Fundraiser Wreaths

 OK, they have bids! Last I looked one was $51 and one was $60. The bidding ends tomorrow. (Oh, I forgot to mention that mom and I made these to sell in the boutique at a lineage society convention we are attending in Jacksonville.)

Busy, Busy, Busy

Lately all of our time has been centered around work, taking care of the dogs, and Marge. Long story short, she is in rehab probably until October 28th. Oh! And I flew to Atlanta last Friday so my mom could buy a new car! We drove it home last weekend.

This weekend is cousin Sarah's 8th birthday so I'll go to her party tomorrow. Today, however, was for crafting. One I will share.

I bought this baroque frame from Michael's (on sale for 40% off), a white double mat, rhinestone stickers and fancy paper from the scrapbooking area, ribbon, and paper flowers with "pearl" centers. I found a place online where you can insert your pedigree information and then print it off for free. So I created a pedigree chart for Sarah, added the corner decos to the mat, then hot glued ribbon and flowers to the outside of the frame. I don't know if she will appreciate her family tree at 8 years old but I do believe she will like the frame.

Earlier this week I got a good start on a fund-raiser wreath for Ratbone. I like to take my time and think about what will look good and what will look overdone. I found this cool red burlap ribbon with buttons on it at Hobby Lobby. My first time in one of those stores and I got there as they were making the "we are closing in 5 minutes" announcements. I was determined to find something in 5 minutes.

Carnival Season!

Mardi Gras is February 12th this year so it's time to put up the wreath and eat king cake. This year I made myself new wreaths for my doors (the old one were getting faded in the florida sun) and I bought supplies to make a garland for my fireplace but made a wreath for my cousin Erica with them instead.

My front door

Erica's wreath



Wreath-over

I've been hanging the same rose wreaths for Valentines day for several years now and it was time for a change. I'm not sure if they were getting tired looking or if I was just getting tired of looking at them. I decided that instead of buying new I would do a makeover!

My rose wreaths before the transformation. Nothing wrong with them, just have been looking at them year after year. I repaired a couple places where the silk roses were coming loose from the twig wreath and then it was on to the fun stuff.

I spent $4 at the dollar store for 4 packages of the heart picks - I wasn't sure which I would use so I bought pink flocked and red glitter hearts, each in two sizes. I spent $2.99 at Michael's for the ribbon which also has red glitter hearts on a background of pink. How perfect that the picks and the ribbon found each other! Also assembled my glue gun, glue sticks, floral wire, and craft scissors.

I cut the picks down to a manageable size - 2 inch was a little short and 4 inch was too long but if you try a similar I suggest you start with long and widdle down until you find the right size.

Next, added hot glue to the bottom inch or so of each pick. Careful! That glue stings like a son-of-a-gun if you get it on your skin. I still have little scar spots on my finger tips from 15 years ago.

Position the wet glue picks between leaves in areas where you think they will look best. Remember, if a wreath has an area that is a little bare, this is a good place to use something like this, or a bow, to help fill it in. I actually just glued in a few and then decided it best to figure out the ribbon positioning before committing with hot glue.

Casually placed the hearts and the tried out the ribbon in several places. First, the top center. Looks really good but thought perhaps a bit predictable.

Tried it on the side. Different. Because I have double doors and use two wreaths, this would mean also deciding if the bow should on the same side of each wreath or on opposite sides.

Before I tried them out I thought this wreath was going to be a bottom ribbon candidate but when I tested it there I didn't like it at all.

I made a very simple loop bow out of the wire-edged ribbon and secured it in the middle with a long piece of floral wire. No need to worry about a center "knot" on the ribbon or to cover the wire because it will be secured deep into the silk flowers. Placed the bow in the appropriate spot and and tied off the floral wire behind the wreath. Twisted many time, cut to about two inches, and then folded into the wreath twigs.

Last step before hanging was to position the hearts. I mostly used one pink and one red, each in a different size, together. There was a couple with two large or two small but never two fo the same color.

