Christmas Rag Wreath

December is FINALLY here! Which means....25 MORE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS! To celebrate I am going to post a Crafty Creation everyday for the next 7 days!!! I have come up with some really cute Christmas crafts to share with you so make sure you keep checking in everyday!

To get this week started right, I made a FABULOUS rag wreath to hang on my door! A Rag Wreath is a great way to use up those scrap fabric pieces you have been hanging onto.

Here is a list of materials you'll need for this craft:

* Fabric! You can use your scrap fabric pieces as long as it's big enough to cut a 3 x 3 square out of it. The fabric stores have their Christmas fabric for dirt cheap right now! I bought 1/4 of a yard of 6 patterns of fabric. So all together you'll need about 1 1/2 yards.

* A Straw Wreath! You can find these at most craft stores. I bought a 14 inch wreath for $1.75 when it was 50% off!

* Scissors or Pinking Shears

* Glue

* Phillip's Head Screwdriver

First cut you fabric into 3 inch by 3 inch squares. I used pinking shears to cut my fabric because I think the zig-zag edge is more visually interesting than a straight edge.

I used my quilting rulers to measure my squares. A 1/4 yard of fabric produced about 45 squares so after cutting all 6 of my fabric choices I had about 270 squares.

Get a plastic container of some sort and put some glue in it. I used regular Elmer's Glue, but Tacky Glue will also work.

Wrap a square of fabric around the pointed end of your screwdriver. Make sure that the 'pretty' side of the fabric is on the inside.

Now dip the tip of the fabric into the glue and push the screwdriver firmly into the straw wreath. Poke your fabric about 1/2 way into the wreath.

When you pull the screwdriver out of the wreath, the fabric should remain in the wreath. As the glue dries, it will anchor the fabric permanently into the wreath.

Keep repeating this process placing the fabric squares about 1/2 inch or so apart.

You will want to cover the sides well, so that you cannot see the wreath--but leave the back empty so that your wreath will lay flat when hung up.

Your wreath should look something like this after you are done:

You can leave your wreath as is, or put a beautiful bow on it! There are so many ways you can make bows, but here is how I made mine:

For my bow I needed 2 1/4 inch wide red satin ribbon, scissors, needle and matching thread, and a cute sparkly button for the middle.

Out of my ribbon I cut 2 - 18 inch long pieces and 1 - 15 inch long piece. Grab a piece of ribbon and overlap the ends a little placing 'seam' in the middle of the back. Stitch everything in place. Here is what it should look like :

Back

Front

Do this with all three pieces of ribbon.

Lay the 2 biggest pieces on top of one another forming an X and stitch together down the middle.

Now lay the smaller piece in the middle of the X and stitch in place.

Lay a piece of strong thread underneath the bow in the middle.

Tie a tight double knot around the center of the bow. This should gather the center of the bow.

Now hot glue your button or gem in the middle of the bow and hot glue the bow onto your wreath!

All together I spent under $10 on this project! I love to decorate around the holidays, but money is soooo tight around Christmas. You don't have to spend a fortune buying decorations from stores when you can make BETTER, UNIQUE decorations at home!

Check in tomorrow, and I'll show you another cheap and beautiful way to decorate your home for the holidays!

*Jes*

Fall Felt Flower Wreath

This will be my last Fall / Thanksgiving crafty creation of 2010! As sad as I am to see this beautiful season pass by so fast, I am super excited to start thinking about Christmas! On December 1st I will be kicking off a week long string of tutorials geared towards December decorating and home-made Christmas gift ideas!

So, the first Giveaway was a success!!!...but it left my door wreath-less :/ With thanksgiving just 1 week away, I needed another wreath! Here are the materials I needed for this crafty creation :

* A wreath

- I bought a straw wreath from Hobby Lobby but you can re-purpose an old wreath like we did in our October Wreath Tutorial found HERE

* Yarn

* Different colors of felt

- Felt is really cheap @ 4 squares for $1 at most craft stores!!!

