than we had originally planned because that morning my friend Katie and I had been canning applesauce. This was only my second time canning and the process is still a little slow going. Anyway...

Once we got there we dove right in by getting our wreath forms and choosing our greens. The event was super organized and there were areas for each type of green, wreath accessories, bows, etc. We found ourselves a table and began crafting. Let me tell you it was really overwhelming. Where does a non crafty person begin with a pile of greenery and a metal circle?! Bit by bit is the answer. I didn't really have a "vision" but I slowly started attaching little bits. Here is what the start of my wreath looked like. Puny right?

Here are some pictures of the girls working on their wreaths:

This special creation has a story to go with it. Check out my friend Dory's blog over at The Doyle Dispatch for the low down on this:

Here we are with our finished products!

And here is my little wreath hanging on my front door. Its a little wonky, but not too bad for my first attempt. I wanted to go with the natural Christmas look, which is why I chose the pinecones and burlap bow. 

After our adventure here are some lessons we learned for next year:

1. Bring a folding camp chair. Standing over a table for several hours gets a little tiring.
2. Get there at the beginning so you can create all day. It takes longer than you think to make one thing and if you want more than one (you can make as much as you can carry) then you need a lot of time.
3. Bring a tote bag to easily get your creations home.
4. Go to Homemades by Suzanne in Ashland for lunch first because it is amazing. We were so sad we didn't think to do that this time around!