Winter Wreath

The little boy is at school this morning, so I decided to finish a project I started a couple of weeks ago. Like a lot of folks I know, I have a small Pinterest obsession. Around Halloween, I came across an elegant wreath from The Art of Doing Stuff. What I love about this Halloween wreath is that it is the perfect balance of elegant and creepy. I decided to make my own version for winter with white boas and snowflakes.

I didn't want to spend a ton of money, so I went to the dollar store for my two wreaths and snowflake ornaments. I used my husband's employee discount for feather boas from US Toy. You could also use 40% off coupons at a craft store. Joann and Michael's both take competitor coupons. Hobby Lobby always has a printable one on it's website.

2 wreaths to layer together, or one bigger one

6 - 6 ft white feather boas

snowflake ornaments

string

thread

scissors

First, I tied the two wreaths together to make one wreath. The smaller, inner wreath is sort of suspended within the larger, outer one. Alone, they would be too thin for the effect I wanted, but together they are perfect. This only cost me $2, but you could also just start out with a larger styrofoam one from the craft store. Next I started wrapping my boas. I used my white string (not thread)  to attach the end of each boa to the wreath, wrapped, then used another string on the other end. I'm not sure what part of my brain thought that two of these boas would be enough, but it only covered about a third of the wreath. That's why this project sat unfinished for a couple of weeks. You can imagine how long a trip becomes when you take a 3-year-old into a toy store...on top of the obvious chaos, add to it that he knows the store because Daddy works there. Well, I had to wait for a school day to make another trip. Alas, six boas was perfect.

Now to the ornaments. Two things came to mind while working on this part. First, I was reminded that I despise all things sparkle. Sparkles have a way of migrating into EVERYTHING. Just like the pooch nugget's dog hair, I find sparkles in places that haven't been touched for years. My worst nightmare is opening a card to find it covered in sparkles. The real dilemma will be when Bean starts coming home with sparkle covered art projects, but I digress. The second, and more important point, 3D ornaments! Mine were flat, and although they worked, I would have been more pleased with 3D snowflakes.

So once I arranged the ornaments in a manor that suited me, I tied them on with thread. Somehow I didn't have white, but cream worked just fine. The feathers have so much poof, that you really can't notice. Last, I tied one more piece of string (not thread) to the inner wreath. That way you don't see the loop as it hangs on the door.

   

As you can see, the snowflakes aren't very noticeable. Even standing in front of it, they don't stand out all that much. Maybe next year I will change them out. It works for now. My front door has a welcoming wreath with a wintery feel. That was my goal.

Now I'm off to vacuum flyaway feathers and...sigh...sparkles.