* Hot glue gun

* scissors

* Pencil

* Piece of paper

* A decorative craft stem....We'll get to that later : )

First, I wrapped my wreath with yarn. Secure your yarn on the back of the wreath with a bit of hot glue and start wrapping. This took a while, so I caught up on the news while I wrapped : )

After the entire wreath is wrapped, hot glue the end of the yard to the back of the wreath.

For the felt flowers, I started by drawing a petal shape onto a piece of paper, and then I cut it out.

Place your petal template on top of a piece of felt and cut around it. Cut out 5 petals.

Now on your template draw a smaller petal inside of the large petal shape and cut it out.

Using the smaller petal shape cut out 5 more petals in a coordinating color of felt.

Place a line of hot glue on the back of one of the smaller petals and place it on top of a larger petal.

Before the glue hardens, quickly fold the petal in half and hold in that position for a few seconds while the glue sets. Your petal should have a little more shape to it and look a little more 3 dimensional.

Next I cut off the ends of the petals.

Cut a small circle out of the same color felt as your big petal and start hot glueing the petals into the center.

When you are done your flower should look something like this.

For the center of the flowers, I bought a decorative Christmas stem from the Christmas section of Hobby Lobby. It was 1/2 off and cost about .50!

I cut off a ball and hot glued it the center of the flower.

I made 5 flowers in all, varying up the colors and sizes of petals. You can make more or less depending on how you want your wreath to look.

All that's left to do is position the flowers onto your wreath and hot glue into place!

All together the wreath cost less than $6 to make! Here is a break down of the costs:

Wreath - $1.75

Yarn - $2.30

Felt - $1

Decorative Stem - $0.50

This proves you don't have to spend a fortune to make beautiful decorations! I always shop sales and use coupons to get the most bang for my buck. Make sure to check in next Teusday because I will be blogging about where I shop for all my supplies and how I get my coupons! I will also give you a sneak peak into my workspace where all of the Crafty Creations are made!

*Jes*

October Wreath Tutorial

Ok... I'm nuts about this wreath that Jes made! It's so me... Wonder if I can bribe her out of it? : ) I just love all of the crafts she makes--and always look forward to what she sends me! Thank you so much, Jes!! ~Page

Fall is by far my favorite time of the year! Pumpkin pie, the smell of cinnamon, beautiful leaves, hoodies, dead bugs...YAY! My husband and I just moved into a new house, so I have been getting into the decorating mood... I rarely purchase decorations, because I would rather make them and have something unique that no one else has! I decided to make a October wreath to hang on our door yesterday, and I thought would share the process with you!

I started out by making some Burnt Flowers. You can learn how to make these by reading an earlier tutorial Lauren posted HERE.

I even made some flowers to put at the base of my candle!

To make my wreath I started out with a vine wreath that I found at the dollar store for $1!

Any old wreath can be repurposed for this project. Just tear off the dusty embellishments it already has on it and your ready to go!

My wreath was a little skinny for my taste, so I cut up strips of an old blanket and wrapped it around the wreath hot glueing it into place.

Next, I tore 2 inch strips of fabric. I really like the look of the frayed edges tearing fabric gives me. Most cotton fabric should tear easily.

Decide which side of your wreath is going to be the front and which is going to be the back. You should always start and end strips of fabric on the back side.

I hot glued on the first strip of fabric and starting wrapping it tightly around the wreath. Make sure that you maintain the width of your spacing as you wrap.

As you come to the end of a strip of fabric, hot glue on the back and glue a new strip where the last on ended. Continue wrapping until the entire wreath is covered.

Now you can embellish however you like! I hot glued my burnt flowers onto the wreath and then glued some beautiful, black ostrich feathers underneath the flowers!

I encourage you to make your own decorations, whatever the season is! Incorporate the things you like to make meaningful and unique decor!

Send in your creations for a chance to get it posted on our blog for others to see!! Can't wait to see them!!

Enjoy!

*Jes*