Star Wreath

I wasn't going to do a 4th of July decoration. And then I became inspired by these two decorations:

This one is from Lowes (I saw it on Pintrest). They used what looked like paint sticks for the base. And I've been inspired like crazy by this lovely lady:

Her name is Emily and I'm lucky to know her in real life! She make the cutest crafts and is selling them on her etsy site to help pay for medical bills for her sweet baby boy. Anyways, I've been seeing her cute decorations and I was inspired by her to give it a whirl.This is the one that gave me the idea for the blue in my decoration~ isn't it the cutest? Yeah, you should go support her here!

So, I went around my house looking for something to be the frame of my star, and I found some flimsy plastic hangers. So I arranged them and glued them (bare with me, it isn't perfect). 

Then I wrapped it in a paper bag (so you wouldn't see the hangers through the rope).

Now, I didn't get a picture of the next part, but I basically wrapped twine around the arms (gluing with hot glue occasionally) and circled it in the middle. Then added blue paint to create more of a flag-like look, kinda like Emily did, above. Below are the shots of the finished piece. The twine I got from Dollar Tree, it's technically a clothes line (so it's coated in wax). It's 70 feet and I used almost 2 whole ones. Since I had the hangers, paper bag, paint and glue, this project cost me $2, for the rope- can't beat that!

$4 Winter Wreath

If you know me, you know that there are some things I won't spend much money on. Decorating is one of those things. I see absolutely no reason to go spend $25+ on a wreath that will hang for a few months and then be taken down because it is the end of the season. I'm also very much in love with the fact that our new house has a perfect wreath hanging spot.

So, this wreath was inspired by pintrest (where else?). I found the lovely tutorial over at Fox Hollow Cottage. I loved the idea of her burlap roses, but I wanted color. I was thinking white and blue would make a fabulous winter wreath.

The cost breakdown: $1, floral base (I wanted the one like she had, but Dollar Tree stopped carrying them), $2 for the ribbon, $0.25 for the glitter flower--it was suppose to be a poinsettia, but I didn't think it really looked like one. But I got it marked down after Christmas because of it. My favorite part, it has an alligator clip on the back, so if I want to use it elsewhere, I could! $1 coffee filters, I used 26. So, yes, I rounded down, technically it was $4.25 for the wreath! Other supplies included: water, blue food coloring, hot glue, scissors.

To make some of the coffee filters blue, I folded and twisted them the same way I will do for the white ones (picture below). Then I dipped the tops in water with blue food coloring. I used about 1 cup of water and 6 drops. Basically, I played with the color until I got it the way I liked it. I let those dry overnight.

So to  begin, I wrapped the ugly green foam in the ribbon. Basically, I didn't want to see it through the wreath. 5 yards got me this far, glad I bought 2 :)

Then you stick your hand in the coffee filter to make it this shape:

Twist the bottom, and you are good to go! I found it easier to make several and then glue them, make several more, then glue.

My foam was a smaller circle, so I quickly realized that I needed to glue them more to the outside of the wreath. Too close to the inside, makes for not a very big hole in the middle ( it took some trial and error to figure that out). If I had a bigger frame, this wouldn't have been an issue.

I attached ribbon to tie it with and the flower. I really like the way it turned out! Here is how it looks up close:

 Ans a bit further back :)