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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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I added a new page.

Sorry, I haven’t posted lately. Things have been more hectic than usual around here and the late winter light is bad for decent pictures.

I did put together a new list of tutorials and inspirations for myself, though. Proud of that. :D

mosaic31 300x300 I added a new page.

Check it out here, or in the side bar.

Chalkcloth Table Topper

Not too long ago we bought two sets of the Svala table and chairs from IKEA for our “playroom”. I was kinda bummed they came unfinished but then got excited that I could do whatever I wanted with them. I mean, who doesn’t dream of this perfectly coordinated playroom that looks like it came straight out of a Pottery Barn or Montessori guidebook?

Svala from Ikea

Svala from Ikea

The kids had different ideas, as usual. Within a few days they had scribbled all over the top with crayons and who-knows-what. Even the table legs had been colored on. I’m totally psyched with the creativity coming from these two little boys. Psyched. Too bad they didn’t consult me first because their artwork totally didn’t go with my Pottery Barn color schemes. :D

Daisy Dreams laminated cotton

Daisy Dreams laminated cotton

I recently came across a tutorial for an oilcloth table cover from Twig & Thistle, that I thought was a great idea for the boys’ workspace. I had some oilcloth that I picked up from my favoritest fabric coop but it was very girly.

Then it occured to me that I had a yard of chalkcloth in my stash. That would be perfect! It’s fairly water resistant for spills and such, and I could whip out the chalks when the kids were bored. Score!

Kathleen’s tutorial included adorable little scallops around the edge, which I thought would be okay if done in a nice manly color, like black

Chalkcloth Table Topper
Please ignore the mess.

chalkcloth. But man, chalkcloth is hard to work with. I didn’t have quite enough to cover both tables separately so I did one cover for both tables pushed together.

I ended up just having straight edges with a little bit of decorative stitching.  I think it turned out pretty good and the kids have throughly tested it. Heck I even ended up eating on it last night because we had a HUGE crowd to feed last night.

Chalkcloth Table Topper

Chalkcloth Table Topper

Pretty Colors

Pretty Colors

This is serious business...

This is serious business...

(Declan was still napping)

(Declan was still napping)

So if you’re in need of something similar head on over to Twig & Thistle for the exact instructions. Or you can check out Oilcloth Addict for a no sew custom chalkcloth table topper, also.


Coin Quilts

coin-quilt-badge

Did I mention that I was participating in the 2009 Chinese Coin Quilt Piece-along? It’s being hosted by two of my favorite bloggers: Juliette of Chickpea Sewing Studio and Karin of Orange Flower. Basically, the premise is to complete a Coin Quilt sometime within the year of 2009. That’s it. No deadlines, no requirements or restrictions, no partners, no nothing. How much easier can it get?

Here are some of the wonderful coin quilts that have already been finished. Aren’t these ladies amazingly creative, and on the ball to boot?

Coin Quilts
Coin Quilts

1. coin top, 2. DSC_6007, 3. Elena’s Quilt, 4. Quilt #4 — Stacked Coins, front

The rest of the 2009 Coin Quilt Piece-Along Flickr pool can be found here.

I am to the sandwiching and quilting stage on my coin quilt. I have to clean a spot on the floor long enough to get everything pinned together. See why it takes me so long? It’s like someone somewhere is bound and determined to make me do housework, no matter how much I avoid it. :D These sites have been the inspiration for my little quilt.

If you feel the urge to participate, please join us! :D

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