Thanksgiving Wreath

Hi everyone, hope you are having a wonderful November so far. I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. This fall is just flying by. Today I am going to show you how to make an easy burlap wreath for your front door. Thanksgiving is such a short holiday season to decorate, but I wanted to have something on my front door, so I came up with this design.

Here is a list of the supplies you will need. I found mine all locally at Dee's Crafts.

A green wire wreath

Roll of mesh burlap 

Extra accent ribbon of your choice

Wire

Chalkboard

Chalk

So the first thing I did was to look up a video on how to make a burlap wreath. There are tons on You Tube. 

Dees craft even has a great You Tube channel of their own.

Next, grab your burlap, and wire and wrap it around and secure it. 

The wreath is set up to have three separate openings. There is a reason for this, so that you can feed three separate loops through each of the openings. I just kind of bunched and looped.

You will continue to do this, and because the burlap is so thick, it stays secured between the wire. Work your way around the entire wreath. I was able to complete this task in about 15 minutes. The end result looks like this.

You can go back and fluff the wreath after you are finished. 

The next step I did was to add the wired ribbon.

I chose the pillow ticking ribbon, because I love how it reminds me of Fall. I added the aqua burlap ribbon, because it coordinates with my front door. :) And of course I love aqua. 

I cut the ribbon in strips and then folded it half, securing the middle section with wire. I was then able to tie the wire around the wreath, and tuck it in.

I trimmed each of the points, so each ribbon piece looked finished. 

Next, I added the chalkboard, which I found at Dee's Craft. I used some wire to tie it in the wreath.

Finally I added my chalk doodle. I chose to write, "Give Thanks." Such a simple phrase, but a wonderful reminder.

There you have it! This wreath is great for this transitional time between Halloween and Christmas. Sometimes Thanksgiving decor gets overlooked. You could also use this wreath other times of the year, just simply erase your board and create something season appropriate. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I am truly thankful for you, and hope you found a little inspiration for your nest.

Until next time....

XO~Gretchen

Vintage inspired Christmas mantel

Do you ever decorate on a wing and a prayer? Well that's what I did this year for my mantel. I had all these ideas swimming around in my head, but how in the world was I going to make it work? Originally I was going to go with creams, golds, silvers, and of course a little aqua, but I had been eyeing these stockings from Anthropologie, so I was inspired to add a little more color. I thought about making something similar myself, but since the entire store was 20% on Black Friday, I opted to purchase them. I am so glad that I did. They are made really well, and I love the wool and pom poms they used to make them. So I started by hanging the stockings. Luckily, I had just made a pom pom garland for a christmas card photo shoot, in the color scheme of aqua, cream, and red. I added the garland, but felt like I wanted another layer. I dug through my Christmas decor and found this cute tinsel garland with snowmen, and snowballs on it. I had found it at TJ Maxx a few years back. Never underestimate reusing decorations you might already have on hand. The only "new" purchases for my mantel this year were the stockings, and the amazing vintage pipe cleaner wreath. I found the wreath antiquing with my mom, and I love how it looks against the frame. Everything else I already had. :)

The chalk art sign took some time, and some "do-overs" I looked for inspiration on Pinterest for the lettering. There is some really amazing chalk art out there. I wanted to chose something fairly easy, and simple. JOY to the WORLD is one of my favorite Christmas songs, it is the reason we celebrate the season. I usually keep this chalkboard in my studio, and keep an inspirational phrase written on it, but brought it out for my holiday mantel this year. All the "fluff" on the side is stuff I have collected over the years. I am definitely one of those people that if something really speaks to me, than I purchase it. I may not have a place in mind for it, but I will eventually find a spot. I love my little vintage plastic Santa. The silver trees I had purchased a few years back at Hobby Lobby, I'm sure they have something similar again this year. The bottle brush trees, I have been collecting for years. You can make your own version, just check out this blog post I wrote about it. I have also been collecting the open frames while out antiquing, and I just painted them all aqua, of course. The vintage globe I found this summer, and I adore it. I thought it was appropriate since my sign said "JOY to the WORLD." So as you can see, things just started to naturally come together. I like to get all my decorations out, so that I can see what I have to work with. I suggest, coming up with a color scheme, and just running with it. Think outside the box, and have fun with it. I really love our mantel so much this year, I find myself sitting in our family room at night, enjoying every element of it. Hope you feel inspired to create a mantel or book shelve in your nest this year. I'll be back soon, with other Christmas decorating ideas, until then...

XO~Gretchen 

Back to School Mantel

BACK TO SCHOOL

It's back to school time at our house. All my boys start back next week. I can't believe summer break is nearing an end. :( I really enjoy having my boys home for the summer. We have enjoyed lots of family time together. Since it's the start of a new school year I decided to create a mantel to celebrate my boys and encourage them to have a wonderful school year. I created this design using some things I had, and a few things that I purchased.

First I created the banner using my cutting machine. I then found this adorable ruler ribbon for $.99 at Hobby Lobby. You get six feet on the roll, which is a great deal. I picked up the tiny clips a while back, and think they worked out perfect to hold the cards. 

Close up of the details. I love the polka dot paper. I found this paper at Michaels Craft Store.

I found the writing tab slips from Michaels, they were 50% off and ended up being $.50 They came in a pack. I wrote each of my boys names on them for a personal touch.

I made this large "B" out of a cardboard B that I found at Joann Crafts. I covered it with some material that I had, and then outlined the letter with twine.

The large globe is a vintage find, I love it! I found this other metal globe at Target. I stacked the smaller globe on vintage books that I've had for a while.

This is an old frame that I painted aqua, shocking I know ;). I made these little banners to hang on it. I used some apple print scrapbook paper for the triangle banner. The other one is made out of alphabet stickers I found for cheap at Michaels Craft Store. I also found the grade stickers there. Those are the grades that my boys will be in this year. Just another way to add a personal touch. 

I found these addition cards in the dollar section at Target. I had these letter stickers and used them to spell out A,B,C. I also used this vintage frame that I painted aqua.

I am not a chalkboard artist by any means, but this is the special message I wanted to share with my boys. I hope you feel inspired to create a back to school mantel. Best wishes for a wonderful school year, and if you are a teacher then thank you in advance for all your hard work and dedication! 

XO~Gretchen