Wreaths seem to be my new obsession. Last year I made some Halloween wreaths, which I still have to share with you, of course, and that kind of launched me into a wreath making frenzy. Just like my garland experience, I had made a couple of wreaths in the past and didn’t love them, and it was for the exact same reasons as the garlands: 1)I was skimpy on the fancy stuff and 2)I couldn’t tie a proper bow.

Here’s the only early wreath I still use:

A few days before Christmas a few years ago, a whole bunch of other projects hadn’t panned out and I found myself with a couple cheap pine-like garlands, a blank metal wreath form, and a bunch of glass ornaments. So naturally I decided to toss them together and see what I came up with.

I wound the garlands on top of the wreath form and wired them in place with floral wire, but if I hadn’t happened to have those things needing to be used I would have gone with just a normal cheapy pine-like wreath. Then I hot glued all the small ornaments onto the branches and tied a lame lame bow.

I hated the way it looked, because of course the bow was so jacked up, so I tried to think of what else I could do to make this interesting, so I hung three ornaments down from the center at different heights. I probably would have gotten rid of this wreath long ago if it weren’t for that detail. I still really need to replace the bow.

I came across this wreath a while back, maybe on one of those Design for a Dime type makeover shows.

It’s a great little recycling project. You take a wire coat hanger, and stretch it into a circle, then bend the hook backwards to make a hook for the wreath. Then you rip a plastic dry cleaner bag into little strips and tie them onto the hanger. You just repeat that over and over again until you can’t cram any more little strips onto the hanger, and you’re left with this great totally mod wreath.

I wanted to add a little more interest after that, so I hot glued some ornaments on the top of it.

This year I wanted to make new wreaths for my double doors. I’ve finished them for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas. It just seems like double front doors call out for wreaths. Of course, I didn’t get around to buying anything for it until the day after Thanksgiving when Michaels was largely picked over. I was also making this after finishing a ton of other Christmas projects and I was getting a little sick of the typical Christmas color palette, so I had to get really creative with what was left.

All the stuff I kept being drawn towards didn’t seem to have anything to do with Christmas. I snapped up those little glittery presents, but I still wasn’t satisfied with the level of festivity, so I wanted to throw some ornaments on top but I couldn’t find any that worked with the color scheme.

The ornaments I ended up using were ones I painted. I bought some clear iridescent ornaments and put a couple drops of paint and a couple drops of water inside each one and shook it all around. This ended up working great and gave me exactly the touch I needed to make it all glam and fancy, but still look like Christmas instead of just a floral arrangement.

Floral design was one of those things that intimidated me for a long time. I’m a self taught crafter, and somehow I thought that there was some mysterious trick to floral design that I just wouldn’t be able to crack. A few years ago when I was working at a Michaels running the classroom department, I became good friends with the lady who ran the floral counter and she just demystified the whole process.

Basically? It’s grabbing a bunch of stuff you like and throwing it together. It can get a whole lot more complicated if you want it to, but at it’s core it’s a bunch of stuff that looks nice together held together in a container or with some combination of hot glue and wire.

Ever since then I’ve grown more and more interested in garlands and wreaths.

Last year I whipped up this garland for my banister

and it was hands down the best one I’ve ever done. Here’s a couple more quick tips for garlands. 1) Don’t be stingy with the fancy stuff, and 2)Learn how to tie a big fat bow.

Here’s a little help with that second tip, although I might have to see if I can do a video tutorial or something. It’s way way easy when you watch it done.

A few years ago I tried to decorate a garland, and while it’s fine, it’s not wonderful. And the mistake I made was going stingy. I kept thinking too small, trying to add beads or other small touches that are just invisible once it’s put together.

see any beads in there? I didn’t think so. Also? It’s really hard to take a picture of a garland.

This garland only got salvageable when I tossed in a ton of leftover ornaments and draped a big fat ribbon all down the side of it.

The first garland I made was even less successful, but I think I had some good ideas in there. Like I mentioned, I was a self-taught crafter, and that means you learn every lesson the hardway.

I was watching a lot of Carol Duvall at the time, and one of her frequent guests did a lot of velvet embossing, so I got the idea to do a garland of embossed velvet leaves. The embossing didn’t quite take on the velvet, but I got enough of the impression there to cut out the shape, and then I hot glued a piece of florists wire on the back of it. As soon as I cut the velvet it started to shed and look ratty, so I ran a thin bead of glittery fabric paint around the edge.

Then I decided that the leaves were too floppy to keep any shape, so like the total noob I was, I decided not to back the leaves with something, and I probably didn’t even know what interfacing was back then, so I (oh gosh, do I even dare type the words?) …. I …Ijustgoopedawholelotofhotglueallovertheback. :shudder:

Then when I was finally satisfied with how the leaves were holding up, I took all the lengths of floral wire and braided them together to create the body of the garland.

Just look at that hot glue shimmer in the light.

I think I had some great ideas with this project, but I missed it a little bit in the execution. Now I’d do a couple things differently, but I think the garland itself was a good idea, especially the braiding of the wires to put it all together. Every year I think about redoing this, but there’s always something else that needs to get done. So for now I still use it, but I just use it way up high where no one can get too close a look at things.

I take a lot of crap for my creative endeavors. I really need to write up a whole rant on the subject, but lets just leave it for now by saying that for as many years as I’ve been trying to have kids, I’ve been hearing that when I do I won’t be able to make stuff anymore. That I’ll be far too busy to make anything by hand, thus allowing the person predicting my failure to feel that they could surely do everything I do if only they weren’t so busy raising children, and everyone knows that CHILDREN ARE THE FUTURE.

