Easter Greetings From My Doorstep to Yours!

I've been at it again. . .wreathmaking!  Several a few weeks ago, I still had my Valentine wreath on my door. . .and being sick, I had no inclination to remove it!  Well, last weekend, my wreathmaking pal, and daughter, came over to help me measure and cut ribbon and deco mesh so that I could get my Easter wreath completed. . .after all, such a disgrace, a Valentine wreath still on my door two weeks after the holiday was over!  I jest, because I thank her immensely for helping me with the "grunt" work and giving me company and encouragement in order to finish my Easter wreath and, at the same time, to become un-disgraced!

I was so glad that I had purchased all my Easter embellishment ingredients at the same time that I shopped for my Valentine wreath embellishments very early in February.  It not only helped get my Easter project done sooner, but also helped because I wasn't feeling too energetic while still overcoming the tiredness that lingered well after the flu.  If I had to go shopping for Easter embellishments before I could finished, my wreath may never have been completed before the upcoming holiday.

With all that said, I want to share my little Easter bunny wreath.  She sits very prettily on my door as we speak!

Recipe:  Deco Mesh: 21" White & Turquoise Metallic (Michaels).  Deco Mesh: 10" Metallic: Lime, Yellow, Lavendar, Medium Pink, White (JoAnns).  Deco Mesh: 12" Lt. Blue Metallic (Michaels).  Hobby Lobby: bunny, carrots, egg wire ribbon, large eggs.  JoAnns: small bunnies, tiny eggs (basket).  Michaels: small multi-colored eggs.  Stash: wire ribbons-yellow daisy, plaid, tulips (from Costco), mini basket.

Valentine Wreath for My Door!

If you view and/or read my blog, you will have seen that I am now into making Deco Mesh wreaths for the holiday to decorate my door.  My first wreath is near and dear to my heart because it is a Seahawks wreath.  I have now made four of these:  one for my son & daughter-in-law, one for a cardmaking buddy's birthday, and one for my son's girl friend's birthday (an avid fan as well).  Here is a link to that project: http://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2015/08/seahawks-wreath-for-her-birthday.html 

My second project was loads of fun. . . I so love Halloween!  I love to make Halloween cards and I love all the fun decorations.  When the children were growing up, my oldest son and I fashion gravestones for the front yards out of tombstone shaped outdoor plywood, painted them gray and used one of those huge permanent black markers to assign them to clever characters for our lawn.  We, of course, had cobwebs and eerie music to fill the area surrounding the house.   Our house was the talk of the neighborhood.  As soon as I saw all the Halloween goodies in the stores, we had to get started on our next wreath project. .  .for Halloween!  Here is a link to that project:  http://chatterboxcreations-1.blogspot.com/2015/10/halloween-wreath-lets-try-it-again.html

Now, we are onto Valentine's Day, which is soon to arrive.  Since Michele and I were not able to get together to get much shopping done, except for our Deco Mesh itself, I went out by myself to find embellishments to finish up our wreaths with a flair.  I found it really difficult by myself to choose as I really didn't know what Michelle would like or not, so of course, I over shopped and that means we spent another whole evening later making numerous returns before February 14th as many stores do not take back seasonal items at all after the season has passed, even with a receipt!  But, with all that said, I still have to say, we were very pleased with the way our wreaths turned out.  I made mine with more of a focus on red, and she used a raspberry pouf in her base; therefore, hers ended up with more of a pink-toned focus.  Take a peek below at my finished project, which is gracing my front door:

Halloween Wreath. . .Let's Try It Again!

Back in August, I tried my first Deco Mesh wreath, making a Seahawks wreath for myself and my daughter-in-law's birthday.  My son, Mark, is an avid fan and Ginger has become one as well.  Because her birthday falls just prior to football pre-season, she was selected to receive the prized Seahawks wreath!

Well, I'm at it again.  While browsing through Michael's Craft store one day in September, my daughter, Michele, and I saw some darling Halloween items that we thought would make a great Deco Mesh wreath.  We were sold immediately. . . let's do it again!  We purchased on the supplies, but of course, all the other craft stores had to be visited to make sure we got just the right items.  Don't you hate it when you stop short, thinking you have everything you want or need and later find something you loved even better at another store but missed out on it.  Well, not Carlene. . . she doesn't stop until all possibilities have been addressed!

