Burlap & Birdhouse Wreath & Room Decor (Soft Green and Cream)

On May 31, 2016June 2, 2016 By ArlynnIn Country Decor Ideas, Wreaths4 Comments

As y’all know, our living and dining rooms sit on the front of our home <link to home tour> and are separated by our foyer & front door. I have found that I really enjoy putting a wreath on the inside of the door. I have a pretty large foyer and that wreath helps to carry the decor theme from one room to the next. I use a pretty green color–I see it everywhere–along with cream & burlap as my accent colors in those rooms. These colors lend themselves to a soft, pretty, warm and cozy design that I have fallen in love with since moving into this house. Also, using these softer colors while incorporating my other favorite design accents into these rooms presents me with a bit of a challenge being that they are not necessarily your typical country themed colors. In this post, I will highlight a wreath that I made while on a ladies craft day last March; I made it especially to hang on the back of my front door. I will also show you some other soft country design elements and techniques like I’ve used in my family room/kitchen area (that are decorated in the more typical country colors of burgundy, green, blue, etc…) and carried into these softer hued rooms.

Okie dokie…So, first, let me list some of my very favorite accent pieces that I usually will use to augment my decor:

Pip Berries (picks and garlands)
Lanterns
Burlap
Gerber Daisies
Dickens Houses
Candles
Family Pictures
Rod-Iron Accent Pieces

As you will see, I’ve tried my best to try and incorporate some of my favorite things into my room designs and into that huge wreath on the door. Speaking of the wreath, let me describe how I made that real quick…

Here are the supplies that you’d need if you wanted to try to make this wreath, also here is a link showing you a bit more detailed directions as to how to make a burlap wreath:

24″ Work Wreath
2 Skeins of Burlap ‘Runner’
Pip Berry Garland
Accent burlap ribbon (or whatever accent you might want to use)
Wooden Birdhouse
Resin Flowers
Burlap Daisies
Rod Iron Flower & Accent flowers
Floral wire

The first thing that I did was to glue pipe cleaners onto the back of the birdhouse and the wooden daisies:

And the Birdhouse:

Then I added the burlap to the work wreath:

Next I turned the wreath over and attached the rod-iron flower using floral wire:

Then it was time to make it pretty, so I went about adding the pip berry garland simply by adding it in on top of the burlap, attaching it into each outer ring’s pipe cleaner…

Then I added the bow, birdhouse, all of the daisies and other accent flowers…

And here is the finished wreath:

Here I am at Karen’s house in the middle holding the wreath, I’m flanked by my sweet friends Karen and Katrina who worked on their lovely crafts on that nice day:

Here are a few more pictures of that wreath in place:

And of course, the pups always love to pose prettily for a picture–Left to Right–Gracie the Golden, and the Newfoundlands, Sophie and Samson. ❤

Here are some pictures of some of the other wreaths that I’ve made to go on that door at different times of the year:

And now to show you how these rooms are pulled together using that pretty green color, cream, and burlap. I’ll start in the dining room with the tablecloth, lantern centerpiece, flanked by rod-iron candle holders and green candles. OH I also made that wreath hanging on the wall between the windows…

The table runner on my Sideboard matches the tablecloth. I also was really happy when I found those sconces that are on either side of the mirror at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 price:

And then a few decor elements in the living room:

If you’d like to read more about these rooms, here is a link to my Living & Dining Rooms blog post describing them in more detail (like where we got those rugs from, and more about the living room furniture, that lamp on the side board, etc…<here is a link>.

I’ll tell y’all, I’ll just go into those rooms and drink in the softness of the design…I love it, truly. It calms my very soul. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

And remember!

