Fall Wreath Project

The three fall like days we have had over the past few weeks have me really looking forward to a cooler and more laid back time of the year and I'm feeling the fall spirit.  So it was time to update our door wreath, of course.

I didn't spend a dime on this wreath and just used things I already had.  I had an old gold metallic wreath form that I've had for years that I decided to use, I think I bought it after christmas for a couple of bucks years ago.  I decided I liked the gold for fall and didn't want to cover it up so I just grabbed some scrap fabric in a few colors - mustard, teal, black and gray.  I used an old t shirt, an old fabric placemat, scrap felt and scrap fabric.  The only other thing you will need for this project is a glue gun.

After I had made all of my little fabric flowers I still felt like I needed a little something so I grabbed a few beads and buttons from my stash and added a few in and then I had this - I love it!

Here's my tutorial on how to make felt flowers.  I also used this technique for a few of the fabric flowers as well and I like the way it turned out.  Here's a tutorial from Jones Design Company on how to make the t shirt roses - really simple and a great tutorial.

I love that I spent nothing on this and that I was finally able to use that old wreath form. I love a free project! 

One of these days I'm going to get around to painting our doors, its the last little bit in our exterior painting project to be done....maybe this weekend?? It's definitely something I am going to try and aim for.

Thanks for joining us today!  Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

A Scrap Wreath & Serving God

So back in December I made a little yarn and felt flower wreath to adorn our front door for the winter.  I finally decided it was time to switch it up and make a new wreath to greet us when we come home.  Here's the thing, I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on this and since I already had a foam wreath ring, I ended up spending zero dollars - woohoo!  This might not have been the wreath I would have made if I went to the store and bought brand new supply items but I happen to really love it - maybe it's because it was free.  Can I just say this rusty red door color has got to go...don't worry we are working on it.

Here are the supplies I used for making my scrap wreath:

- foam wreath form

- leftover scrap ribbon

- t-shirt rosettes

- left over plastic flower cabs

- a vintage earring

- beads

-glue gun

So I started wrapping my wreath form in leftover ribbon that I had in my ribbon box.  I tried to choose a few colors that went well together and just went with it.  I kind of liked the color blocking going on here - that's in style now right?

While rummaging through my craft supplies trying to come up with things that would work for this wreath I came across some fabric rosettes that I had made months and months ago and never used.  I actually made these from an old t-shirt.  The blue ones I just dyed with some food coloring.  I love making fabric rosettes, they are super easy - again same technique as I did when I made my rosette necklace.  Here's a great tutorial.

I hot glued the fabric roses on and then rummaged and found and old vintage earring, a flower glass bead and a few plastic flower cabs.  A little more hot glue and it was feeling complete.  If you are wondering where to get plastic flower cabs, then look no further than etsy.  You can find them all over the place on there and in a ton of different colors and varieties.  

I love the added touch of this vintage earring, it's kind of my favorite thing on this wreath.

And yay, I have a new wreath and didn't spend any money.  Now I can go get a new pair of shoes (kidding....or maybe not).

This week we wrapped up our Crazy Love bible study that we have been working on for the last 10 weeks with out students.  It's been a great study that has really challenged all of us at some level.  One of the things we talked about and reflected on was how we were serving God by using the time, talents, gifts and abilities He has given us - now.  Many times we shy away from serving God in the here-and-now because we focus too much on the things we don't have. Often times, we say things like one day we will do (fill in the blank) for God when I have more (fill int he blank) or are more prepared.  The reality is though that God has prepared you for this moment - right now to serve Him in some way.  If He has called you (and if you are a Christian, you are called) -He has equipped you.  We challenged ourselves to think about the interests, abilities, talents, etc that we all have and how we could use those to serve God in some way.  I loved listening to the students think through this answer.  Some shared that they loved being around people - so we talked about how they could serve God by sharing God's love with others, through thing like praying for others, listening, talking, giving, etc.  One shared that they enjoyed doing things for others - like service projects.  One shared they had a platform in band and they wanted to use that for God's glory.  One has shared about his ability to work on cars and how he wanted to use that to share God's love with others by helping those in need.  Others are creative, like to sing, are good tweeters - you get the point.  Pretty much God can use any part of you to work towards loving and serving Him, we just have to be obedient.  I think that's pretty cool and somehow using what I had to make a wreath reminded me of using what I have for serving God.  

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.  1 Corinthians 10:31

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:10

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Paper or Plastic Whimsical Christmas Trees

So can you tell that I can't get enough of free craft projects lately? - (Especially in the Christmas variety.)  I have more paper fun to share with you today in the way of old magazines plus I threw in a little twist with plastic - we'll get to that in a minute.

First up are the two treess I made from an old magazine.  

I knew I wanted to make some sort of christmas tree topiaries but I didn't have a foam tree form so I decided to just make one out of the magazine cover (who needs to spend money on something easily makable?).  Simply roll your paper into a cone and hot glue in a few places to hold it together.  After  you have it glued you are going to have and uneven cone so just cut off the extra paper to have a level surface for it to stand.  

Next you just cut your paper into strips of about 1.5" and then fold in half length wise and glue together.  

Now cut slits along your strip of paper, I didn't even try to make this even.

After you have accumulated enough strips to cover your tree - I used about 12- simply glue your strips of paper around the tree form until it's fully covered.  I used hot glue for this part as well.

The next one I made pretty much the same way except I did not fold my paper strips so they would be a little more fluffy.

This last one was made from old plastic grocery bags.  Using my magazine tree form, I cut out small squares of plastic grocery bag, bunched it up a bit to a point and hot glued square after square until my little heart was content.  I have to warn that I hot glued my fingers several times on this one - that glue will burn straight through that thin plastic and you will know immediately when it does.

The possibilities with these trees are endless.  You can use all kinds of things around your house to cover them - ribbon, feathers, twigs, glitter and on and on.  I think these little trees would be so cute for table centerpieces, especially if you had a lot of tables to cover and not a lot of money to spend.  You could also make them in various heights and group them together for a sweet Christmas tree gathering. 

I think mine are going to sit on some cute pillar candle holders I have in the middle of our table, that is when our table doesn't look like this anymore...

Haha, I am such a messy crafter.  I can't make stuff any other way.  It's either all over the place or I can't think.  Nice isn't it?  I thought you might enjoy the laugh.  Have fun making crafty messes this weekend!