Simple Minimalist DIY Spring Wreath

Do you need a cute spring wreath that costs under $15 and can be made in about 10 minutes? This simple, minimalist spring wreath is super easy (and super cute).  Trust me.

Quick Easy DIY Spring Easter Wreath

Honestly, I wasn't even going to write a post about this spring wreath. It's so easy that it literally took about ten minutes and cost $9 using three bunches of faux carrots that I got at the craft store, a grapevine wreath, a couple of strips of burlap and a piece of ribbon  that I found in the mess in my studio had on hand.

It's the very best kind of project. one that requires no tools other than scissors.  Here are the "directions" (and I use that term very loosely because if you're looking at it, you can pretty much tell what I did).

Place the grapevine wreath on the table.Take apart the bunches of carrots, cut strips of burlap 1 to 1/12 inches wide. Use the threads from the burlap to tie the carrots to the wreath (If you prefer, you can hot glue the carrots to the wreath but I like to reuse things and these will probably end up somewhere else in my spring decor next year if I can find them.

Cut the burlap strips into 8 inch (approximate) pieces. Tuck the pieces of burlap through the wreath and tie with a single loop. Make a bow out of a 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch wide strip of burlap. Thumbtack orange ribbon to the top of the door, tie the wreath onto the door using the ribbon.

Put on your coat, and your boots, and your hat, and your gloves...and a scarf.  Go outside. Stand back. admire your wreath. Take photos. Explain to the mailman why you're standing outside in the cold taking photos of your wreath. Wonder why you still live in a place where it still snows in March and April and sometimes, May.

Decide that it's too cold to stand outside pondering things that you can't control. Go inside and have another cup of coffee, tea, cocoa (since it's too early for wine).

That's it. Super simple, quick, easy, Spring Easter wreath. It's a little bit rustic...and a little bit garden..and a whole lot of inexpensive. (I thought about using the word cheap...but then it should probably have had chicks on it...you see what I did there, right?!)

Thanks so much for reading!

Easy DIY Peter Rabbit Spring Wreath Door Decoration

This year, my spring front door wreath decoration is different from what I usually create. Instead of spring flowers, I chose faux vegetables and when I'm thinking about spring and vegetables, there's only one story that comes to mind....the one about a large vegetable garden and a pesky little bunny named Peter Rabbit. This wreath is an easy DIY that took exactly ten minutes to assemble.

Easy Fall DIY Craft: Rustic Oak Leaf Wreath

The title of this post pretty much sums up the project. It's a super simple, free (if you have grapevine on hand) DIY wreath that I made from oak leaves that fell in my yard. It's a little rustic but it's perfect for the farmhouse.

DIY Horseshoe Shaped Natural Wheat Fall Wreath

I started decorating the farmhouse for fall this week.  Yeah, I know. I can hear some of you groaning...

                                                                                                                     even through the computer.

Now that my youngest is back at college, it feels like fall to me. When you take the fact that I'm back to being an empty-nest'er and add to it the chance that I won't have a front door or a front porch to decorate by the time the season actually rolls around, it makes perfect sense that I made a  horseshoe shaped wheat wreath and hung it on my door today.

                                                                                                                 It does, doesn't it?!

Easy Valentine's Day Feather Heart Wreath Craft DIY

When is a tutorial not a tutorial? For me, it's when the craft project is so easy that a couple of photos are all you need in order to make it.  So, are you ready for a little more Valentine's Day craft that's so simple that a six year old can handle it?  Well, you're in luck because today  I'm going to show you how create an easy heart-shaped wreath in under ten minutes.

To tell you the truth, I decided that I can't even call this post a tutorial because the materials list consists of a heart shaped Styrofoam wreath form , a couple of rolls of feather trim from Hobby Lobby and some hot glue and the rest is pretty much self explanatory.

Simple DIY Valentines Day Door Decor

The Valentine's day decor on my front door this year may look familiar.

Do you recognize it?                                    

..No?

DIY Heart Shaped Flower Wreath Tutorial

Happy Friday! I'm so glad that you stopped by.  Today I'm sharing a tutorial for how to make a super simple, heart shaped Valentine's Day wreath using $6 worth of baby's breath flowers that I got at the grocery store, a little waxed twine and a white wire coat hanger. That's it.  Easy.

DIY Holiday Peppermint Wreath: Dollar Tree Craft

Nothing quite says, Merry Christmas like a grease spatter screen... truly. When I thought about holiday decorating as I found myself wandering through the Dollar Tree on Monday night, I knew almost immediately that I was going to need a grease spatter screen.

Rustic Natural Fall Grapevine Wreath: Mushrooms, Pinecones and Moss

Since it is officially "Autumn" and I've finally located the boxes with the decorating supplies in the attic, this week I  made time to do a little Fall decorating.

Yarn Wrapped, "Let's Go Fly A Kite" Wreath

Have you ever flown a kite?  I have. Lots of them. I think that I started when I was six or seven years old. I think that this is largely due to the fact that I was raised during the "go outside and play" years.  Yes, it's true, I was an often unwilling member of the "fresh air generation".

Spring Break, Nesting and A Moss and Butterfly Wreath

I decided last week that recently it feels like all I've done is write tutorials.  Have you noticed?  Does it feel that way to you, too?  For me, it started to feel like that brief period last summer when I turned into a food blogger or at least I thought that I did.  

Shamrock Wreath

Poor St. Patrick's Day. As holidays go, you're pretty unlucky.  In fact, no matter what they say about the "luck of the Irish", you really didn't choose a very good time of year to celebrate.

