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Two Wreaths, Plain and Fancy

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I’m not doing much in the way of Christmas decorating this year because we’ll be flying off to sunny Orlando next week to spend the holiday with our two beautiful, brilliant, funny and loving daughters. My eldest daughter, Joy, will be flying in from New York with her husband Andrew (who is just the best son-in-law in the world) and Bethany will be flying in from Los Angeles.  Since we live in the great Pacific Northwest that is three corners of the country converging on the fourth.  Disney World here we come! 
I don’t feel bad about missing out on the hours and hours (really days and days) of decorating this year, but I wanted to add a few little touches of Christmas to the house for our wonderful house sitter, dog sitter, prayer buddy and my good friend Deanna.  I’ve been having a lot of fun making rosettes from different fabrics. Not only are they fun but they are so easy.  For this post I’ve made two types of wreaths . . . one plain . . . one fancy!









Here is the “plain” wreath with rosettes made from an old plaid shirt that once belonged to my husband (it wasn’t one of your good ones dear).  Before I throw any piece of scrap fabric or OLD clothing away I am in the habit of looking at it’s potential to be made into something NEW.  This wreath was really inexpensive to make.  The grapevine wreath was from The Dollar Store and the burlap was cut from a large bolt of burlap I have on hand for other projects.

I made two types of rosettes, the larger ones with shirt fabric only, the smaller ones with shirt fabric edged with burlap.  I wasn’t at all concerned about the fraying of the fabric as that is the look I was going for.

After trying this wreath out in several different locations in my house, I ended up hanging it on the front of my kitchen cabinets.  This was kind of tricky as I had to pound a nail onto the inside of my cabinet door without pounding it all the way through to the front.  It would have been a sad day for me if I had ruined one of my newly painted cabinet doors.  I like the way red stands out on the white.

The next wreath is the one I call “fancy” although it’s origins aren’t too fancy.   It is made out of leftover drop cloth fabric from my Drop Cloth Draperies For my Front Door post.

  I’ll zoom in here so you can see the little bit of sparkle I added to “gussy it up”!

I have a bit of a passion for old frames.  I really like ornately carved frames and like to display them together in vignettes.  This frame, however, was just a cheap plastic one that I found at a garage sale.  This is what it looked like originally . . .

. . . and here it is after an application of Rub ‘n Buff.  This is a really fun product to use.  It is a wax that comes in a tube in many different colors.  Like the name says, you rub it on, let it dry, and buff it off for a shiny finish.  The shine is actually much brighter than I was able to capture in this picture. 


So those are my two wreaths, plain and fancy.  The art of hanging wreaths originated from the Romans who hung wreaths on their doors as sign of victory.  In Christian tradition the circle shape of the Christmas wreath represents Christ’s eternal love, his strength, and the creation of new life.

For a complete tutorial on making rosettes out of fabric, here is the link to a previous post where I showed how to make Burlap Rosettes.  While it may seem tricky at first, I’ve found that the more of these you make the easier it gets and that the more twists and turns you give your strip of fabric the better the rosettes end up looking.

Now I’m off to pick up a few more things for the Christmas gifts I’ve been making.  My dining room table looks like a crafter’s paradise!  I hope to give you a peek at the gifts I’ve made before flying off to warmer weather.

Blessings to you,
Patti

 


 

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    • Thank you for visiting and for the compliment Becky. I tried to link back to see your blog but my computer wouldn’t take me there. Blessings to you as well and Merry Christmas. Patti

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  10. I absolutely LOVE your wreath! I have a board on Pinterest strictly dedicated to dropcloths, burlap and linen….and you’re wreath is my favorite pin on that board! I’m probably too chicken to even try this wreath…your’s is fabulous! I need to have Santa bring me one instead Ü I’m luvin’ the plain shirt roses, too. Awesome job!

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