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

Pick A Theme & Carry It From Room To Room

On March 23, 2016March 25, 2016 By ArlynnIn Country Decor Ideas4 Comments

I’ve spent a ton of time here in my Blog showing you how I transition from one Season/Holiday to the next via my decor. But, I have not shown you how I came up with my generic/every-day decor and how I made it work through-out our home. When we were building our new retirement home…

I spent the months that it was being built trying like heck to figure out how I was going to decorate. In my other home, I admittedly went a smidge overboard with my decor–in other words, I filled every single wall/corner/shelf that was blank and available. Don’t get me wrong, I think I did a good job, I just think I didn’t need to do quite as much…less is more and all of that you know?! 😉 SO, I knew that I loved “country” decor, but not the primitive everything looks really old kind of country–I do love that look too, but, I didn’t think it would be appropriate for this home. Okay, so I was getting frustrated trying to hone in on exactly where to start, after all, I was going to have to recreate the wheel so to speak–start from scratch–pull my hair out and…well you get my drift. One day, I finally sat myself down and listed the things that I love and things that I’d used throughout my many years of decorating that always turned out nicely. My list included:

Pip berries (garlands and picks),
Lanterns
Gerber daisies
Fleur-de-lis
Baskets
Willow Tree Figurines
Dickens Houses
Wooden Plates
Mini-lights

That was rather an eclectic little list I had going, but, as you’ll see, my “theme” became all of those things rolled into one cohesive design that has worked out beautifully in this home. I will highlight the back part of our home in this entry where I’ve used burgundy, khaki, & cream as my major color scheme. The staircase separates the family room/kitchen/eating area from the living and dining rooms that sit on the front of our home. I’ll do a separate post describing those rooms at another time; I use khakis and creams in there as well, but my main accent color in those rooms is a soft green.

Instead of explaining each and every decor element, I think I will just show you some pictures and give you links to my blog entries that will show you how I put certain things together.

Let’s start out with the kitchen, as you can see by the pictures below, I incorporated lanterns, baskets, wooden plates, and dickens houses among other things to create the Above The Kitchen Cabinet Decor…

I love to work with those kitchen windows; I’ve incorporated wooden plates, gerber daisies (wooden and silk), pip berry picks…Here is my The Ever Changing Kitchen Window Decor post:

Moving on into the family room area, our staircase is such a focal point, and my daughter actually gave me the idea to hang pip berry garland wrapped in white lights onto the railing. Talk about warming up a large space, adding that lit garland and then making bows to go at the swag points has become one of my favorite design elements in the house (we do switch it out for Christmas with pine garland); the entire idea started by me using burlap and swagging it onto the staircase). Here is a link describing all of the different ways in which I’ve switched up the Staircase Railing…My most recent design is pictured below…

I made all of those bows, and then I made a swag our of pip berry picks and gerber daisies to attach to the bullnose…

The fireplace is another focal point; I typically decorate the mantel and hearth. I have utilized, a pip berry garland, dickens houses, willow tree figurines, wooden plates, and a few other accent pieces to pull it all together.

I made the wreath that is hanging on the mirror above the mantel…If you’d like to try one for yourself, here is a link as to how I created it…

Creating Cozy Corners is another little design trick that I’ve honed over the years…I implemented my little trick on either side of the hearth as shown above, and also in the corners on either side of the credenza as shown below…

As seen in the picture above, I have found that adding Rod-Iron Scroll’y’ Pieces and Accent Lighting to my space helps to pull everything together nicely…

Lanterns are some of my most favorite things with which to work…I use them to create table centerpieces and have them scattered about throughout our home…

I found that flour-de-lis candle holder in Hobby Lobby and I used it much like I do my lanterns…

Here is the Powder room, I have tried to decorate it in much the same way as I did the kitchen and family room areas as it is close by. I just made this wreath right after Christmas, I tried to pull in all elements of my decor, i.e. gerber daisies, rod-iron (owls), pip berries (I used a pip berry garland)…OH goodness, why don’t I just give you a link, here is how I made that Burlap, Pip Berry, & Rod-Iron Wreath. 🙂

Lastly, one other way that I pull all of my decor together is my incorporating some of the same accent elements into my little flower arrangements, for this decor theme, I’ve used pip berries, gerber daisies, and that same burlap ribbon that I used to make the staircase bows.

