Recycled/ Natural Christmas Wreath!

It has been a while since I have posted.  I have to be honest and let you know that my creative juice has been empty and it is finally starting to fill up again.  I am in love with the natural materials that you see around being used for various things and I wanted to make something using natural wood.  So when my husband and I were out in the mountains cutting some firewood - I snagged a perfect sized branch for me to use.  This was an easy craft and I hope you enjoy it.

 

So I started with a log about 2 inches in diameter and using my husband's chop saw I cut this log into slices about 1/2 inch thick. 

 

 

I then laid the pieces out to a rough circle. 

 

I then started to glue.  I tried some wood glue but it took too long to dry and my husband said that the wood was still pretty green so it would take forever.  Second, I tried my hot glue gun - my go-to tool and started gluing like crazy.  That worked but I had to re-inforce it on the back with some popsicle sticks to help hold it. 
Last, I put a ribbon on it - with hot glue, of course, and put my coke 3D stars on the wreath.  I found a tutorial for the stars at: Recycled drink can stars - In the tutorial she painted them but since I LOVE my coke and on one of them there is the cute polar bear, I left them the way they are.  Besides they are red so it is already festive.  Here is another photo of the finished wreath. 

 

I love how this wreath turned out and the best part is I used some old soda cans and wood that we harvested for our firewood so it didn't cost me anything.  Let me know what you think!

 







Burlap & Sweater Trees!

So I had 3 of the stryofoam cones left and I was thinking about what I wanted to do with them.  I saw an old sweater and an idea was born.  I love how the old sweaters can be upcycled into pillows, etc so I wanted to use it for a tree.  I wanted to do it in a group of three because that is a good number and so I needed to come up with another idea to cover the tree with.  So I came across an idea for printing on burlap and there was the other covering!  Here are the supplies that I needed for this project:

3 Styrofoam cones
burlap
old sweater
paper or felt for the pattern
stamp
ink
hot glue gun

I first traced a pattern using a piece of felt that I had and marked it to make a rough pattern for the trees.  I then cut out 3 of the patterns- 2 burlap and 1 using the sweater.

I then printed on the burlap using the stamp and ink making a pattern.  I did this on both of the burlap pieces.  I also had 3 snowflakes to use at the top of each tree and inked the edges of these also.

Using the hot glue gun, I glued the burlap onto 2 of the cones.  I then glued the snowflakes on the top.

For the sweater tree, I ended up sewing it on the top and sides so it would slide onto the cone.  Then glued the snowflake onto the top.  Here are the finished trees.   These are going to look great on a table or the fireplace mantle...I think. :)

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas.....

Winter Wonderland Wreath!

With the arrival of snow in my neck of the woods it reminded me of Christmas but I knew that even though the stores are gearing up for Christmas it is a little early for me.  So I wanted to make a craft that could go through Christmas and be something that is not overly Christmasy (if that is a word).  This craft will work because it isn't over the top Christmas but says snow and winter to me.  I started with these supplies:

Cheap picture frame (without glass and backing)
Grapevine to make the wreath
wooden snowflakes
ribbon (red and gold tulle)
bells *which I found at the dollar store in a pack of 9

I started by forming a wreath using the grapevine to fit into the picture frame.  I used twine to hold the top in place and hot glued it at the top and bottom to the frame. 

Next, I tied the bells with the twine to the wreath using different lengths to add interest.  I then added some ribbons to the top of the bell.
Lastly, I painted the wooden snowflakes and hot glued them to the wreath.  I also added some of the honeycomb (brown color) of paint to the frame to distress it and make it look a little more interesting to me and added a burlap bow!

That's it!  Here is a picture of the Winter Wonderland wreath on my wall.  I love how it turned out and I might have to make some more to sell.  What do you think?

Enjoy your crafting!