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Tutorial: St. Patrick’s Day Wreath

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Today we’re going to make this:

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Well, you don’t have to but I’m going to pretend that you’re dying for me to teach you how to make this simple wreath. Ready?

Gather your materials: St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

A wreath form- I used a 12″ pressboard form, mainly because I had no final idea of what I was making and because they’re so much cheaper than styrofoam.

2 – 3 yds of wire-edged ribbon.

3 – 4 St Patrick’s day decorative thingys. I think they call them floral picks?

A Glue Gun and glue sticks – low temp is probably best if you have one.

Scissors

Whatever doodads you want to add. Here I used mini “beer bottles” and some fake gold coins. Because what better sums up St Pats like beer and bling?

Okay, first step. Unroll your ribbon and fold it in a zigzag pattern, kinda like so. Adjust it to make sure it will cover your whole wreath form.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

It should like sorta like this from the front.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Now start to glue it to your wreath form. Tuck the end under for the first fold. You’ll have to adjust here and there to follow the contours. I found it easiest to glue the bottom fold to the wreath and leave the top fold loose. If you look closely, you can see my glue marks here.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Continue around until you’re within one fold from the end.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Now guage how much ribbon you will need to tuck under the first fold and cut it there. Glue the end of the ribbon UNDER the beginning fold and glue in place. Yours should look something like this.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Now flip that sucker over. This is where you pull your floral pick thingies apart. Mine consisted of wired pieces and well, non wired pieces. I cut the wired pieces out of 3 picks and glued it in intervals around the back of the wreath. I chose to do a spiraly type pattern.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Then go back around and add the non-wired pieces.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Not enough bling, Katie. Go around and add more if necessary.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

That’s better. Now flip it back over and add your doodads.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Once all my doodads were on, I used the green stem from my floral pick thing and bent it into a hoop and glued it within an inch of its life to the back of the wreath. Just in case. I want my wreath to withstand hurricanes. Ta Da!

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Now take down your Valentines Wreath that’s still up and put up your blingity-bling-bling St. Pats wreath.

St Patrick's Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

Now everyone will know what you plan on doing next week. Wearing green underwear, of course. :D

Speaking of the Valentines Wreath you hadn’t taken down, here’s mine. I used Tatertots and Jello’s tutorial.

St Patricks Day Wreath Tutorial by RunawayOctober

So… What are you planning for St. Patricks Day this year? Any good recipes?

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Day late but completely fantastic!

40 days ago my madre had a birthday. This is what was waiting for her when she got home from work.

Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox adaptation by RunawayOctober

I used the Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox Tutorial from Oh, Fransson.

Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox Adaptation by RunawayOctober

While it’s neither vintage nor a pillowcase, I think it’s adorable. So did Mom. Good thing too, because I was finishing up the last step as she walked in the door! :D

Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox Adaptation by RunawayOctober

The tutorial provides good instructions for using Iron-On Vinyl. While you can’t see it in the picture, the whole bag is essentially water/spill resistant. I had a heck of a time finding Iron-On vinyl. The girls at the JoAnn’s cutting counter had no idea what I was talking about. Thankfully someone knew the store though. Turns it they keep it in the Home Dec department by the nailhead trim and curtain rods and such. $10 for a prepackaged roll that should be enough for 2 lunchbags.

Vintage Pillowcase Lunchbox Adaptation by RunawayOctober

Also included in the tutorial is this cute little placemat. Which is perfect. We all know how ‘Ick’ lunchrooms can be.

Next time, though, I don’t think I’ll cover the handles in vinyl. Or try to source a thicker vinyl. It already is getting a little ragged from light use. Meaning it’s carried back and forth to the car daily and that’s about it.

If you’re thinking about making one be sure to check out the Flickr Group. There are some cute versions there too.

I’d love to hear what you’ve made lately.

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Confession.

I have a confession. I can be quite a slob.

The evidence: Exhibit A – My craft room, The SMOR (sewing machine operations room), about 24 hours ago.

mosaic1 495x166 Confession.