I made these little arrangements for the kitchen window decor:

I made this basket arrangement to sit up on a shelf in the family room:

And one more, I made this arrangement to sit on a table in the family room:

My goal is to always create a warm, cozy, & welcoming space and I think I’ve accomplished that goal nicely–I sure stressed for a long time while trying to pull it all together in my head though. It wasn’t until I got moved into this home and started to work with the different spaces that it finally all came together into one cohesive design. I hope that I’ve helped to maybe give you an idea of how to incorporate your favorite things into your home decor and in turn how to make one cohesive design–You can do it, all you need to do is to start compiling a list of the things that you love. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn ❤

Rebuilding My Lil’ Red Wagon Decor

On February 29, 2016February 29, 2016 By ArlynnIn Country Decor Ideas, Wreaths2 Comments

Our weather has been crazy around here as of late. One day it is 20 degrees and then the next day it is 60, no wonder everyone is sick! We had an awful storm go through here last week and it decimated the decor that I had in my Little Red Wagon (<~~~Link to show you all of the different ways I’ve decorated up this wagon in the past). This is what it looked like before the wind lifted everything out of the wagon and broke some lantern glass and carried some of the other accent pieces through the yard and beyond…sheesh!

Regardless of the mess I found after the storm, I had already planned to redo the wagon decor for the rest of the winter months. I wanted to get rid of the pine ‘Christmassy’ looking garland as well as create a new small wreath that would pair nicely with the front door wreath.

Here is a quick synopsis of how I put together that small grapevine wreath…

Supplies:

One small grapevine wreath form
One pip berry garland (it was one I had leftover from another project)
Gerber Daisies
Metal three tiered sign w/chain
Red and burlap chevron wired ribbon
Old Boyd’s Bear (that I literally just found while I was cleaning out some stuff in my basement)

This little wreath went together very quickly…I started by hot gluing the pip berry garland onto the wreath form

Then I used a pipe cleaner to attach the 3-tiered sign onto the form…

I glued the bottom “Laugh Often” section to the wreath…

After that was completed, I made a bow out of the ribbon and I tied the bear onto the wreath with floral wire (I didn’t want to glue him on just in case I might want to use him for something else in the future). Then I placed the gerber daisies where I thought they looked nice and glued them into place.

Here is the finished wreath…

So, now, let’s move out onto the front porch and I’ll show you how I built that wagon decor…I started by collecting a few items that I thought I might use…

Then I placed the blanket into the wagon…

I put a large picture holder that would hold that little wreath into the left corner…

Then as often happens to me, I totally got into the creative process and FORGOT to take more pictures of each step! Grrrr…As you can see though, I have a white crate sitting on top of a milk can sitting behind the wagon, I love to use that to add interest and a little bit of depth to the project. Then I started building the rest of the decor starting inside the crate with that wooden heart, moving into the wagon and placing the bigger bear on a little stool in the right back corner and adding metal star stands and garland, metal butterflies, a solar lantern, and a tuft of reddish berries. 🙂 When creating these types of grouping, I usually build from left to right, back to forward, and then up and work my way down…to the ground this instance..I hope that made sense…lol. Here is a link to one of my posts that describes how I put together groupings like this, it is entitled How To Create Cozy Corners & More. 🙂

In the end, this is what I came up with…

And here it is paired with the front door wreath…

I also wrapped a string of brown corded white lights around the wreath and wrapped a strand around that pip berry garland that I have draped over the white crate. (If you are interested in purchasing brown corded white lights, here is a link to Factory Direct Craft, that is where I always get mine. 🙂

Here is the wagon in the evening hours…

You can even see it from a distance, it just add a bit of warmth and coziness to the entranceway. 🙂 As y’all know by now, I’m all about warming up my spaces and trying to make them as welcoming as can be. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take good care! ❤

~Arlynn ❤

Staircase Railing Decor Ideas

On September 7, 2015January 5, 2016 By ArlynnIn Country Decor Ideas8 Comments

Greetings Everyone!

