I have always loved those cute wreaths that people hang on their door for different holidays or seasons. The only problem: in order to buy them you have to fork over an arm and a leg! So, I started looking at all the different wreaths on Pinterest and I set out to make one on my own. My aunt also inspired me. She did my bouquets, decorations, and the cakes at our wedding. They looked AMAZING!!! The silk flowers we found looked so real hardly anyone knew we weren’t using real flowers! I love rustic things, so my aunt took that and ran with it. The theme of our wedding was sort of country sunflower, but not cheesy country. More like an actual day in the country. Anyway, this is the wreath she made for our wedding:

It’s hanging on a wall in my kitchen, but for the wedding it was hanging on a post at the gazebo where the ceremony was held. She made three and each wreath was connected by a streamer of burlap. It was beautiful. I might post some pics for wedding decor ideas.

So after seeing how beautiful and simple this wreath was, I saved it and took it to my new home. For the summer months, it was perfect to hang on my front door. Then all the leaves started changing and I decided my front door decor did not match the outside scenery. So off to Hobby Lobby I went. I found some grapevine wreaths and went directly to the fall decor sale items. I picked out some oranges, reds, and yellows and put them together kind of how I wanted it on the wreath. Then I thought I would add a monogram to it. This is how it turned out:

Pretty good for a first try, right?

So then I thought about something to do for a Christmas/Winter holiday wreath. I wanted something simple, but something different from the other two. So, again, off to Hobby Lobby. I found the same grapevine wreath I’d used before. Then I went to the Christmas decor. Most of the items were on sale, but not everything. I picked out some evergreen and holly. I also found this cute little bird in a nest with some snow frost. I liked it so I grabbed it. I wanted something else to go with it, but I wasn’t sure what. I found a pre-made burlap bow and thought I could do something with it. When I finally finished, I wasn’t extremely happy with it, but for a beginner wreath-maker, I thought it wasn’t half bad. Here’s what it turned out as:

Pretty simple, but I feel like it needs something else or possibly a complete redo. Any suggestions?

My sister also made a few holiday wreaths. She still lives with my parents, so she had more of a budget than a newly-wed housewife such as myself 🙂 She did a fantastic job on both. I suggested she get an Etsy account and start selling! She would definitely have a customer out of me. Check them out!

Sorry for the blurriness and bad lighting. Camera phones…but didn’t she do a great job?

This is the one she made for fall. I like the pumpkin 🙂

She also made a centerpiece and a yard piece (not really sure what you call those hay bale and mum things.) I really liked them.

She has some real talent! Most of the “greenery,” if you will, was purchased at Hobby Lobby. The figurines and pumpkin were gifts my mother already had. The hay bales and mums were also purchased from the local high school Ag department. The Welcome sign was from Hobby Lobby as well.

I hope you like the holiday wreaths and decorations. Remember to pin and tweet about the DIY projects you see! Happy Crafting!

So, after getting married, I moved into my husband’s duplex. Needless to say it was on mancave overdrive! I had my work cut out for me, but with some feminine touches here and there, I made it our home.

One of the projects I took upon myself to complete was adding some bedroom decor. All of the walls are kind of a neutral warm grey color. I love the colors blue and green so I wanted to incorporate that into the theme. I love to paint and I had an extra canvas so I went to work. I came up with this canvas art of our initials.

Here’s what I used:

• 16×20 canvas
• acrylic paints
• brushes – 2” wide, assortment of small detail brushes
• letter fonts

You can really use any size canvas. I chose a 16×20. It was on sale and I hadn’t yet figured out what I was going to do with it. I prefer bigger art over furniture, such as the bed or couch. This size is not huge, but it works for small spaces.

As far as paint scheme goes, you can use any colors you like. I really like earthy tones with splashes of color here and there. I chose a sandy brown for my background color. I kind of had to mix some of my acrylics to get the look I wanted. If you like this color and don’t want to mix paint sometimes craft stores will have an array of colors in small tubes. If you want to mix, I started off with cream. You can use white as well. I mixed a small amount of yellow and a very tiny amount of brown. I really just had to play with it until I got the color I liked. It’s best to use small amounts so you don’t end up with a lot of leftover paint. Try using a dot about the size of your pinky fingernail.