When we bought this house, we knew one of the rooms would be used for hobbies. Unfortunately, we had been using the dining room table previously so we had no furniture to set up in there. About the time we moved, I was given a very nice cutting table and sewing machine desk. They came from a family friend who had passed away. Sadly, she was a heavy smoker and smoked in her hobby room. The tables just ooze nicotine.

mosaic2 495x166 Confession.

My father in law convinced me that I shouldn’t try to paint them, as they’re covered in melamine. While I’m fairly certain I would be able to repaint them, new furniture would be easiest. Of course I decided this after trying to clean one of the tables with bleach (Bleck!) and ruining a perfectly good skirt.

mosaic3 495x166 Confession.

So I struck a deal with my husband. If I clean the craft room, could we build new furniture for the room? He agreed, poor sap. :D

mosaic4 495x166 Confession.

So this is where it stands currently. Not “clean” per se, but everything has been gone through and sorted and I found all kinds of stuff I had forgotten about! Score. My M.O. was to grab what I needed, take it down stairs to craft, bag/box up whatever was left and toss it in the SMOR when I was done. Bad bad. I had at least 15 empty boxes when I was done, and double that amount of bags to recycle

mosaic51 495x166 Confession.

(I still need to vacuum, obviously.)

This is the table I want we’ll be making, free plans courtesy of Knock Off Wood. It’ll go well with the IKEA Expedit bookcase that’s in there currently.

pottery barn bedford project table cubbies 495x445 Confession.

I know that if I had a vehicle right now, me and the boys would be terrorizing Home Depot and Lowe’s. I’ll keep you posted on our progress. I’m super excited to make my own craft furniture, and for so much less than Pottery Barn too! :D

Happy!

I received some amazing news yesterday!

mosaic5 495x495 Happy!

Unfortunately I can’t really say yet, but I can say that it means I’ll have more reasons to blog soon. Not that I don’t now.

It’s been so beautiful in little Queen Creek lately. Just warm enough to stay outside, but cool enough to debate a jacket. For Pete’s Sake, I even cleaned my exterior porch and garage lights today because I wanted to stay outside so bad. AND! We cleaned the garage yesterday. Go me! (And thanks bunches Dad. He’s a great packer.)

The boys have rediscovered sidewalk chalk. I would have taken a picture of my chalk covered kids and dog, but D’s in the potty. He told me he’d be out in 3 hours. I’m not waiting on that, because, well, he’s probably right.

Stay tuned for the great news, which is about 3 weeks off. But you can pretend that it could be any minute and keep checking back obsessively. :D Or you can guess what it is in the comments. No fair giving it away if you already know though.

And no, there’s no need to start crocheting, as my Grandma asked. I’m not pregnant. As far as I know. And I should know. Hopefully.

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday

Pinecone Bird feeders

Pinecone Bird feeders

Pinecone Bird feeders

Pinecone Bird feeders

These little guys were willing to brave the Arizona rain to get at the pinecone bird feeders the boys and I made the other day. The first batch sat for a week or two before the birds found them, but now it’s like Templeton at the Fair.

Rowan on Tetter Totter

And this little boy was willing to brave the rain too!

Fable in the Sun

Good thing Fable was keeping this spot warm for him.

Cascade Scarf

Finished this scarf today. Can’t decide if I like it nor not? It’s at least 8 foot long, and I’m not even going to mention what my brother said about it. Well, maybe. He compared it to parts of the female anatomy. What a butthead.

Sourdough Bread Rising

Sourdough

Made my first batch of Sourdough Bread ever today. It’s so yummy. One of the least finnicky breads I’ve worked with, surprisingly.

I went to check my email and one of the loaves was hoovered down in seconds flat. Mostly by aforementioned brother. Butthead.

Homemade Jam packaged up so cute!

There is NO Typo. :/

And last, but not least, I finally got around to packaging up a Valentine’s Day Surprise for a certain special someone. Do you know who you are? :D

And this concludes our semi-rainy Wednesday  stuck at home. Tell me about yours!

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Please don’t forget to vote for me daily, if you would be so kind. Thank you!

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