Yarn Wreath Tutorial

Last weekend it was a bit chilly out.  So, I decided to make a new wreath for the door!  I have been trying to get a wreath to put up for each season, so this is my spring wreath!

The supplies for this were less than $10 (I used a coupon for the wreath form, and the silk flowers were on sale!) and it took me a couple hours to make - most of that is wrapping, and wrapping, and wrapping yarn ... and my skein of yarn was giving me fits so some of that time was undoing the skein and making a ball of yarn.




Here are my supplies:
1 14" wreath form (I would probably like a 16 inch one, but apparently they are hard to find!)
1 skein of yarn - I probably used about 2/3 of it
1 bouquet of silk flowers and other embellishments

Tools needed:
scissors
glue gun
wire cutters (for cutting ends of silk flowers)
clear tape



You want to start by tying your yarn on to the wreath.  I left about a 6 inch tail on the yarn for the hanger at the end.  This is more than you need, but will make it easy to tie.  I would also recommend tying in at the seam of the wreath form (not shown in this picture) as when you tighten up your wrapping it won't keep moving around.

Now the wrapping begins.  If your wreath form is smooth like mine you can wrap the yarn several times and then tighten it up.  However, I wouldn't recommend that you get the wraps far apart and that you push them together every 4 wraps.

Also, when you tighten up your wraps DO NOT twist your hands.  You want to push and pull them together, but twisting will cause some of the wraps to loosen and some of them to tighten creating nonuniform wrapping.


 
If you need to take a coffee break use a couple of pieces of the clear tape to secure it down.  You may also want to tape down the tail that you left at the beginning so that it doesn't get in your way.









After many many many wraps you will get close to the end.  When you are about 3/4 of an inch or 1 inch from the end you can make your hanger.  Tape the tail down, tie it to the wrapped yarn and then finish wrapping over the taped section.









When you get all the way around you can tie the two ends together like this to form a little hanger.

Now your wreath is done and you can put your flowers on!

You will want to trim your flowers, but leave some of the stem to push into your wreath.  For the larger stems I leave about 1/2 to 3/4 inch, for the small wires I leave 1 to 1 1/2 inches.

Next you will want to dry fit all of your flowers.  I generally put all of the flowers in until I decide on the final arrangement.  Please note that the holes will not look this large.  Apparently my camera did not take the pictures the other day so I had to remove one after it was glued to show these pictures.

Once you have decided on the placement of all of the flowers use your glue gun to secure them in place.  Take the flower out, inject hot glue into the hole, and then replace the flower before the glue cools. 

I recommend removing and gluing one flower at a time.





An alternative to the hanger that I showed you is to use a wide ribbon. I will be adding a ribbon when I get some that coordinates with the flowers.

Patio, aka Mud Pit, Update

So, way back on May 19, 2011, I blogged about our mud pit ... soon to be patio ... Well maybe not so soon!

I am happy to report that there has been progress on the patio! We are almost ready to pour concrete, and the truck is (and thankfully small crew) is scheduled to be here on Friday! Woot! Woot! It only took 7 months!

I am quite happy that the digging, filling in, tamping, and form building is finished!!



I am looking forward to having a nice big space for a table and chairs!

Also, a walkway from the car!

















And, hopefully less muddy shoes to track dirt through the house ... although that might be a little dream with a husband and 3 boys tromping through!













I'll update you on the final days in a later blog post, but I hope you enjoyed this peak into the happenings around the MooreMagnets household!

Now ... off to swing and have an ice pop on this lovely December day!

DIY - A new Patio! Well ... maybe a mud pit!

Here's my new patio!

Ok ... well, it isn't a patio yet! I really wish I had taken a picture before we dug up the bushes, moved all the bulbs, and replanted the flowers! But ... I am not re-doing all of that work for the sake of my blog!

Anyway, we have no outdoor space for a table, chair or anything else! We have plenty of grass, but it is really a pain to move table and chairs all of the time to mow. Our front porch is tiny only about 4 feet x 8 feet and really not enough room for even a chair. So, my husband and I are putting in a small patio!

Now, I will say that pouring concrete is NOT for the faint of heart! It requires lots of digging, planning, tamping, prepping ... In the end it will probably cost less than if we were to build a deck the same size, but only because we are doing most of this work ourselves.

I'll try to be better about taking pictures so you can see this process ... in the mean time you can see a picture of the flower bed where I moved all of those flowers and bulbs. The bulbs are all buried though ... so it will be spring 2012 before you see those!

Labor Day is for Laboring?

So It seems that every Labor Day my husband and I work on some big un-done project. So, I guess in my house - Labor Day is for laboring!

This Labor Day weekend my husband and I tackled some un-done projects on my workshop! Originally, I was just going to start painting - a project that is well over-due and desperately needed!! So I woke up bright and early - got on the painting clothes - and went outside to start my weekend project! I apparently inspired my husband to come help me, as he shortly joined me and then left to pick up breakfast. After he returned he decided to start boxing in the eaves on my workshop! Yay! This is certainly a task that I wasn't sure how to complete, and one that I have desperately wanted to have done for a long time!

You see, we have bees and wasps! UGH! Lots of them! Certainly if they were honey bees I would have had our local bee association come and remove the hives, but the bees that we are inundated with are wasps and carpenter bees - NOT FUN!!! Now carpenter bees are great pollonators, but they cause total distruction to any wooden structures by boring tunnels into the wood for their nests! They are also said to be "unlikely to sting", but since I am apparently seen as a threat to their nest (since they build them inside my workshop), they like to dive bomb me and I have been stung by them before. Wasps are my other enemy - I cannot even tell you how many nests I have sprayed inside my workshop, and I have been stung by them also - NOT FUN!!

Here are pictures of the two gigantic wasp nests that we removed from my workshop over the weekend!

The eaves on the workshop are not completed yet as you can see by the pictures, but I am VERY happy that there is much less of a chance that the bees can invade at this point!

Up until this point we have been working on wiring my workshop! The wires have been run to all of the outlets - some of them installed, and some of them not installed! But I do have some workable outlets!

So, the home of MooreMagnets is coming right along, but for now it is back to work! I have custom orders to finish!!!