As I have mentioned before, my hubby and I just moved into our retirement home a couple of years ago. We went through the entire building process and waited 7+ months for our new home to be built. The reason we went with the new build is because we found a pretty piece of property with a good many acres (hubby’s wish) in a neighborhood, in a cul-de-sac (my wish) and we were also able to make every single choice that would make it our own. There were many reasons why we chose this model to build not the least of which was this pretty staircase.

I had had staircase railing decorating ideas flying around in my head for the entire time that the house was being built. One of the first ideas that came to fruition was a burlap swag idea that I’d seen somewhere on Pinterest. We did it our way and we started with a bolt of burlap fabric that I found at Joann’s Fabric. My hubby and I laid out burlap on the floor (I wish I could remember how many yards I purchased, but I’m sorry to say that I cannot–we did use an entire bolt though) out into one long piece and folded it accordion style and wrapped masking tape around it every so often to keep it folded in place until we hung it up. Once that was completed (no easy task honestly) we evenly draped it like you would a swag curtain between each post on the staircase and then took the masking tape off and tweaked each swag until it looked like we or I had envisioned. I also made a flower arrangement and attached it to the bottom and on top of the bullnose section of the staircase; that pulled it all together nicely. I then made bows and attached them to all of the swag points; I loved how it turned out and I kept it up for quite some time.

Then Fall rolled around and I decided that I would keep the burlap in place but make new Fall themed bows and a new arrangement for the bullnose. This is how that turned out:

Of course Christmas decorating was next. We removed the burlap and replaced it with pine garland wrapped in white lights, I made new Christmas bows, and a new arrangement for the bullnose. I really loved how those lights looked, so, so pretty. My hubby also attached a remote control to the lights so that we could turn them on and off at will; that was so convenient.

After Christmas my daughter and I were chatting and she reminded me of a new and different staircase railing idea that she and I had discussed around Christmastime. That idea is what my hubby and I brought to fruition and what we have hanging on the railing now. I purchased pip berry garlands from The Pip Berry Barn and this is the garland that I chose to pair with my everyday home decor, it has worked beautifully. (I highly recommend purchasing Pip Berry Garland from this online store; the strands were so full and beautifully made, absolutely awesome) I also purchased strings of 100 white lights with a brown cord and plugs at both ends. These are the white lights that I purchased. We used two strands to do the stair decor, but I purchased extra strands for the inevitable, eventual, and necessary replacement parts. My hubby has attached the same remote control to the lights so that we can turn them on and off at will (I usually turn them on after dark and turn them off when we go to bed)

Of course I made new bows out of burgundy checked wired ribbon which matched the ribbon that I’ve used in many a centerpiece, arrangement, and wreath throughout our home. I purchased the ribbon online too because I couldn’t find what I knew I wanted around here. This is the ribbon that I purchased. And then I made a new flower arrangement out of burgundy and burlap gerber daisies and pip berry picks, wrapped white lights around that arrangement and tied it all together with a bow. This is what hangs in our house for my “regular” or “generic” decor. I only change out the bows and flower arrangements for Fall and Christmas now-a-days; I love the look *that* much!

When I decorated for Fall, I simply changed out the bows and made a new arrangement for the bullnose. Here is that finished project:

I came up with a different idea for the staircase decor for this Christmas (2015). I’ve wanted to create an ornament and pine garland for a couple of years now, but, I knew that it was going to cost me a fortune to do so…not to mention give me a headache or two because yes, I’m a pretty patient person when I’m creating, but the patience required to create such a garland might just push my ‘envelope’ a bit. 😉 Anyway, here are some pictures of what I came up with this year. If you’d like to see how my hubby and I put it together, you can check out my Blog entry entitled: Staircase Ornament and Pine Garland. Here are some pictures of this year’s creation:

Keeping the staircase decorated throughout the year really helps to warm up our space. And with the addition of the lights in the evenings, it really feels comfy and cozy in here. I’ve been so very happy with each and every change that I’ve made to the original idea and I’m sure I’ll continue to tweak and hopefully improve the look as time marches forward. 🙂

Until next time, y’all take care! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

Family Reunion Decor and Craft Projects

On September 5, 2015October 15, 2015 By ArlynnIn Special Occasions6 Comments

Hi Everyone!