Once I got the color I wanted, I brushed my entire canvas. To give it some extra texture, I dipped the paintbrush in water, dabbed it on a cloth, and brushed over my paint. This made it lighter in some areas.

Next, I wanted to add some color. I chose a light, muted green and a light blue. I didn’t want my colors to be neon or too bright. I then started in one corner with one color and brushed towards the center. I did the same with the other color in the opposite corner. I always started in the corner and brushed outwards, so the paint would be less saturated in the middle.

When I finished with my color, I decided to add some detail  in the corners. I picked a dark brown and lightly added a small branch. Then I took some of the green and blue paint and added green leaves in the green area and blue leaves in the blue. I didn’t use very much paint because I wanted the leaves to be subtle.

I love adding my initials to things. And now that I have a new last name I like to let everyone know about it. 🙂 So, I decided to put our initials as the main focus of my painting. Note: Make sure your painting is dry before adding initials. (If you don’t let the background dry, the paint will just mix and look yucky.) Since my last name begins with “B” I looked up different fonts and chose one I liked. I did my best to pencil the outline of the “B” in the middle of my painting. Then I put his initial on the left and mine on the right using the same method. If you mess up with the pencil, don’t worry. Once everything dries you can go back and paint over the marks with the right color.

After I finished the letters, I still felt like something was missing. So I took my paintbrush and dipped it in some water, dabbed it, and lightly brushed around the edge of my painting. Not over the letters, just around them to create a worn sort of look. I liked it. So did my other half apparently. He said it looked like something from Hobby Lobby. I suppose that’s a compliment? Anyway, it’s up and I’m happy.

Now I have a nice painting hanging right over our heads as we sleep at night. This was a really easy canvas art project and I hope you enjoyed it!

Stay tuned for more DIY projects for home and classroom. Have a great rest of the day! 🙂

For my recent wedding, which had a sunflower theme, I was looking for a sunflower centerpiece to decorate my tables at the reception. So, of course, I had my sister and my mom combing through the endless pages of Pinterest looking for sunflower wedding decor. We pinned a few we liked, but they didn’t have exactly what we were looking for. So we decided to hit up good ole’ Hobby Lobby and this is what we came up with. I hope you like it! 🙂

Step 1: Gather Materials

First off, here are the items you will need:

• vase (I used a hurricane vase about 10″ tall)
• silk flowers of your choosing *
• Scissors/wire cutters
• floral rocks/marbles
• floating candle
• water

*You can use fresh flowers, but I would not submerge them in water until you are ready to put your centerpiece out for guests. The flowers tend to fall apart and make the water look yucky if left underwater too long.

Step 2: Trim Flowers

This step is very simple. Depending on the type of flowers you use will determine whether or not you need wire cutters. The sunflowers I used had a very thick stem and scissors just wouldn’t cut it.

First, decide what blooms you want to use and how many you need. The sunflowers I chose are about as big as my palm, so I chose 3 to cover the inside of my vase. You may need more or less depending on the size of your blooms.

Next, take your scissors/wire cutters and trim off the blooms leaving about a 1″ stem. If you are using silk flowers, bend the stem down to anchor the bloom into the rocks.

Note: If your vase is smaller you may want to adjust the size of your stem.

Step 3: Add Rocks

This step is kind of self-explanatory. Take your rocks/marbles and poor them into your vase. It’s up to you how much you want to fill your vase.

Step 4: Add Flowers

For this step, take your blooms and place them in the vase any way you would like. Try to anchor the blooms down into the rocks with the stem. This will help hold them in place when you add water.

Step 5: Add Water

Again, this step is a bit self-explanatory. Just be sure not to over fill your vase.

Once the water is in the vase, the flowers will probably float to the top if they have a big center like sunflowers. Gently squeeze the air out by pressing the middle. They should sink down to the bottom. Then you can adjust them to make sure the blooms look exactly like you want.

Step 7: Add Candle

You are almost done! Just add your floating candle, light, and you are ready to display!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Be sure to come back for more DIY teaching!