Valentine's Day "mantle"

I still have more burlap and I thought a Valentine's wreath would be nice.  I wanted to set up a little "mantle" on top of our china cabinet since we don't have a real one. 

Dee Dee did over at ddzine made a lovely burlap wreath in a classic shape.  So pretty!

dee dee's burlap wreath

  I followed the same steps as she did but formed my hanger into a heart!

Then I cut strips of burlap in random widths.

I stuck them through the hanger

and formed "ruffles"

I just kept going until the wreath looked fluffy enough then closed it up with tape.    

  and her close up...

I tied a little piece of red and white twine on to hang it from the front of the china cabinet.

I took an extra frame, laid some burlap in, cut out a heart with white felt and voila!  With our wedding photo, some pretty candle sticks and the little owl pitcher it's looking sweet up there I think.

Makes me want chocolate....

Its Overflowing
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Delightful Order
French Country Cottage
  Home Stories A to Z

quick letter art

When I switched out the frames in our dining room here I freed up some frames for use elsewhere.  Our gallery wall above the sofa in the living room is constantly shifting and growing.  I joke with my husband that one of these days I'm going to tap in a nail and the whole wall will crumble down because there are so many holes.

When we got back after the holidays I started fussing around the house.  Does anyone else do this before they even unpack their suitcase?  I am compelled to decorate after being away from the house for a week.  I know, a little strange.

So we shifted the gallery wall once again and I had a gap to fill.  So I took this fabric I have.

I used the burlap for the background.  Burlap, what?  More burlap!  The love affair is in full swing!  I drew a little lower case b on the chevron fabric and cut it out with scissors.   It isn't perfect but that is part of the charm.  I just put the b on top of the burlap and assembled the frame again.  No glue or anything. Here it is

That makes three letter b's on the gallery wall.  I'm not sure what my fascination with letters is but I can't get enough.

 

linking up to It's Overflowing

 Savvy Southern Style

 Delightful Order  

Home Stories A to Z 

The Shabby Creek Cottage 

House of Hepworths 

No Minimalist Here 

Let Birdz Fly 

French Country Cottage 

Wreath shuffle

You may remember my burlap wreath

It just didn't look as lovely on my front door as it did on my Mom's door.  Maybe something with the color?  The light wreath really popped with the burgundy door behind it.  Our bright green door didn't do much for it and hubby and I decided to display it elsewhere.  Here it is on the linen closet door in the hall. 

You can see it from the living room and I think it looks lovely against the white door (that needs another coat of paint but that's another story) with the taupe paint around it.

So that left the issue of the front door.  It was now left with nada after the Christmas swag was removed.  Then I realized I had my Grandmother's pine cone wreath.  My Aunt offered it to me and I was thrilled to have it.  It hung on my Grandmother's mirror in her dining room and I always remembered looking at it when I was little. 

We used it in our Christmas decor around a vase.

I thought it needed a little something and a way to hang it would be nice as well.  I'm sure it will come as a great shock that burlap came to mind.  I cut a strip and wrapped it around the wreath and stapled it.  I just pushed the stapled bit to the back so you can't see it and stuck the nail we have in the front door through the burlap.  I took another little strip of burlap and tied it around the exposed nail that poked through to hide it.  It still needed something....

A letter B!

Good thing I bought a ton of felt in preparation for the burlap wreath.  I cut out a little letter B and stuck it on.  I keep meaning to glue it but I guess I won't have to because days later it is still sticking.  The felt and burlap combination is working like velcro!

There you have it!  Looks winterish without being overly holiday I think. 

What do you think about winter decor?  For the first time ever I'm leaving some greens and such from our Christmas decorations out as an attempt at winter decorating.  I like it and it is helping avoid some of the "whoa it looks blah in here" issues I usually face when all the Christmas trimmings come down at once. 

fluffy felt, burlap and button wreath

I'm already a little sad about how blah the house will look once all the Christmas stuff is down.  I'll walk around the house and think everything looks empty and sad.  This is a yearly thing for me and I'm prepared so I figured if I have a new wreath to hang up at least I can combat the post holiday decoration slump a little.

My love affair with burlap is going strong and I also have a bit of a thing for felt.  I can't sew.  At least not proper sewing.  A little repair for a tear here and there and some loose button attachment is about as far as it goes.  Wonderful felt has allowed me to make two Halloween costumes with hot glue and I have to say they weren't too shabby.

I wanted a fluffy wreath and I wasn't sure how it was going to work but I got a foam wreath form, white felt, oatmeal felt, burlap and some pom pom trim just because I love it.

I just started cutting circles and squares out of the burlap and felt.

No real method.  Some I cut with pinking shears, some with regular scissors.  They were all different sizes and definitely not uniform.

I took a bunch of natural colored loose buttons my Mom offered up.

I layered felt, burlap and buttons and just randomly started hot gluing them on the wreath form.

I cut some pom pom trim loose

and attached some of those to the felt as well.

And so I cut...

and glued

until this

looked like this.

Then I cut and glued some more until finally it looked like this

Here is a detail

It didn't take as long as I thought it would but there were several hours of cutting and gluing.  I like my fluffy wreath.  Looks cozy and winterish right?  I thought a bit of burlap "ribbon" to hang it from would be nice so I just cut a long strip. 

I'm linking up to Delightful Order ,  It's Overflowing
Somewhat Simple 
The Shabby Creek Cottage
Funky Junk Interiors