Fall wreath

Thank you, Pinterest, for yet another awesome idea. The weather's starting to get cooler (hallelujah!), leaves are just starting to turn, and you almost need a jacket when you go out in the morning. Bring on long-sleeved shirts, Ohio State football, and fire pitting in the backyard!

To celebrate the beginning of Fall, I'm sharing my latest project - a festive wreath!

My sis (in law), Jasmine, is getting married in a month!

Last weekend was her bridal shower in Indy, and as much fun as small kitchen appliances are, I wanted to go for something more personal. Then, I was browsing around my favorite blogs and found this awesome wreath on FreshHomeIdeas.com. It seems so very Jaz -- and for her Fall wedding, it was perfect; she and Jose Carlos definitely need something fun and personal in their new apartment. Not only that, but her wedding colors are very festive for fall - reds, yellows, oranges. This pretty wreath on the front door can be an exciting reminder that their big day is coming!

via

So, off I went to Hobby Lobby & Jo-Ann Fabrics. I took a regular wreath form -- one of those straw ones you can get for $3.99 at HL or Jo-Ann. [Get it with a 40% off coupon for an additional score.]  I unwrapped the wreath halfway and then started to realize it was puking pieces of straw all over my freshly cleaned floor (ugh!!!)!! I ended up pulling out some saran-wrap and wrapping it all back up again. Since it was all covered with yarn, it really didn't matter, so if I make another one again, the plastic wrap is staying on. (Is it supposed to stay on anyway?)

Then, I wrapped yarn around it for what seemed like forever... I thought I was going to die still wrapping that yarn around the wreath! Once that was finally done, all I had to do was start cutting and hot-gluing. Jo-Ann even had a bunch of cool buttons on sale for $0.25 each from $3.99 for some of those things, so this was a fun and enjoyable project. Just like we used to do in first grade, I folded and folded and cut pieces of fabric like paper snowflakes. It's easy - just cut, glue, stack, and put a button on top. Sorry, I was on such a roll I spaced on taking in-progress photos.

If you look closely, the fabrics on this wreath are lots of different textures -- the green fabric is corduroy, yellow is felt, orange is felt, and others are printed textures or linen-look. Like the inspiration wreath, I also positioned the flowers around on the sides of the wreath so it'd have some dimension.

If you attempt this, I recommend hot glue.... lots and lots of hot glue!

Since Jaz's new apartment is still crying out for some personal touches like wall decorations and accessories, I also gave her a set of 3 small frames to include in a frame gallery - all featuring cheese (one of her proclaimed favorite things). I'm so glad this wreath turned out. Trust me guys, it took a LOT of restraint not to post a Facebook photo or blog post about this thing before I gave it to her! :)

Only a few more weeks 'til the big day...Congrats girlie!

I linked up at:

Dear Pinterest

Dear Pinterest:

Give me my life back. Sure, I love to see pictures of great rooms and enjoy an endless supply of design inspiration, but you are way too addicting. Facebook has nothing on you.

The way you let me pin, like, follow, and comment on photos by my friends or even other strangers is too easy. Every time I stumble across an inspiration photo or am looking for ideas - organization, food, amazing DIY projects, you name it - it's so hard not to hit the "Pin" button on my browser and grab the photo to create an online scrapbook all in one place. I can't stand that I'm losing valuable productive time just wondering who's going to comment or pin something fun next (and checking it out when they do).

I mean, Jaz and I are figuring out her wedding details, and it's just too easy to spot things we want to do for her in October. Before you came along, our heads were spinning and we weren't sure where to start. Maybe we wanted it that way.

We could easily spend (or have spent) hours looking at other popular or recent photos that have been pinned by other users. Before you came along, I would find an inspiration photo, click "Save As," and store them on my computer hard drive... what if I wanted to use all that computer storage space?

Going onto Pinterest.com for the first time was like trying a gateway drug... one chair led to another and next thing I knew, I  hadcreated a "Cane Chair" board for all the interesting ideas I found for my own makeover.

And then, those photos led me to other design ideas For The House, and now I have so many other ideas flying through my head. Ones that I had never thought or seen before. It's a completely crazy and scary notion; I had no clue that these things were even out there:

So thanks a lot, Pinterest.
...you're not so bad after all.

Love,
Steph