I should tell you that I am a very family orientated lady and I am extremely blessed to have the extended family that I have. I am an only child, but I am very close to my aunts, uncles, and cousins, it is almost like the cousins are siblings more than we are cousins. We’ve been brought up with good morals and values and a very strong faith. So, last Christmas (2014) when my dad and I were sitting and chatting and he suggested that I host a family reunion I jumped at the chance. My extended family is scattered throughout 4 neighboring States and we are not able to get together very often; we hadn’t had a family reunion in many years. It was an understatement to say that I was excited that I was going to have my entire family in our new home. So, as I normally do, I went into planning mode. The first thing I did was do a search for some kind of “Save the Date” announcement, I settled on this magnet, and I was able to find it online here. Everyone loved them and I’d venture to guess they are still attached to some of the family members refrigerators as it is on mine here.

Next, it was time to pick a theme, meaning something for me to build my decor around. So I chose, red and white gingham, mason jars, and red and white gerber daisies. While I was preparing for the reunion, I worked very hard to incorporate my “themed” pieces into the decorations, crafts, and basic home decor. I pretty much redecorated my home for this reunion–yes, that might seem a bit over the top, but, I really was excited to have everyone here and I wanted things to be extra nice. 🙂

The next thing I did was get in touch with two of my cousins and asked for their assistance. My cousin Stacey volunteered to make up some games and provide prizes for the winners of said games. She also created “Certificates of Awesomeness”, t-shirts, and plaques specially designed for our family (by her) and gave them to the older generation and our generation (1st cousins). She gave a special trinket to Cori who had made and decorated a gorgeously beautiful and very tasty cake. She also graciously gave a couple of niceties to my two daughters and a very special something to me. Stacey put on a fantastic ‘show’, telling stories and and poking fun as she presented all of her creative homemade gifts. It was a blast, definitely one of the highlights of the day! Here are some of the things that Stacey created for her prizes and gifts–she is so very talented!!

And here is the gorgeous plaque that she gave to me…SO sweet!

Here is Stacey standing beside her prize table and being her animated self while giving out her very special gifts–THANK you Stacey, you did an awesome job! ❤

Here are some pictures of Cori and her cake and the dessert table…YES, we love our sweets! lol 😉 THANK you Cori! ❤

Here are the three of us together…Me in the pink pants, Cori in the middle, and Stacey in the green pants:

Each family that came to the reunion, (I do believe we had almost 40 people in all), brought food to share, good thing we have a pretty big kitchen because almost every inch of the island and the surrounding countertops were full of some of the most delicious food on the planet. I think everyone brought their ‘signature’ dish which made for some good eats that day!

It took me months and months to prepare and I loved every single second of every project that I took on. I thrive on the planning process and to plan something for my family…well, I was over the moon with excitement and motivation. Here are some of the things that I created and a couple of things that I had someone else create.

I made a deco mesh wreath to hang on the light post that sits beside our entrance sidewalk:

I purchased red and white gingham tablecloths and made lantern centerpieces for both the kitchen and dining room tables. I also purchased candle holders and red candles to flank the centerpieces. I also made a lantern centerpiece to be added to the fireplace hearth decor.

I redecorated pretty much the entire lower level of our house including the mantel and the fireplace hearth, a couple of cozy corners, the kitchen hutch, and some other pieces of furniture and shelves. I tried to incorporate the color red, red and white gingham, and added “family” touches (as in plaques talking about family) and our family’s own photos which I placed in red and white frames and some in sweet little clip picture holders. I tried to add special touches incorporating my “theme” here and there throughout the decor. I also had created a slide show and had it playing on the tv throughout the entire day–everyone loved that! 🙂

As the day drew closer, I decided that I would make all of the centerpieces for the outdoor tables. Each arrangement consisted of a quart size mason jar filled with fresh gerber daisies and baby’s breath. I placed the jar on a white ‘charger’ plate, added a red paper doily and surrounded the jar with a pip berry ring (that I made). In addition, I made pint size mason jar fresh flower arrangements to sit around and augment the indoor home door.

