Quarantine Project #4 - Woven Seashell Wreath Tutorial

So here's another project that I had on my "To Do" list that I was finally able to complete during our stay at home orders. 

This beachy twine wreath features a woven pattern that is easy to do and adds some interesting texture to this fun wreath.  I have put the step by step instructions on my blog if you are interested. 

I decorated my wreath with three starfish and some flowers.  I also have directions for attaching these items on my other blog.

 I really love this finished wreath.  I'm torn between giving it to my sister for her house in Maine, or keeping it for myself.  What do you think? 

Christmas Tutorial: An Easier Way to Make an Ornament Wreath for the Holidays!

I love bright ornament wreaths for decorating for the Christmas season.  But from personal experience, I know they can be a hassle to make.  Fitting all those ornaments together can be like working a jigsaw puzzle, and these wreaths can require A LOT of ornaments to look full and colorful. 

So I came up with a tutorial that creates an ornament wreath from a plain grapevine form that is easy to construct and needs a lot less ornaments. The resulting wreath is a festive and fun decoration for your holiday home.  I have all the directions with photos on my Hubpages!

I really love how my finished wreath came out.

I also wanted to reuse the artificial pine wreaths that I usually hang on my front windows.  So I found a way to decorate these smaller wreaths to match my larger ornament wreath.  There are directions for decorating these pine wreaths on my Hubpages too!  Enjoy!

Saying "Hello" to Spring ~ Bee's Knees Wreath Tutorial

I wasn't planning to make a new wreath this spring, but as the weather got nicer, I decided I needed to celebrate with some fresh flowers to welcome visitors to our door.

 So I went to the store and bought some artificial pansies,some burlap and lace ribbon, and made this wreath.  (You can find a tutorial to make a similar wreath on my Hubpages.)

This flower wreath was fine, but I wanted to add some more color and fun. So I headed to my craft supplies for some paint and bubble wrap.

And ta-da!  I made this fun bee-friendly sign to hang in the middle of my wreath.  This sign was easy to make.  I have posted all the directions with photos on Hometalk.

I love how the finished sign came out and I smile every time I see my spring wreath hanging on my door :)  Check it out on Hometalk!

Decorating Ideas: Refresh the Look of Your Fall Wreath!

So, this used to be our fall wreath for our front door.  I bought it at Homegoods about 3 years ago and I still love it.  But with sun and weather, the bright falls colors had faded from the leaf accents on the wreath and it looked a little sad and worn.

I happened to find a super cheap bag of fake leaves at the dollar store.  They were a little cheap looking, but I liked the colors of the leaves and I realized I could use them to pump some cheer back into my wreath.

I figured the easiest way to add these leaves was to hot glue them around the center of the wreath.  The brightness of the new leaves would blend with the existing accents and give the whole wreath a fresh look.

I may decide to add more leaves in spots around the outer edge of my wreath, but for right now, these additional leaves adds the boost of fall color I needed (particularly when viewed from the street).  This was an easy and inexpensive way to extend the life of my wreath.  I'll definitely get one more year of use out of it next fall. 

Celebrating Independence Day ~ the 4th of July!

I've been wanting to make a door decoration to celebrate the 4th of July for quite some time.  I love some of the patriotic crafts I see on Pinterest, but I wanted to make something bold and summery for our front door, and hopeful something that would use materials I had on hand.

I started with a simple flag design, created using pickets made from scrap wood.  I painted these pickets with a stylized star and stripes pattern.  Then I added some artificial blooms to the top edge for a touch of summer.

You can find all the direction on my blog on Hubpages!  Enjoy!!

Seashells Birdhouse Welcome Wreath

I'm slow getting back into the blogging routine, but I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season!!  I did and will be sharing a couple of crafts that I made and received as Christmas gifts this year.

First up - this seashell birdhouse wreath I made for my mother.  They have a beach cottage and I thought that a seashell wreath would be a perfect addition to their place.  I forgot to take any photos before I sent it to my Mom and only got this kind of crappy photo while we were visiting with my parents, but you get the idea.

My Mom's seashell wreath is based on this Spring wreath I made for myself, using a birdhouse, artificial flowers, and a garden trellis.  I just replaced the flowers with seashells.  You can see more photos and get the directions on my Hubpages.  Let's all start thinking of Spring!

Quilting for Non Quilters

I really love quilts.  I love the use of color to create beautiful designs.  But sadly, I just don't have the sewing skills y'all.  But I just came up with a cool way to make a quilt block using rolls of paper from catalogs, magazines, and gift wrap.  You can get all the details and instructions here on my Hubpages!

I wanted to share some simple ideas for basic quilt blocks that would be great for this project.  These are just simple sketches - I didn't measure anything out or make sure my lines were straight, but hopefully it will give you some ideas if you want to make your own rolled paper quilt block.  Each space or area could be filled with a different color of paper rolls to create a design like a quilt block.

This is just a simple 9 block square.  Each block could be filled with a different color.  The arrows can give you an idea of which direction to lay out your rolls of paper.

I'm not a quilting expert, but I think this design is called "Courthouse Stairs."

My lines aren't straight here, but this is a basic "Log Cabin" block design.

Or, you can use multiple blocks, and trace a letter on each to fill in with paper, and spell out words like "baby", "love", "peace", or "noel".

I even made a festive holiday wreath decorated with little gold beads.  This would be great as a holiday card or cut out and hung with ribbon on a Christmas tree.  Check out the tutorial for more ideas!

Bright and Cheerful Welcome Wreath

I've been having some fun making handy home decorations from this rusty fence from our backyard.  And I simply couldn't resist making a door decoration with a piece of this fence and a little bird house.

This Spring wreath is surprisingly easy (you can get all the directions on my Hubpages), and can be adapted for any season, decor, or your personal taste.  I love this purple and yellow combination for Spring, but you could use different colors and flowers for autumn or winter.

Do you have any special ways to welcome Spring?