I have no doubt that when Rookie gets here, my creative impulses will change dramatically. I’ll probably be much more likely to hire somebody to do a messy, complicated project I could technically do myself. I’ll take a whole lot longer to finish the projects I do start. Those projects will probably revolve around Rookie nearly exclusively, and I’ll probably be far more likely to buy something ready made rather than make something myself just because I know how.

But…I WILL STILL MAKE. This is a part of me that is so crucial to who I am that I will find a way. If he’ll sit in a sling, I’ll use a sling and make something one handed. If he’ll play at my feet, I’ll let him play at my feet while I sit at the sewing machine. If he is a little squaller that demands all of my time and attention, I’ll take careful notes of every idea I have so I can get around to it as soon as he gets old enough to cooperate. But most of all, I’ll plan ahead and organize my time.

In that spirit, I bring you a new tutorial of next year’s Christmas cards. I made them up as much as I could (they’re just waiting on next year’s photos) and then packed them away with all the Christmas decorations. Then next year, when Rookie is eight months old and into everything, all I’ll have to do is slap some photos on and pop them in the mail.

If you’re a seasoned crafter or craft blog reader, this tutorial may seem a little overly detailed. But I’m used to teaching classes where the students wanted to know the exact longitude and latitude of where every item should be placed. So hopefully there’s enough here for everyone.

Step 1: Cut a piece of cardstock to measure 12″ x 4 1/4″.

Step 2: On the front of your cardstock, print “Merry Christmas” about 1 3/4″ from the bottom edge.

Step 3: On the back side, print the rest of your greeting about 3″ from the bottom edge. These printing measurements are not at all rigid, so don’t stress too much. You just want the printing visible over the bottom flap.

Step 4: Now it’s time to score to make all your folds. The best way to do this is with a black scoring blade on a fiskars trimmer. But you can also just fold everything by hand using a ruler. It will just take you forever. Starting from the top of the front of your cardstock (the side without Merry Christmas on it) you need one score 1 1/4″ from the edge, and one score 6 3/4″ from the edge. Fold along the scores.

Step 5: Cut four pieces of coordinating paper to measure:
3″ x 3 1/2″
3″ x 4″
3″ x 4 1/2″
3″ x 5″
Score each piece 1 1/4″ from the edge and arrange so they look all cute.

Step 6: Fold the 1 1/4″ flap up and over to enclose the patterned papers like a matchbook. Secure with a couple of staples.

Step 7: Decorate the front. I used some tree punches and pen doodles.

That’s it. Then next Christmas I’ll put a photo or greeting or something on each of the papers, and then a photo on the front. Ta Da! It’s not like I invented the concept of a matchbook card or anything, but I’m just wild about the idea of sharing so many photos in this way. Feel free to borrow this idea, but if I get one of these from someone on my Christmas card list, I might be a little put out.

I’m always a little sad to see how quickly people move on from Christmas. To me it seems like just now is when you can really sit back and enjoy it. No more deadlines, no more rush, now you can sit back with a cup of cocoa and a cheesy movie and just relax.

Besides, the house always looks so bleak once you take Christmas down, and unless Spring is right around the corner to brighten things up, I just can’t bring myself to do it.

This is not just an excuse to keep from cleaning up the Christmas mess, but also an excuse for me to show you all the Christmasy things I should have been showing you in December, but was too busy with doing the Christmasy things.

I have loads of Christmas projects to show off, so I’ll start with this simple one that has been waiting around on my hard drive since back in October. My computer is fighting valiantly against its final crash, so I’m a little afraid to upload the new photos onto it. Everyone cross your fingers for good ol’ sparky. Also, if anyone knows why a computer would work slower than my runny nose despite all the latest virus software, I’d love any input. Rookie needs a bed more than a computer.

We made this as the first gift of the season this year for Bear’s parents, Mike and Sally. They are just relishing their role as grandparents, and this is one of the first years that the kids are getting old enough to really have fun with around the season. Moose is almost five now, and the other two are each just over a year, so the grandparents are just stuffing their little fuzzy heads with Santa-lore.

Bear actually came up with this idea when he saw the wood mailbox in Michaels. The whole project was his from inception to completion, including all the snow. He didn’t even know they made such a thing as a “snow writer,” he just had this idea in his head of making the mailbox look snowy and then left it up to me to figure out how. It was my first time using that snow writer paint you see each year at Christmas time, but I am a big fan. Super easy and it puffs up great. Then we just dumped some thick glitter on top while it was wet.

One trick for the lettering: Since I can’t really draw, I have become quite a pro at finding ways to fudge. Here I printed my favorite font off the computer in the size I wanted it, and then using a ball point pen with a dull tip, I traced it right onto the balsa wood mailbox. Those cheap sticky bic pens work great for this. You want something that won’t scratch through your paper as you’re applying a good amount of pressure. Then when you pull the paper off, you’ll have just enough of an indentation for you to see where to apply the paint. A silver paint pen around the edges covered up any sloppy bristle work, and bingo. I look like a stud.

We gave it to Bear’s parents before Thanksgiving even came around and they loved it. It held a place of honor right on the kitchen counter top all year long as they explained to the kids that this was where letters to Santa went to make sure he got them in time. I’m really looking forward to next year when Moose will be old enough to write his own letter and toss it in the box. You know grandma and grandpa will snatch that letter up and run right out to buy everything on the list.