A Touch of Yellow

As discussed in my previous post, I am working on turning our old guest room into an office/craft room. I painted the walls a nice neutral grey and I am accenting with yellow and a few pops of pink. I wanted something different for this space so I didn't opt for my usual color scheme of greens and blues...plus I wanted something girly :) But in all fairness to my little boy, his section of the room will be decorated sans pink. And his side does include some blue and green (I guess I couldn't completely do without my favorite hues :) with his table and chairs but I think everything will blend well in the end.

I'm currently working on a credenza makeover that will be my main storage for crafting and office supplies.   And once it's done I will have a better idea of how the rest of the furniture will need to be positioned. I'm crossing my fingers I can get it done towards the end of next week!

I have several small projects to work on for the room and one was...you guessed it, a wreath :) I have this beautiful old window that a friend of mine got from a former co-worker. He had all sorts of sizes of windows and for cheap! I've had this thing forever and the original plan was to place photos behind the panes and use it as a large picture frame.

Sorry for the blurry picture. I cropped a room size photo 

But for now I have decided to hang it between the two windows in the new office and dress it up with a pretty wreath.

I knew I wanted a wreath with yellow flowers and of course any "pre-made" wreaths I found were at least $20. I had a twiggy wreath from Michael's on hand (the ones that are like $4) so I went searching for my flowers. Michael's has their faux blooms on sale right now but they were still a little pricey. So I headed to the Dollar Tree to see what I could find. They had some sweet little yellow flower bundles for $1 (duh) each. I bought ten bundles but ended up using only eight.

Nosy Too checking out the twiggy wreath. I laid it out on a towel to work on since these shed a little bit.

And my bag full of Dollar Tree flower bundles.

They had two shades of yellow, one a little brighter than the other. I liked the brighter ones the best but bought a few of the darker shade just to give it a more natural look.

Up close of the two colors.

I laid out the bundles to see how I wanted to blend the colors and of course Toots had to curl up inside the wreath like it was a little nest made just for him. He was obsessed with this thing. He seemed a little ticked when I made him leave...

All I did was cut the blooms off the bundle, leaving enough stem to poke into the wreath. No glueing needed. Although if this was an outdoor wreath I probably would have used a little bit to help keep it secure and weather resistant.

Here it is on the window! Oh and I got the pink ribbon at the Dollar Tree too! 

The window isn't on the wall yet so I didn't do a full shot. It's leaning up against the wall in the picture but you get the idea. I love it! It's so bright and cheery.

And one more up close. 

I can't wait until this is hanging up on the wall. More to come on the office/craft room soon!

Partying here!

Frugal Friday at

Again?

Yes, another wreath. Ha! I started this a while back and just now finished it up. I apologize for my short blogging hiatus. Things have been busy around here. I have several projects that are halfway done but that doesn't make for much blogging entertainment. So I am kicking myself into gear and will hopefully have a few more posts coming this week! I have some organization projects and my first furniture revamp to reveal soon.

So back to the wreath...I have seen this coffee filter wreath all over blogland and since I am a little obsessed with wreaths I had to give it a try.

The verdict? I love it! It's cheap, simple to make and looks lovely. Can it get any better than that?

 As for your supplies, you will need a styrofoam wreath ($1 at the Dollar Tree), coffee filters (about $2.50 at Target) and hot glue. And also ribbon to hang your wreath. Oh and don't forget the kitty tail :) Nosy little booger.

I used the brown/natural filters but the white ones look great too. It just depends on the color you want. Each package of these contained 40 filters and I only used about 55 total. Mine were also more flat at the  top...not scalloped like most filters. Again, it's your preference. The scalloped filters will give the wreath a more flowery look.

It's very simple. Open you filter and "pouf" it a little bit and then hot glue around the wreath, sticking filters in as needed. Just be sure to hold the filter in place for a few seconds to be sure it secures to the wreath.

My helper gave up on me...quitter

 About a quarter of the way through.