I thought and thought about what to do for party favors. I wanted it to be something that they could take with them and use for years and years and that every time they looked at it they would be reminded of the day. So while perusing around the Internet, I stumbled upon this website and they worked with me to create a “mint tin” that I filled with red and white peppermint candies. They were a huge hit at the reunion. **Score**!! 😉

One of the last things that I did was to hang this banner. It really completed the entire look. I did not make this banner, instead I ordered it from this Etsy shop here.

Finally, the day had arrived and it was time to hang balloons out front and out back, set up tables on the patio, and set out a little chalkboard sign on the front porch. We were ready to go!!

We had a marvelous time that day. The feeling that fills the air when we are all together is magical, honestly. We all sing and many play instruments, so we sang some of our favorite old hymns and our grandma’s favorite hymn that none of us can get through without sobbing “Thank You Lord for Your Blessings On Me”, ate ourselves into oblivion, laughed till we cried, and cried when we had to separate at the end of the day. It was a wonderful day, one that I hope will be held closely and lovingly in everyone’s memory. I’m hoping to host a family reunion every year for as long as everyone will be willing and is able to travel to us here in Virginia. ❤

**I love you family!!!**

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

Burlap Wreaths and More Burlap Wreaths

On September 4, 2015October 15, 2015 By ArlynnIn Wreaths2 Comments

Hi to all of you lovelies out there!

I am like the energizer bunny, I hardly ever sit still and I am always planning my next project, event, trip, decor change, etc… One of my hubby’s nicknames for me is “The Planner”; I know I must drive the poor man crazy at times! 😉 So, when I was gathering pictures for this blog post, I surprised myself with the sheer number of wreaths that I’ve made this past year . I’ve created some of these for my own use here in our home, and I’ve created a few to give as gifts. My plan for this blog entry is to just *show* you the different wreaths, if you would like to know how to make one you can reference one of my earlier blog posts here. 🙂

So here goes:

This one hangs in our “mud room”, I hung it on the door leading to the garage–I added that wreath hanger that you see in the picture on the left, it is awesome. You can find it online here:

I made this one for one of our guest bedrooms…

I threw this one together because I wanted a little something more for on that corner shelf:

I made this one for a dear friend who loves owls:

I made this one for a friend…She asked me to make her something to hang on her Mom’s nursing home room’s door:

I made this one for another one of our guest bedrooms, I actually utilized an old Boyd’s Bear Bunny that had been stuck in a box in my basement for years:

I hung this one in the laundry room…:)

I made this one to go with the family reunion decor (red and white gingham, gerber daisies, and mason jars):

This one was to add to an Easter grouping that I had put together out on the front porch:

I made this one to be hung on the front door from Memorial Day through July 4th. You’ll also see our pups in one of the pictures below. The Newfoundland dogs names are Sophie and Samson (brown), and the Golden’s name is Gracie. I love them like crazy! ❤

And last but not least, I just made this one the other day. This is for a very dear friend of mine who lives in another State. My hubby is constructing a box for me to pack it up in for shipping…it is 30″ in diameter (as wide as some front doors, in other words, it is huge). 🙂

Well, that does it for the burlap wreaths that I’ve made in the past year. I’ve also made some grapevine and deco mesh wreaths as well–subjects for another blog. 🙂 I hope that one of these wreaths will inspire one of you to try to make one for yourself. You can do it! And I’m right here if you have any questions at all, feel free to leave me any questions in the comments. Happy Crafting!! ❤

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

The Lantern Centerpiece Gift

On September 2, 2015October 15, 2015 By ArlynnIn Lanterns6 Comments

Hi Everyone!

