Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Easy as 1-2-3 Custom Look Wreath

It's September, and you know what I'm doing...

This last week I started decorating for Fall, and one thing I wanted to do was put together a new wreath for the Dining Room mirror. I love a lush twiggy grapevine wreath with lot's of naturals and florals, but I don't want to pay a "custom" price for it. So, no matter what the season, I have an easy method to get a custom look.





Here it is out on the Sunporch. I'll be showing you the Dining Room a little later, but for now it's on one of my old "Fall" quilts on a wicker chair.



As you can see it's pretty wild, and pretty big;
Fall berries, leaves and Hydrangeas.




I've been making my own wreaths for years, and I almost always use this quick method.  One of the best things about it, besides that it's quick, is that this method is easy to take apart, redo, refresh, or reuse at another time.

 Start with your basic grapevine twig wreath. 
The more crazy twigs the better...
I like a wild, natural, just picked look.




Since I'm a bad DIY blogger, I didn't even think to get pics until I had that wreath hanging up on the mirror, and at that point I wasn't going to take it apart again to show the steps.
sooo...
I just used a few other elements to show how easy it is..
please don't get confused because there are two different wreaths.
I know...I know....
bad blogger.

End of Season sales are a great time to pick up those basic garlands and candle rings. I think this one was a large candle ring that came from Michaels a few years ago. The basic garland ring is of just little Lady Apples. I added the sunflowers a while back so I could use it on my front door, which requires a "skinny" wreath.

Then start layering. I left the Sunflowers and Black-Eyed Susans on the basic apple wreath then added in some Hydrangeas. You can add any blossom mix you like for your season. A Spring wreath might have Tulips and Lilacs on a Forsythia garland. This one I used faux Hydrangea stems, but on my Dining Room wreath I used real dried Hydrangeas. With faux Hydrangeas I sometimes trim the large blooms down.



Now you can see we're adding layers and depth and a lot of interest
 with the Apples, Sunflowers and Hydrangeas.



This grapvine twig wreath is actually a little small for this garland, but I wanted to show you how it all goes together. Just use some gardener's twine or floral wire to secure the garland wreath to the twig wreath. 



Here's the finished product. I just randomly put this together because
I'll be taking it apart again, but you get the idea.

  1. A grapevine wreath for the base.
  2. A garland or large candle ring on top, just tied on with gardener's twine.
  3. Florals to tuck in for added interst and depth. Sometimes I hot glue them on, other times I just tuck them inside and through the vines.




This one is a little wonky since I didn't secure all the layers... just wanted to show you how easy it is to put a wreath together. I didn't need any special tools, and it doesn't make a big mess.
So here's my original again. It's a little more "Fall", whereas the "step by step" version is a little more "Summer".


You can put together a wreath like this in about 15 minutes.
Super quick and versatile.
If you want to change up your basic wreath each season it's easily done.
Just 1-2-3!


Now, have some fun making your own!


I'll be joining in on these great weekly parties:

Whipperberry
A Stroll Thru Life
Tuesday Treasures at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
The Scoop at Cedar Hill Ranch
Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House
WOW Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

xoxo,

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

The Marketplace: Etsy and Online Shopping Showcase


 Welcome to The Marketplace!

Hope you had a great Holiday Weekend. Gotta love September 'cause it's the unofficial signal of all things Fall related, and our thinking starts turning toward the end of the year Holidays. Lot's of fun shopping coming up these last 4 months of the year. Let's take a look at some great links from last week.


from Primlace





from Nostalgic Artifacts




from General Store Soap Co.




from Tattered Goods




from Upon a Dream Design

thanks gals for joining in!

Judy from 20 North Ora is the Featured Sponsor today and she has some really great items coming up for Christmas. Be sure and take a peek at her shop and then check back in the weeks to come to see the new handmade creations she'll be listing.






And have you entered my 


I'm giving away two wonderful pillow covers to two of my followers. 
Here are just a few of the beautiful pillow designs in the Elliott-Heath Shop.





OK, time to get this linky rolling...


You can link up to three of your shop items, with a direct link, if possible. If you have a blog post about your shop or items that's great too, but please only link up items that are FOR SALE. You don't have to have a blog to join in, but if you do it would be nice to have you grab the image below for somewhere on your sidebar. (not mandatory) but appreciated. This linky will be open all week, so check back to see new listings being added daily.



thanks so much for coming by to shop!