Fishing Line And A Wreath

Now that my wreath is all fluffed and ready for decorating, I will add a few simple items and some fishing line.

I've purchased two different pieces of greenery from the dollar store.  You've probably noticed that I've shown several projects with items from the dollar store.  The purpose of this is to demonstrate the possibilities of Christmas decorating.  Over the years I have listened to so many people say that they could never afford or have anything that looked near as nice as some of the items they see in stores.  That is simply not true!  Regardless of your budget, there is no reason that your Christmas decorating or decorations can't look every bit as nice as anything you see in magazines or those fancy Christmas stores.  I hope that some of what I have shown over the past month has changed peoples minds

I'm adding a quick little video here to show how I cut apart the artificial greenery. 

Now that I have cut apart the greenery I will begin.

Here is my wreath all fluffed and you can see all the greenery just at the bottom left

I have gone ahead and snipped several pieces of wire approximately 4 inches long.  I will use these wires to attach the greenery to the wreath.

Place the wire through the greenery as shown.  Wiring the greenery as shown will eliminate it from slipping out of the wire and your project

I figure out where I want to place each piece of greenery and just stick it into the wreath ready to be wired

I want to make sure I wire each piece right into the wreath for two reasons.  It adds depth and ensures that the stems aren't visible once wired on

Now that the stem is wired on, I gently pull up the branches from the wreath all around the stem.  Once I have added all the stems I then decide where I want to place my bow.  I will spread the branches which not only gives me a visual of where the bow will be placed but also allows me to wire the bow right into the wreath. 

I have some glittery wooden spun balls to add which I just love. 

These were also purchased at the dollar store. 

  I have placed a wire through one end of the ball and will now wire it right into the wreath as I did the stems. 

Remember, it is important to add your items right into your project and not on the ends of the branches.

Here is the finished wreath.  I now have the option to add as much or as little as I want to the wreath depending on the look I am going for.  I went for the less is more look on this one.

First let me apologize for the lighting in this picture, I tried several times.  What I wanted to show here is how the wreath looks like it is hung on a wall.  It is actually hanging by fishing line.  I don't want to add a nail to the wall so a perfect alternative is to hang is using fishing line.  I took a long piece of fishing line and ran it around the wire on the back of the wreath.  Just like you would hang a charm on a necklace.  I then took the two ends and tied them around a rung on my stair case.  Voila, no nail holes and every one's happy! 

Have you ever driven by a home and seen a wreath hanging on a door without a hanger and wondered how they did it?  Here's how.

Open the door you would like to hang a wreath from.  Take a thumb tack and push it into the middle of the top edge of the door until it is just flat to the door.  This will only work if that piece you are trying to add the thumb tack to is wood, it will not work on metal doors.

Wrap the fishing line around the wreath as previously discussed and slip one end of the fishing line around and under the top of the thumb tack.  The fishing line should slip easily under the tack.  Slide the fishing line until the desired height you want the wreath to hang, is achieved.  Tie the fishing line, trim the ends and close your door.  I always like to slide the fishing ling around so the knot is behind the wreath and hidden.

Where ever you are in your day, I hope you are enjoying it!

Wishing you many wonderful creations!

Christmas Baking...

...and the card to go with it!

No, relax!  I didn't start my Christmas baking yet.  I won't begin that until a couple weeks before Christmas.  It's usually one of the last things done in preparation for the Holiday Season.

When I saw this ribbon (thank you Marianne) I thought it would be perfect to add to a card and to use it to tie around a wrapped hostess gift or two.  I think there will be many uses for this ribbon over the Holiday Season but today I'm going to show you how I used it on a card.

This is the same style of wreath from last weeks post that had the tutorial included.  I've added a few fun embellishment and the Christmas Treats ribbon.  I think this card will be perfect to add to a Christmas tray of baked goods.

A closer look at the bow and you can even see one of the bells there too.  Last year I picked up a package of tiny Christmas embellishments at the dollar store.  The package was full of red and green bells (that jingle), small Christmas trees, rhinestones and clothes pins to name a few.  I think they'll come in quite handy this year, they really are adorable.

Next on my list....3" X 3" Christmas note cards.

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!
Wishing you many wonderful creations

Silver And Blue.....

What is your colour scheme at Christmas time?  Do you have one?  Are your decorations all red, reds and greens, golds, coppers, pinks and greens, silver and blue?  The list goes on and on but the beauty of Christmas is, there are no rules! 

So many wonderful combinations are used in homes around the world at Christmas time and up until now all my Christmas projects have been the ever traditional colours of red and green.  Today, I thought I would create something a little different.

A hanging wreath in Silver and Blue.  

For this wreath, I started by embossing a circle on my card giving me something that resembles a metal ring like you find on the back of most wreaths.  This way I will be sure that my wreath will end up round by the time I'm finished.  Nothing worse that a wonky shaped wreath, trust me!

I chose 3 different shades of silver.  The top group of leaves as you can see is very shiny.  The group on the bottom left has a bit of sparkle and a slight shine and the last group on the right is a mat silver.  The three colours together will give the wreath a bit of depth and interest which I like.

So here I've created the first row and I used all one colour for this.

For the second row, I once again used all one colour.  I used the silver with a bit of sparkle for the first (inside) row and the mat silver for the second (outside) row.  You can now see the wreath beginning to take shape.

For the third row I used the last colour, the shiny silver.  The reason I used the colours as I did was to create a pattern.  It helped me to make sure I got all three colours on the card and not too many of the same colour in one spot.  Now that I have a good start I am able to build from here.  I will finish the wreath with the remaining leaves and having that great foundation like I mentioned in my previous posts makes for a well balanced, pleasing to the eye creation.  From this point on I will carefully add the stem from each additional leaf added, under one of the previously glued leaves.  By doing this all stems will eventually be covered, I promise!!

Here is a look at the finished wreath and you can see there are no stems showing.  I also wanted to show how I carefully slid a piece of ribbon under the leaves to create the look of the wreath being hung by a ribbon - so easy! 

I love adding bows....

Once again...here is my card.   I'm really thrilled with the look of this one and the colour combination is just lovely.  I took pictures of the wreath straight on but the shiny silver leaves came out this awful brown colour and it didn't look very nice.  Maybe Santa will bring me a new camera????

I hope you've enjoyed this little tutorial and were inspired to create your own wreath.  If I can add just one little tip...don't try to make it perfect.  Too much fussing causes problems and just letting it flow is when the best results happen. 

Items used for this card are as follows,

Paper - Card - Brocade Blue from Stampin Up (cut at 6 1/2" X 10" scored at 5" on the long side)

           Three different shades of silver for the wreath

Ribbon - Curly ribbon from a spool

Punch - Martha Stewart leaf punch

Wherever you are in your day, I hope you're enjoying it!
Wishing you many wonderful creations