I always enjoy giving homemade gifts to people that I know will appreciate the planning, preparation, and plethora of work it takes to create an entirely new concept just for them. My dear friend Karen is one such person. Karen and I have been friends for over a decade now, our daughters were in the high school marching band together and Karen and I were very involved in the Band Parents Association. She and I had much more in common than just our girls though, she is also a crafter and she can create beautiful things that I admire greatly. So, when she and her hubby built a beautiful new home my wheels started turning and I tried to come up with a new and different Housewarming gift. What does a crafter give another crafter? It can be tricky…luckily, our ‘talents’ lie in different realms of the crafting world. Karen herself actually gave me the idea of what I ended up making for her. She texted me one day to ask me if she could borrow my red gingham tablecloth to use for an upcoming get-together. Well, when she asked me that the light went on in my head and the bells started ding, ding, dinging, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her; a lantern centerpiece 🙂 First, I purchased her a red gingham tablecloth of her own. Then I made a lantern centerpiece with a red gingham bow, pip berries garland, red and white gerber daisies, black metal stars, a red battery operated candle, and a “Family” wooden sign, all arranged in and around a cream colored wooden tray and cream colored wooden lantern. I also put a red gingham placemat in the tray to serve as a nice decorative base for the design.

**Side note–I love arranging my lantern centerpieces in trays, the tray provides an anchor for the entire design and *bonus* it is easily picked up and moved from place to place**

Here is that finished centerpiece:

I then thought, well, I don’t want to pigeonhole her into having to use the red gingham accents all of the time, so I took it a step further and supplied her with the necessary materials with which to change out the red gingham accents and insert a more neutral design; utilizing the same metal stars, lantern and tray. I made a new bow out of chevron and burlap ribbon and supplied a different colored pip berries garland, a cream colored battery operated candle, different colored gerber daisies, a different “Home” sign, and a neutral placemat. Also, I made it so that she could easily change out the bows by hot gluing velcro on the ends of a piece of the same ribbon and attaching it to the bows; they were then secure when in place, pretty, and functional. 🙂

Here is that version of the centerpiece:

I packed up all of the neutral design materials along with a picture of how she might want to switch out the red and white gingham elements and replace them with the more neutral elements.

I delivered the red gingham version of the centerpiece to her with the neutral version packed in a gift bag. I immediately knew that I had chosen right in giving her a homemade gift because when I handed it to her, her sweet eyes welled up with tears and I got the very best hug ever! My day was made, completely made!

In my opinion, it is *always* better to give than to receive, and when it comes from your heart and is made with love and with the receiver in mind, it makes for a good day all around.

**LOVE you Karen** ❤

Front Door Burlap Wreaths

On September 1, 2015October 15, 2015 By ArlynnIn Uncategorized14 Comments

Good Afternoon!

As is typical of me, I woke up one morning with the idea in my head that I wanted to make something. What I chose to do on that particular day was to make my aunt a burlap wreath for her front door. The only problem with that was that I had never tried to make a burlap wreath and I had no idea where to start. So, I took to google search (one of my best friends…lol) and I started reading and watching tutorials; this gave me the basic idea of how to, at the very least, *start* to make my wreath. I will admit that I spent a bit too much time searching “how-to” blogs and videos and not enough time trusting my own abilities to accomplish my goal on my own. So, I put my computer down, got in my car, and headed to my local go-to craft store Hobby Lobby. We also have a Michaels and an AC Moore here in our town, but I am usually successful at finding exactly what I need to bring a project to fruition at Hobby Lobby. So, anyway, I started walking through the store collecting my needed supplies. When all was said and done, I was successful at making my aunt a wreath and then I made my cousin one too; I gave them to them for Christmas last year. But, I wasn’t exactly satisfied with those two wreaths even though my aunt and cousin loved them and were so sweet with their compliments regarding just how much they loved them. Here are pictures of those two wreaths:

