A Boxwood Christmas Wreath

Hello!  I've got another wreath tutorial to share with you today!  I think this boxwood wreath might be my favorite.

This is what you will need to make your own boxwood wreath:

Boxwood clippings (I cut mine from my yard)

A wire hanger

Floral wire

Wire cutters

Ribbon (optional)

First, take your hanger and pull the bottom portion until it forms an oval.  

In order to cover the hanger, use two longer clippings together and wire them to the hanger.  Make sure to tuck the wire under the leaves so that it is not as visible.

Work your way around the hanger, making sure to keep the leaves facing the same direction so that it looks neat.  Cut the top portion off of the hanger and attach your ribbon.  You're done!

I've made quite a few of these already for our home and like the little splashes of green they add.  I'm hoping they dry well and stay green enough to keep things merry and bright all winter long!

Thank you for reading.  See you soon!

I'm linking up to:
Craftberry Bush
Design, Dining, and Diapers
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy
Hi Sugarplum!
Centsational Girl
Nesting Place

A Thanksgiving Sage Wreath

If you're looking for a fitting way to decorate your home or need a hostess gift this Thanksgiving, you might want to try making a simple sage wreath.  Since many cooks use sage to season their turkey and stuffing, it makes perfect sense to incorporate this herb wreath into the celebration!  

To make a sage wreath you will need:

A large quantity of sage (10-12 big bunches)

Sturdy wire (formed into a circle) to serve as your frame

Floral wire

Wire cutters

Trim off the thick ends of your sage as well as any brown, spotted leaves.  Using your floral wire, attach one bunch of sage at a time, working your way around your wire frame until it is full.  Easy, no?

I'll be back soon with more Thanksgiving fun!

(and yes, I'm using sage again...  Can you sense a theme here?)

*****

Oh, just in case you're interested in more herb wreaths, you can go here!

A Perfectly Imperfect Love Letter Valentine Wreath

Seeing as how Valentine's day is only four short days away, I thought I should make some kind of decoration to celebrate.  I had been seeing those cute little stitched felt hearts everywhere and was inspired.  However, I did not have any colors of felt appropriate for Valentine's day (rats) and was forced to use some paper instead.  I printed off a love letter I found on Google images written by Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  Using the love letter, I cut out some hearts, stuffed them, and sewed them up.  I suppose you could use your own love letter for this, but I didn't have the heart to cut mine up!  Plus, that Mr. Browning has some pretty fancy handwriting, doesn't he?

After I had made eight or so hearts, I pinned them to my wreath form, which I also used for my fall yarn wreath.  I hung it up on my chalkboard using bakers twine.

It isn't perfect but it was easy and romantic!  Ooh la la!

I'm linking up to:

Tatertots and Jello

Our Front Door Winter Wreath

Welcome, December!  I'm so glad you are finally here and at the same time, I know you'll go to fast and be so busy.  You'll be filled with snow, shopping, baking, wrapping, more snow, more shopping, parties, concerts, and the list goes on and on...  I think I just gave myself a headache.  Actually, I'm probably coming down with the boys' cold.  They just got over being sick and seemed to have caught another cold over Thanksgiving.  Oy!  I think I'll end this grinchy paragraph before you think I'm not excited about Christmas.  I am.  I mean, I AM!  To prove how excited I am, I'll share with you our wreath for our front door.

I began with a grapevine wreath.  I hot glued and wired various sizes of pine cones to the front.

I then headed outside and lightly spray painted the pinecones white.  After I was done, this is what I was left with.

I hung the wreath on our front door with a gray satin ribbon.

To give the wreath a little Christmas sparkle, I added some glittered sticks I bought from Michaels.  The best thing about this wreath is that I don't have to take it down with all of the other Christmas decor.  It looks like winter to me and can stay up long past Christmas.

On another note, tonight we will be doing our first Advent devotion and our first activity from our Advent calendar.  Henry and Oliver will be getting a new Christmas coloring book.  Also, Jason and the boys bought me an Elf on the Shelf as an early birthday present!!!  We'll be reading the book tonight and then Jason and I will have fun posing our little elf tonight after the boys go to bed.  I'm pretty excited!  Have a great day!

I'm linking up to:

Simple Home Life

Tatertots and Jello

Christmas Herb Wreaths

If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that I love my herbs.  I have been covering them up every night in an attempt to keep them alive as long as I can.  The heartier herbs like the rosemary and lavender have been holding up well.  Come the first hard snow and I'll have to let them go.  Until then, we are enjoying every meal we can get with fresh herbs from our back yard!  I did want to think up a fun way to dry my rosemary and lavender, since they were so bountiful this year!  I decided to make some Christmas herb wreaths!

For this project you will need:

a woody, hearty herb such as rosemary, lavender, bay leaf, etc.

a wreath form

floral wire

wire cutters

 I made my wreath form from some flexible sticks I got from my lemon verbena plant.  They were still a little green which helped them bend a little easier.  I wired them together with the floral wire.  Don't worry if your form isn't perfect.  The herbs will cover it up!

I then took individual sprigs of rosemary and attached it to my wreath form with the wire, working my way around the form.

When I was done, I used some ribbon to make a bow and hang it on my door.  Easy and lovely!

The nice thing about an herb wreath is that it will dry out and the herbs can be used in your cooking!  Plus, it smells amazing!

I did the same thing with my lavender.  I made this wreath a little smaller.

Thanks for reading!

I'm linking up to:

Just a Girl

Home Stories A to Z

Tatertots and Jello

Centsational Girl

Fall Yarn Wreath

Well, I did it.  I wasn't even sure if I liked yarn wreaths until a couple of weeks ago when I saw that my sister Amelia had made the cutest one and hung it on her apartment door.  I should have taken a picture of it so that you could see it...  Here is my version of the bloggy favorite: the yarn wreath.

Here are my supplies:  a foam wreath form, white yarn, and various colors of neutral yarns.

I only ended up using three of these colors of felt for mine.  The bright yellow color did not make the cut.  The names of the colors from left to right are:  Sandstone, Copper Canyon, and Goldenrod.

I took a kitchen mug and traced circles onto my felt and then cut them out.  I'm very professional, you see.

I then took the circles and gathered them into a "rosette."

I took some stick pins and simply pinned the rosette onto the wreath. 

I made three yellow, three brown, and two tan.

To hang the wreath onto the door, I took a strip of felt and wrapped it around the wreath.  I secured it with pins.  That knot you see is the end of the yarn after I finished wrapping it.

To make a bow for the wreath, I made a dog bone shape on a piece of paper and cut it out.  I traced this shape onto some felt and cut it out as well.

The other part of the bow required a long rectangular strip of felt.  I secured the ends together with hot glue.

Once I got the bow looking the way I wanted it to, I secured it with pins to hold it in place until I was ready to glue it all together.

I wrapped the dog bone shape around the pinned part of the bow.  I removed the pins and then glued it all together with hot glue.

This is the back side of the bow.

Here is the front!  Isn't it cute?

After I glued the bow to the top of the felt piece, I was ready to hang my wreath!

Here is the finished product!

This picture shows you the rosettes up close.


I love how I can easily change the look of the wreath for the seasons because I used pins to keep everything in place.  I'll be on the lookout for some inspiration for Christmas yarn wreaths.  Or maybe I'll just wait until Amelia makes one...  Get on that, sister!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I'm linking up to:

Tatertots and Jello