A Hint of Autumn: Pumpkin and Wheat Harvest Wreaths

Can you believe it's September? I can't.

Too Soon? - Autumn Coffee Filter Wreath

Now that the daytime high temperature in my area  is supposed to be 84 instead of 104, I was wondering...

Is it too soon to think about Autumn?

The Flag Party Pick Wreath - When Willpower Overcomes Common Sense

Ever have one of those days where you start one project and end up doing something completely different? I had one of those last week.  I went to the pantry to find tea lights for the Patio Lantern Project.  When I tried to open the drawer, it got caught on boxes of flag picks which have been left over from several years of 4th of July parties at our house. Then, I remembered pinning  this to my Wreath Board on Pinterest.
                                                      
So, rather than getting the tea lights, I immediately went to my studio and grabbed a wreath form. After all, I had 600 flags, that should be enough, right?  See the wreath on the table below? Apparently not.

 I went to JoAnn  fabric. They had no flags. I went to Michaels. They didn't have a single one either. Then, earlier this week, I was at Hobby Lobby and I found them! I bought an additional 600 flags and brought them home. I was so excited to finish this project and get it off of the kitchen counter! Right after I finished printing the napkins that I was making.  After all, that's why I went to HobLob in the first place! Last night,  I finally poured the flags out onto the counter and guess what?

 They weren't the same! So, I did what any "artist with a sensitive aesthetic eye" would have done, I took it apart and started again.

 See how much better they look with the three sizes "artfully mixed together"?! Um...yeah....me either.

I painted some stars. I hung the wreath on the door. I stood back.

Notice the "white rows" where you can see the form? Yep, me too.

So, I did what any logical person determined that this project would succeed would do. I took it apart for a second time and started over.

 This time, I put the flags in from "side to side" instead of working my way around the outside of the circle in a row.

 

Whew! That's better.

 I've made my peace with the bits of the white form that still show through here and there. Although, in the spirit of "full disclosure", I'll admit that I DID, for ONE SECOND, consider taking it apart and wrapping the form with ribbon.

Moving on now.

xo,

S

Linking to:
Nellie Bellie
The Crafty Blog Stalker
House of Hepworth

Spring Side Door Decor - April Showers

As the old adage goes, "April showers bring May flowers".  Now that it's nearly April 1st, I thought that a little Spring Decor for the outside was in order.

I have a double door on the front of my house (and I still need to make two of some type of wreath for that) but the side door is the one that all of my family and friends use every day so I thought, "Why not make something cheery and just a little bit "unexpected?!"

I have a collection of vintage umbrellas and parasols and this little beauty is one of them. She's ivory silk on the outside and has a second layer of tan silk on the inside. Both layers have pink painted flowers and green vines which made her the perfect choice for filling with some of my favorite signs of spring.

I had some daffodils, tulips, ranunculus, hyacinth, moss and a piece of  french ribbon hanging around in the basement from last Spring's arrangement in my urn:

 I simply added one of the multitude of birds' nests that I seem to have collected, snipped a few more sprigs from my pussy willow bush, retied the ribbon with a little vintage lace, and voila!  Free side door decor that's guaranteed to make my girlfriends smile and my sons wonder if I've lost my grip on reality.

Have a sunny Thursday and don't forget Week 2 of  This Week in My Midwest Garden tomorrow!!!

xo, 

S

Linking to:
Spring Decor Link Party at Southern Hospitality
The Shabby Nest - Frugal Friday

 Featured at: 

Valentines Day Felt Wreath and Pillows



Remember the cute felt wreath that my friend, Diane Passi told me how to make?  The hot pink one on the mantel in the prior post? Well, I liked it so much that I made another one! It's red this time, for the kitchen. Since a couple of you asked, here's a recap of the materials and a couple of close ups of the wreath in progress:

Materials: Heart wreath form, 1/2 yard of wide felt cut into 3 inch circles, ribbon in the same color as your felt, straight pins.

 Wrap the wreath form with the ribbon, fold the circles into quarters and pin them to the form...that's it!

Since I had some felt left over and my sofa was looking a little bland after the holidays, I decided to make a few felt pillows to make things a little more "cheery". Here's what I came up with for the family room:



I love working with felt!!!! It is pretty inexpensive, doesn't fray when you cut it, and it comes in fabulous colors! I used the least expensive felt at JoAnn's Fabric and had a 50% off coupon. I think that I ended up paying about $2.50 per yard for 72 inch wide felt. 

These pillows above are a combination of hand stitching and machine stitching but there's absolutely no reason that they could not have been done entirely by hand or using hot glue and/or spray adhesive. I decided to stitch mine since I hope to use them for a couple of years. I downloaded the pattern for the Cherub and made up the rest of the patterns as I went along.

I have a sewing machine that embroiders which I used to embroider the word "Love" on the cherub pillow and the "Be Mine" on the heart pillow. You could hand embroider or even use fabric paint for these.

I'm currently working on the family room mantel. Here's the ribbon and fabric garland that I'm using (it's easy to make. Cut cotton twine to the desired length leaving some on the ends to hang with. Cut 6 to 8 inch lengths of ribbon, felt, fabric, tulle, lace, or what ever else you have around (you may also want to add some hearts and wire "curls") tie the ribbons on the twine and, viola!, "almost instant" garland!

I'll show you the mantel and a few other projects that I'm working on in a few days. Until then, they're finally forecasting some snow for the 'burbs, so I should probably at least try to find my mittens! 

xo,

S