I decided I would try again (I am nothing if not determined to try and try again until I’m satisfied with the end result) and so I set myself to the task of making a burlap wreath for our front door, I wanted it to be quite large because our home sits pretty far back from the road and I wanted to be able to see the wreath on the front door from our cul-de-sac. So off to Hobby Lobby I went yet again and I began to gather my supplies. The first thing I picked up was a 24″ metal wreath form with the twist ties already attached. I then collected all of the other things that I thought I might need to make my wreath. I will try my best to put into bulleted form how I constructed not one but 2 burlap wreaths for my front door…yes, I said 2…lol…I made one for the inside of the door too. We found a wreath hanger that we could manipulate over the door that provided a hook on either side of the door. I was very happy with what I ended up with and I have made many other burlap wreaths since, so many that my hubby has made me a wreath hanging station in our basement. In another blog, I will post a bunch of pictures of the burlap wreaths that I’ve made, some for my own use, a few for gifts, and one or two for friends who sweetly asked me to create one for them.

The two specific wreaths featured in this blog are wreaths that hang on my front door at times of the year when we are not celebrating a Holiday or for times when I am not using a specific seasonal decor…in other words, these are my “everyday” wreaths. I switch out the outside front door wreath A LOT… 🙂 Here are pictures of the finished wreaths:

Here is how I put all online tutorials out of my head and created my own version of a burlap wreath:

*Supplies needed for a very large burlap wreath: 24″ wreath form with the twist ties or pipe cleaners already attached, or you can attach your own pipe cleaners at regular intervals around the form–not hard, 2 rolls of burlap–for these extra large wreaths, I used burlap “runner” rolls, a coordinating colored burlap or ribbon, any accents that you might like to add such as pip berries, silk or dry flowers, wooden words, wooden or metal ‘pictures’, wooden or metal initials, seasonal decor, and so on…Let your imagination run wild

*Find a large surface with which to work and lay out all of your supplies

*Plug in your hot glue gun–I try not to use too much glue on these types of wreaths, but I do glue pipe cleaners to the backs of pictures and/or other accents (wooden initials, pictures, etc…) so that I can tie them onto the wreath frame. And when necessary, I do glue certain things into place if they just won’t stay by attaching them with the pipe cleaners

*Work your way around the wreath form starting on the outside ring gathering and catching burlap into each pipe cleaner and then moving to the inside ring and doing the same thing. I’ve seen some people online who measure the length of burlap that they put between each pipe cleaner, I do not do that, I just eyeball it and go for it. So once you have your outer and inner rows of burlap attached to the form, add your coordinating colored burlap or ribbon catching it into one of the outside pipe cleaners (by untwisting the pipe cleaner and adding it to the burlap that you already caught) and working to the next inside pipe cleaner, then back to the outside and so on all the way around the wreath.

*Take a moment to glue pipe cleaners to the back of anything you might want to attach to the wreath form as you see me doing in the picture below.

Instead of gluing, I just threaded a pipe cleaner through the metal clasp on the back of the picture

*Then start attaching anything else that you’d like to put on your wreath either via the pipe cleaners that you attached, or directly into some of the pipe cleaners (you’ll see what I mean in the pictures below–SO hard to explain). I chose slightly different things for each wreath, I chose to put our last name initial on both wreaths as well as a bow (that I made…I’ll need to do another blog about how to make a bow huh?) on both. Then I chose other specific items for each wreath consisting of pip berries, gerber daisies for the outdoor wreath to match our red door and the coordinating ribbon, other silk flowers and a wooden framed picture for the indoor wreath to match my room decor.

Here is a link for the Wreath Hanger that we used

So there you go, I was finally successful at making burlap wreaths that met with my own approval…haha. Give a burlap wreath a try! Nothing is perfect in the crafting world, that’s what makes it so much fun and unique to just you! 🙂

**In crafting there are no mistakes just unique creations**

⚜️ Arlynn's Country Craft Corner ⚜️

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