And here she is on my mirror in the living room. I chose to add my ribbon to the wreath before it was done and secured the filters around it...some on top of it. I didn't want to have the ribbon all messy looking on top of the filters in front. I love the final result! 

Yarn Wreath

I feel like I've become a little obsessed with my new found love of yarn. It's just so soft and cozy! And as I sit typing I am looking out at our ice and snow covered yard...warmth and coziness is a MUST right now.

Here in the deep South we aren't used to all this frozen stuff so we've all been closed up in our houses...going on 4 days for us. Ah! However, the sun is out today so hopefully we can get some heat to melt away the claustrophobia.

So if you are in need of some coziness too, here is a great yarn wreath to make you feel all warm inside. In my quest to find some wreath ideas using yarn, I found this one over at Take Heart. Danielle has a great tutorial so be sure to check hers out too!

You will need:
Straw wreath - size depends on how large you want your wreath
Yarn of your color choice
Felt for Flowers- I used felt sheets from Hobby Lobby and Michael's. They are about $.29 each. I got two different colors
Scissors
Hot glue

Leave the plastic wrapping over the wreath or you will have a huge mess on your hands. Next, turn on the TV and get comfortable. The next step is the longest part.

Side Note: This is a perfect naptime project. 

Wrap the first part of your yarn and tie it off or hot glue to secure. Then you will tightly wrap the yarn round and round and round...you get the idea. The easiest way to do it is to keep wrapping your whole ball of yarn around and through the middle. It's annoying but I think its better than having a million separate strands of yarn.

Almost through wrapping

Too overseeing my work

Done wrapping. You will not be able to get it perfectly lined up.
I think it has character like this

 After your wreath is completely wrapped, tie it off again or secure with hot glue. I used hot glue. Now it's time to make your felt flowers.  Using your felt and cut different size circles. The bigger the circle, the bigger your flower. I did different sizes for variety. The circles do not have to be perfectly symmetrical. It makes the "petals" of your flower look more realistic if the edges are a little wavy or uneven. Once you have your circles, start at the outer edge and cut it into a spiraled strip by cutting into the circle and cutting around until you get to the middle of the circle and the all the fabric is one big strip of material. How many times did I just say circle? Lol. You will have a little piece of round fabric once you get towards the end of your strip. You will use this to secure your flower together.

Staring to cut my strip

 Begin rolling your strip back up (tightly) to start forming your flower. You can loosen it a little once you get going. It just depends on if you want more open or closed petals. Roll the entire strip and use the big piece at the end to secure underneath your flower with hot glue.

Forming the flower

Finished flower. Sorry, forgot to take a pic of the green one.

 Lastly, arrange your flowers however you like on your wreath and hot glue in place. Easy!

Flower cluster

Finished wreath!

On the door. I don't really like the look
of the wreath hanger so I may switch to ribbon.

Christmas Wreath & Happy New Year!

So I said it was New Year's Eve but since it's 1:00 a.m., we have officially begun 2011! My brand new blog starting off at the beginning of the brand spankin new year :)


So let's get back to Christmas, lol.


I absolutely fell in love with these yarn ball wreaths over at All Things Heart and Home. I chose to use green and mocha yarn balls with red ornaments. Sorry, no pics of the process (at this point I wasn't certain I would be starting my blog).   Robin at ATH&H has a great photo tutorial so be sure to check it out.


Instead of styrofoam balls, I used more ornaments to cover over with yarn. It's a little tricky at first, especially if you are using a smooth ornament, but it works just fine. You will need to remove the top hanger thing-a-ma-jig on the ornament and cut off the extra piece below that so your ball will be perfectly round. Make as many balls as you like. I made about 25 total using large and small ornaments. A variety of sizes work best.


Using a medium size wire wreath, hot glue the largest yarn balls onto the wreath spaced apart about an inch or so. I used about 9 large yarn balls for this. Then I simply hot glued the remaining smaller yarn balls and my ornaments into the empty spaces. I love how it turned out. I'm hoping to make another one that can hang year round.


And here she is!