20 Minute Fall Wreath

Mamma’s Fall Wreath

In our last posting you saw the grapevine wreath my daughter created using vines from her garden. No grapes in my garden but I did find a 30 inch diameter, basic vine wreath in Portland, Oregon’s City Liquidators store for $2.99.

I have a basement full of silk flowers and floral supplies so I tend to use what I have handy. I also have a wedding cottage and dead twigs, even in the fall, are not what most brides want to see. And then, there is the age thing; my age specifically. I’m almost 65 and my tastes differ greatly from my daughter and her age group. So there you have it, a post for those who like more than the minimal, natural look.

I began with a basic dried vine wreath and a bunch of eucalyptus that I had cut. I added it to the wreath by just shoving the branches into the wreath.  I did the same thing with silk  flowers and foliage. You can also use floral picks, pine cones, and dried fruit.

Eucalyptus can be cut and hung upside down or added to arrangements right after cutting. The scent will fill the room.

Cut stems to fit. You don’t have to use the whole branch. Snip the leaves from the bottom of the stem and it will be easier to insert into the wreath.

Cut stems to fit.

For stubborn stems that don’t want to bend a little wire can be used to secure them where needed.

Cut wire the length you need and bend to create your own U-pin.

On some flowers I added picks so I could secure them in the wreath and have them stand out a bit. You want to create some depth to give the wreath dimension.

I use a simple wooden skewer and cut it to the length I need. With smaller flowers a round toothpick works well.

Work your way around the wreath adding flowers and foliage, picks or other materials until you’re happy with the look and shape. Don’t be afraid to pull something out or cut some off if it doesn’t look right.

For this wreath, keep adding the the eucalyptus until you have covered the front and sides.

Sometimes when you add a large flower like this mum, your first reaction is “Holy Cow!” and you think it’s going to be too much. Hold on for a bit and keep adding to the wreath, you can always remove it later if you still don’t like it. You want to have different sizes and textures in the wreath so it doesn’t look flat and uninteresting..

To add flowers, just stick the stems into the  wreath. Normally it isn’t necessary to wire or glue them. However, if your wreath is in an area where there is heavy traffic and it may get bumped, by all means wire and glue as needed.

Well, that’s it! From beginning to end it took about twenty minutes to create. No talent or skill needed. You can make your wreath as full or as sparse as you like depending on what works for you and your decor.

Have fun and enjoy!

Mamma

Grapevine Wreath of Procrastination

The other day while I was sipping tea on my patio and trying to think of other things I could do instead of working on the last bits of my kitchen remodel, I spied the grapevines that were taking over a rhododendron tree. I couldn’t just go inside and let it happen! This needed to be taken care of right now! I started trimming the vines and wrestling them out of the tree. At some point, while I was immersed in this work, I started thinking about making something out of the vines so I cut them in longer lengths – as long as I could get them. Soon, I had piles of grapevines all around me. Some were older and brown and others were young and green. I decided to extend my procrastinating time and make a simple wreath. 

Grapes Gone Wild

First, I pulled the longest vines out of the piles and laid them out so I could see what I had. I quickly found out that the brown vines are better for bending. They had more give than the green vines.

The Chosen Ones

Next, I removed most of the leaves from the vine but kept some of the curly tendrils. I made a circle with the vine in a size that looked good to me. My circle is about 20 inches wide.

The stripped down vine starting to form into a circle.

I just kept winding the vine around and around the main vine.

Wrapp

When I was at the end of a vine, I just tucked it into the others so it would stay put. Then, I cut the end at an angle so it was flush with the rest.

Tucked in ends.

I continued this process until I thought the wreath was thick enough. I went ahead and made a smaller one too. I’m guessing the small one is about 14 inches wide.

All done!

Looking at them both in the photo right now, I might add a few more vines to thicken the sides. Or maybe not. It just depends on my procrastination needs! Mamma suggested I make a pyramid type trellis or arbor and I toyed with using the shorter vines I had cut to make a swag. I still might do one of those ideas but I had to get some nourishment. So, now the leftover vines are still laying on the patio, uh, I mean, they are “curing” for now. Honeysuckle vines can also be used for wreaths but I think I have to wait until the spring to prune my variety. Has anybody tried to make their own honeysuckle wreaths? I’d love to hear your experiences and also see your vine creations.

Thanks for reading!

Karey

Fairy Garden Kit & My Debut

Well, Mamma took to blogging like nobody’s business! I, on the other hand, ended up being very busy this past month winding up a kitchen remodel and did not have time for much else except putting together a birthday gift for a young friend of ours, Anne. My first post will be about her gift.  

I really love the idea of making gifts but, usually, I don’t come up with an idea until the last minute… Which means I don’t make anything and just live with the fact that I have a disappointing lack of time management skills. Well, this time, I thought of an idea the day before Anne’s birthday party and was actually able to make it happen!

I had just seen the animated movie, Epic, and had fairies on my mind. Anne likes fairies as well so I decided to make her a Fairy Garden Kit. I searched around to see what kits are on the internet. Most of the fairy gardens I saw were already arranged but this one from Pinterest caught my attention.

Fairy Garden in a Box

It’s from Playful Learning Ecademy. I like that it allows the gift recipient to create his or her own fairy garden. I am all about kids using their imaginations instead of having everything spelled out for them!

Putting a kit together was pretty simple. I liked the box used in Playful Learning’s kit but I didn’t have one. So, I found the perfect sized basket in the garage from a pile of baskets – I mean the organized shelf where the baskets are arranged by size… Uh-huh.

Perfect basket!

Then, I made a trip to Home Depot and bought a couple of sedum plants and some scotch moss.

The next part was the easiest… I literally went into the backyard and picked up twigs. We have fir trees all over the place here in the Northwest so I walked about 10 feet out of the house and went to a small branch that had fallen in a recent windstorm. Perfect little twigs all over it! I also grabbed a few pine cones. Next, I broke all the twigs to about the same size and tied them together with some twine that I had. Here’s my collection of goods for the kit so far. 

Plants and Twigs

Anne has spent many hours in our backyard with my son collecting little white rocks that had been excavated when we redid our backyard. She really liked them and so I scooped up a pile they had left on the patio, washed them, and put them in a terracotta pot.

When I arranged everything in the basket, it felt like it needed more so I whipped out the trusty glue gun and grabbed some more twigs. Some of them were curved; some were flat. I thought making a little door wood be cute so I arranged some curved twigs to fit just right, breaking them off where needed.

Making a door.

Sometimes, I used a kitchen knife to whack at them too… please be careful if you use this method!

Fitting together curved twigs.

Some parts of the branch I used had some moss on it that was perfect for my project. I used the moss to cover up any globs of glue that I found.

Moss covers up all the messiness.

Now that I was on a gluing rampage, there was no stopping me. I went ahead and made a pathway too.

Just cut all the leftover straight twigs to the same size and glued.

The whole kit came together in about three hours and that includes the time I spent at Home Depot and the time gathering supplies in my basement, garage, and backyard. Super easy and it turned out great. The best part is that the Fairy Garden Kit was a hit with Anne and her friends!

Just needed to add a bow.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully, I will get back here again soon!

Karey