Christmas Book Page Wreath

My good friend Maran use to have a little hobby of making the most beautiful book page wreaths.  I decided it looked pretty easy and had big fail numero uno.  Now while I am known to pull things out of people's trash to upcycle or repurpose, this actually looked like I had pulled it out of someone's trash.  And that's exactly where I put it.  In the trash.

Fast forward a couple of years.  I made a coffee filter wreath.  It turned out better than I imagined it would.  A thought dawned on me.  Why not cut book pages out to be the same shape as a coffee filter?  So that's what I did, using a scalloped edge scissors.  I folded them in fourths and hot glued them into place.  It worked like a charm and I can finally say I've conquered the book page wreath!

My little three year old loves to run the glue gun for me and was totally in to this project.  She had the great idea of putting the red glittery Christmas leaves and holly on the wreath.  It came off of a very "interesting" arrangement my neighbor Bob down the road gave me.

Oh, and someone asked me if  read the story first.  Well, I have to say I certainly wasn't going to... and it would have been easier if I had read it first.... because as I was making this, one of the pictures captured my attention, which made me read the context, which got me totally intrigued and sucked me in.... and I ended up trying to piece pages back together and stayed up until midnight solving the murder mystery.  True story.

 My Repurposed Life

So I Finally Made A Coffee Filter Wreath!

It's Wordless Wednesday. 

 And before ya'll start shoutin' at me that this can't be used for WW because you need a tutorial... please remmeber that Google is at your service.  Google it.  Although I did not use a tute, I'm sure you will find an easy one out there. 

There. are. lots.:)

Keep calm and Google on!  

Dude, I totally need to make that a sign!!! 

Okay,now I'm making Wordless Wednesday wordy.  Doht!

Rant, Rave, N' Rag Wreath On Wooden Frame

So I'm out pickin'.  

And I won't go into the horrific details of what I came upon because all you upcyclers and repurposers and hoarders and wanna-bees and koala-bees might have terrible nightmares like I've had ever since the day....... 

the day that I grabbed this old antique wooden ring that was probably smashed off of some beautiful priceless antique just minutes before and was being used to hold in and prevent from falling out said smashed up gorgeous, beautiful, ornate furniture while on the way to the incinerator.  BAHHHH.  I said more than I should have!  Quick!  Go wash that down with a cold beverage.  Or.  Maybe I just reread that run-on sentence and maybe just maybe you didn't understand a word of what I was saying and maybe you should trust me

 when I tell you "THAT'S A GOOD THING".  

Maybe. 

 Phew.  

So want to see what I did with this huge wooden circle?  Why, a rag wreath!  What else does Kammy do with any type of circular object?!

 They really did look at me like I was a physcho for snatching this out of the back of their truck.  Well, likewise, I thought THEY were physcho (which OBVIOUSLY THEY WERE) for smashing to sm..... ummmm okay let's not go there againnnn.....................

There was zero expense in this fun little project.  I used two shades of off white fabric scraps I had on hand, the burlap came out of the stuffing of an old chair I took apart, and well of course, you just read about the wooden frame....  just a little hot glue for the burlap and it's a wrap!

  I mean wreath. :)

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Happy Spring! {Wreaths and Birds}

 The other morning, when the sun was sleeping in and I was wishing I was too, I looked outside to see what all the racket was.  The tree behind our house was loaded with birds!  I could only imagine it was a bunch of females all sharing their pregnancy and birthing* stories as nobody was taking turns, they were all talking at once, and all trying to make their story sound more dramatic than the others!  "Is that so?  Well, I popped out thirteen eggs and one of them weighed fifteen ounces and to top it off he was breach".  "No way..."  "Yeah way, the big side of the egg came out first!  And not only that, but his beak was already poking out, do you know the pain that causes a mama down there?!  And the midhen had the nerve to tell me to stop getting my feathers so ruffled!" 

Then I grabbed my camera and was hopping out the door in my hot pink pajamas to snap this picture when my little boy pulled on me to stop.  "They'll hear you and all fly away!!".  I was real quiet, got my picture, and they just kept right on a cacklin'. :)

 Click here for my rag wreath tutorial.

  Easiest thing you'll ever make!

*p.s. I guess birds don't really "birth"... therefore they would have "laying" stories, not "birthing" ones.  

Wow, what is with my corny self today?  It must be my low-cal diet.  My body is not handling the lack of cookies and ice cream well!

Acorn Creations

Great activity for the kids!  They can gather acorns and sort them, the shells from the nuts.  Or as we called them, the "heads from the hats".

Then easy as can be, just hot glue them on one at a time!  Easy - yes!  Fast - not so much.

I recently discovered a new resale shop in our town called The Jackson Trading Post.  I love it because his prices are actually something I'm willing to pay!!!!  Now ya'll know that's saying something.  And he negotiates.  If you remember the little wood doll cradle I painted for my niece (Click HERE to see it), I paid $9 for it at the Jackson Trading Post.  So what's that got to do with this?  Well that little bird nestled in the wreath?  I got it there.  For 50 cents.  Yup!  It's on Lansing Ave, near the Clinton Way intersection in case you're from these parts.

 And now what did I do with the "nut" part of the acorns?  Well, I was making that into a wreath too... and then when I got done I decided it made a super cute "something to put on my coffee table with a vase stuck in it" thing-a-ma-jig.  It'd make a great candle ring, too.

 Aren't those weeds pretty?!  They have a purplish tone.  Yup, just pulled them out of the ditch on the side of the road.  Best way to bring the outdoors in without spending a dime, eh? :)

 Check out what I'm loving (or am pretty sure I would love if it were mine) from my sponsors these days:

click on photo to take you to their shop.

Stop in again soon! 

 I just painted my den purple - wanna see?  Then stay tuned!  I also just painted my garage yellow and white - wanna see?  Then stay tuned!  I'm transforming an antique dresser and large buffet - wanna see? 

 Then stay tuned!!! :)

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Rag Wreaths: Wrapped or Unwrapped?

I can't believe it.  I missed my Trash 2 Treasure Tuesday party for the very first time in almost a year.  I have a good excuse however.  I was in the wonderful farm state of Iowa for the funeral of a wonderful man.  We also got to spend a morning with my big farmer uncles harvesting beans.  More on that later as I have some things I'd love to share with you, but I'm not ready for that yet!

 It's a crisp, clean look to the have the wreath wrapped.  But it takes a lot more fabric and maybe you're going for a more rustic look.  Let's take a look at the difference so you can decide what look you like before you decide to make your own rag wreath!

I grab any used wreaths I can get my  hands on if they're under $2.  These looked like handmade twig wreathes, possibly made from sticks or branches from a willow tree.

I loved working with this fabric, which I also picked up at Saint Vinney's (fill a basket for $5!!) because it was stretchy and I could really wrap it tight.  When tying my strips around the wreath though, instead of just tying it once, I actually knotted it because otherwise it just slipped right open and came undone. I've decided I like the look of the complete knot better anyway.   

This is what I mean by tying it around once and not making the complete knot.  Just do this all the way around the wreath with strips of fabric and you have yourself a very shabby, adorable SUPER-EASY wreath!!  (You can see how the green one turned out HERE).

So which look do you prefer?  The unwrapped wreath on the left or the wrapped wreath on the right?