Finally, hung on the door. I couldn't get the red glitter hearts to show in a photo but in "real life" they are easily seen. Then I went on to updating my St. Patrick's day wreaths that I dont really like - those wreaths grow a little every year and some day I will have them how I like them but you will have to wait a while to see those; afterall, Mardi Gras is first!

Green Thumb Sunday, sorta

Attempted to do a couple garden things today but so far they are a bust. One was to plant one of those topsy turvey strawberry planters but we only had 6 plants and the thing has 15 LARGE holes so there is no leaving them open. Finally am taking down the one my Dad had me plant - Jerry actually busted it open with the end of the pool basket thingy used to pick up leaves. I put that same thing through the screen proch before. Ouch.

I will get back on a regular watering schedule for orchids, I will, I will but it is depressing after all I lost to the cold weather and bad watering habits. The closest thing to real gardening today was to put out a new lawn ornament I got for Christmas from Cousin Erica (not sure it is in the right place, may move it again) and to repair and update my St. Patrick's wreaths which I really don't like.

I added a few things to them this year. Not sure I like them any better but I am thinking perhaps next year I'll add some flowers or something and they will get to where I like them. They just look messy and disorganized and kinda tacky to me. Last year they were sparse and tacky so I guess it is an improvement. LOL

Maybe I don't like these because I like my Mardi Gras ones so much and missed them this year. I better go look in the garage and make sure that they don't have boxes sitting on them and ruining them like these St. Pat wreaths did. Took a lot of repair this year.

Flamingo had to get in onthe act too! My little front-door sentry is donning a bandana of the season!

4th of July Decorations

I was a little late decorating for the 4th of July this year. In fact, I did it today ;)

Our doors may look shabby but they are always adorned with a seasonal wreath!

Jerry loves his flags :)

I saw these patriotic pinwheels at Dollar Tree. They were $1 for a package of 7. I just knew I could use them somewhere - decided to make a bouquet. Guess I should have saved it for Sunday's Green Thumb post, LOL.

Famous last word!

How I Spent My Friday Night

I believe I had a GREAT Friday night! First I fed and walked my:

Then I finally finished making my St. Patrick's Day wreaths. I kept procrastining the finish because I'm not crazy about them. I didn't care for many of the doo-dads available - I didn't want beer jugs on my wreath, LOL.

And finally I finished off the night by playing Wii. I did very well at the bowling training game where it keeps adding more pins - first frame is 10 pins and they increase up to 91 pins!. See the scorekeeper thingy in the upper left of the photo? The check marks indicates strikes. Just one more frame to go........

And STIKE on the last frame! I got all 91 pins down. It was my night.

Mardi Gras Wreath, Part Deux

Well they aren't identical, that might be impossible to pull off, but they are highly coordinated. Same stuff just different order.

Mardi Gras Wreath

I made a Mardi Gras wreath for my front door tonight. I bought most of the supplies at Michael's & the Dollar Tree so is cost under $15. I already had the gold ribbon and the floral wire. It's been a while since I made a wreath - I forgot how fun it is!

I have to make a second one because I have double doors. I am thinking about it, probably too much, because I am not sure if I should make them identical or change it up a bit.

Let the good times roll!

Green Thumb Sunday

Turns out I don't have time to go take photos of oak trees today so I am doing Green Thumb Sunday from my own backyard, again. Here's three photos involving my bulbophyllum - each showing a closer view and #3 has a surprise in it!

A little closer..................................
Surprise! Look who has been living in my plant this summer. He is unhappy when I water so I try to be respectful of his home.

These next two photos are shocking. My succulents wreaths are now about 4 years old and falling apart. The last two years I have tried to add more moss, dirt, and even replant the ones that fall out but it is not working. HELP!

Time for the ever-dependable orchids........................

And the final Green Thumb shot is of my old birdbath. It's seen a lot of use in the past 3 years. About a year ago I moved it about 8 feet and I don't believe the birds like it as much. They don't realize it's actually safer for them.