The felt wreath sewing kit now has two cats. I didn’t deviate from the instructions on this second cat like I did for the candy cane with the first cat. I sense more deviation coming in my future, though. The thought of finishing the wreath and it looking like the picture on the kit is disquieting. It won’t ever look exactly like the picture, a head tilt difference here, a slight color variation there, but I’d like to make it mine, specifically. I have lots of scrap felt. Hm.
I wanted a winter wreath on my front door that didn’t have red or green, so I wandered over to a craft store, and because it was after the holidays, all of what I wanted was on super clearance. I found a painted and glittered vine wreath that has a wire base, and 27 picks that are silvery gold with crystals for under $20. Before the holidays the same wreath parts would have cost $160.
The pre-painted vine wreath was heavily covered and it was difficult to get the picks wedged into the shape, so I used heavy wire cutters to snip off half the length, which helped. My eldest thought I bought it as pictured (I should have taken a before picture!)
I had a grapevine wreath covered in origami flowers that lasted two years before the flower picks started looking sad. I hit an after fall sale (really, even though it is still very much fall here in Texas) to get some decorations for a chorus concert, then after the concert used the picks and garland to redecorate the grapevine wreath. So all the elements have been used at least once before, so I feel safe in calling it a recycled wreath.
Nothing is glued in, just twisted and tucked, so it can all be taken apart and used again. Bonus.
That was more work than I anticipated. Folding all the flowers from slightly off-sized origami paper torn from a book wasn’t bad, but adding the twisting of the wire stems doubled the time for each. Then I decided to cut down some of the paper to make three different sizes. Then my kids’ school was cancelled for three days because there weren’t enough teachers and subs due to COVID infections. Hm. Anyway, I did finally complete the wreath by adding the flowers to a grape vine circle. I regularly change out the picks on this wreath, so no gluing, I just hooked the wire around the vine so I can use the base again. Rather than fill the wreath full of flowers, I did a size gradient so I can still see the lovely woody vines. I do like this wreath!
I decided to make some plastic globes with my 3Doodler Create. I’ve had the kit for a year, and I need some more interest on my wreath, so I decided to give it a try (and I’m avoiding cleaning.)
The kit has latex balloons and a clip so you can hold the air in the ballon to make a sphere form, then easily let the air out when the form is mostly complete. Love it. I doodled enough to get the sphere, removed the balloon, added a pick, and closed up the hole. I think they turned out nicely.
The pick on each globe slides easily into the vine wreath and stays well even when the door is opened and closed. I started with the globes arranged relatively evenly around the wreath. Eh.
I rearranged the globes to be clustered around the bottom, but off set. I like this better. And it was easy to rearrange. This is becoming a living art project, as I can’t usually walk by it without adjusting something!
Critters and Craft 