DIY Harvest Wreath

Oh, it's that time of year again alright.  Harvest time!  I seem to do way more crafting in the fall and winter, and this harvest wreath is my first project of the season this year.  Between Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas I definitely tap into the craftiness much more often once fall hits.

I guess it's the holidays & crispy weather.  Or perhaps it's because it coincides nicely with Alaska hibernation season.  Definitely one of the two. Because really - what better way to wile away the winter dark & cold than with crafts.  And booze.  But once again, I digress.

I've wanted to create a burlap wreath like this one for a long time, so I'm glad I finally got off my ass and did it.  It wasn't hard, thanks to you tube.  I followed this woman's tutorial for the burlap part, and free styled the decorating part.

I had a bunch of fall-themed decorations on hand already, and I found the orange thistle flowers I used on one of my favorite craft sites, www.save-on-crafts.com.  It's hard to believe how affordable their stuff is - well, minus the outrageous Alaska shipping costs, anyway.  Check it out, you'll be surprised at the variety and price.

I started with a standard Styrofoam wreath form, wrapped it with burlap & secured it with hot glue so the white wouldn't peak through.

Next, I cut the burlap into 5 x 5 squares, and glued each piece into little "pillows."  You basically just fold the pieces into triangles and glue the corners together to make little poufs.

There were more than a few sessions of picking the hot glue off of my fingers.  And I may or may not have burned my thumb a few times.  I never said I was precise. 

The finished poufs are on the bottom right

The fun part is arranging the poufs onto the wreath.  I squished them together and secured them with hot glue and pins, rearranging and jujing as I went.

Coming along

The part I struggled with was the design and spacing of the harvesty things I used on the wreath.  You can use whatever floats your boat, decorations-wise.  I was set on the harvest-theme, but you could easily go in a totally different direction.  Flowers, berries, something holiday specific...whatever you want. The burlap is pretty much a blank canvas.

I used mini-pine cones, acorns, wheat, orange thistle flowers & some brown nut/flower type carved pieces.  I still question whether my spacing, amounts, and positioning works, and I was especially unsure about the spikes of wheat sticking out, but overall I think it looks good.

I have to use this close-up picture of the flowers because the hubby thinks he's hilarious.

After I had a few days to check it out on the door as I was coming and going, I decided I love it!  Not too bad for my first autumn burlap wreath!

Now...what to tackle next at the start of hibernation/crafting season?  New harvesty cocktails or something crafty?  What the hell, who says I can't do both?  But maybe not together.  Could be messy.  Ha.  Gotta make the best of the winter suck, so standby for...stuff.

Ta-ta for now.