We so loved our Seahawks wreath and I have now made a total of four all together, so our methods have been honed and perfected more and more each time we've made a new wreath.  This time we were sure we wouldn't have to revisited craft stores making numerous returns of things we didn't need or want like we did when we made the Seahawks wreaths.  We've even shaved off about four hours of labor time as well!  Our first wreath took us over 12 hours to make since we were really in the learning curve.  I found by the time I made my fourth Seahawks wreath, I was down to eight hours.  Now, Michele is faster than I am, so she can probably finish in not more than seven hours.  They are time consuming and parts become a bit tedious, but oh the result is so worth it!  Michele and I made one together for sister, Jackie's new door.  Take a peek at mine. . .Halloween, here we come!

Seahawks Pre-Season is Almost Here!

I have started a new craft hobby. . .making Deco Mesh wreaths.  After viewing many YouTube videos and gathering as much information as we could, my daughter, Michele, and I decided to try making a Deco Mesh wreath with a Seahawks theme.  While we were shopping for supplies, at every craft store under the sun, we happened on an actual wreath that was completed and for sale at the Michael's store in Federal Way, WA for $89.99!  Now, it was nice, but just not fancy enough to suit what we were looking for, as it only used what we called the Pouf method.  If you know me, you know I always seem to challenge myself to start with the most difficult thing possible. . .is that trying to set myself up for failure or what!  Actually not, I have always achieve more if there is a challenge and a goal that is difficult to achieve. . .I'm all in for achieving it!

What we learned in viewing many YouTube videos that we would need an 18" wire wreath base, 21" wide mesh and 10" to 12" wide mesh.  You can not cut the 21" mesh in half and substitute it for the 10" to 12" as it totally starts to unravel or fray once cut and there is no way to stop it!   To start, take your 18" wire wreath base and twist pipe cleaners onto the center of each of the nine segments on the outside (#4) wire and inside (#2) wire.  Note: do NOT use the 4th smallest row toward the center.  Next, twist pipe cleaners onto the nine segment braces on your center row (#3).   

We learned there are three different styles to fashion your mesh into:  Poufs, Bow-Ties, and Tubes.  Poufs are the easiest and can be really big and billowy poufs or low-level poufs. . .kind of like a bra size: from a DDD to a B. . .by taking a 21" wide mesh roll and about 15" to 12" down its length, gather it up, with your hands, and tie it to your wire wreath base with a pipe cleaner, continuing around your wire wreath in each of the nine segments in this manner.  The Bow-Tie and the Tube versions both use the 10" to 12" wide mesh instead of the 21".  For each of these, you cut this narrower mesh into 10" to 11" lengths.  For the Bow-Tie, gather in the center, raw edge to raw edge (cut edge) from one end to the other (looks like a bow tie) and tie it down with a pipe cleaner to your wire wreath base.  For the Tubes, you take the 10" to 11" cut length and roll it with the raw edge as the length and the mesh "selvage" being the edges of the tube.  We used the cardboard tube of a 12" tube as our rolling tool.  You make three of these Tubes usually in various colors, and tie them down to your wire wreath base.

Michele and I decided to combine two different styles.  We started with the Poufs in three different colors, applying the first two colors in a criss-cross manner (our idea because it was more difficult...right?) and using the outside row and the inside row of pipe cleaners (pipe cleaner wires #3 and #1).  Then, we applied our third layer of poufs on top of the criss-crossed mesh by using the center row of pipe cleaners.  We considered this entire process our base layer.  Next we added sets of three Tubes in each of the nine wire wreath base segments to the outermost row and to the third inside row (pipe cleaner wire #3 and #1).  By this time our 18" wire wreath base, looks MUCH bigger in circumference!  Next, we add a set of two different 12" wire ribbons to each segment to the middle row of pipe cleaners and a single 12" wire ribbon to the inside row.  The final steps are to add embellishments: one as the center circle focal point and other smaller embellishments to the mesh surface to spruce it up to your liking.

TAH DAH!!  Here is my first wreath. . .one for myself. . .after all I am a 12TH woMAN and ready for pre-season SEAHAWKS football!!!!   My second one made for my dauthter-in-laws birthday, which is TODAY!!  Happy Birthday, Ginger!