Burlap Hoop Wreath

I haven't done anything crafty since the dining room re-do so I was getting a little antsy!

On a weekend trip home, my grandmother insisted I come for a visit because she had something she wanted to give me. I wasn't sure what she was going to pull out for me, but boy was I surprised when she handed me this old box of giant plastic buttons!

Not only were there about 100 buttons in the box, but they were such fun colors and so big that I knew I could do a lot with them! I was thrilled. Honestly, as random as it is, I think it was one of the best presents I have received from my Grandma; Mainly because it proved she knew me well enough to know that I would appreciate something like that!

I took the buttons home and knew I needed to use them right away! It just so happened that 2 of my best friends are about to celebrate their 30th Birthday, so that was the perfect excuse to spend some time crafting.

I have seen lots of wreaths and decorations using those crochet hoops so I thought I would jump on board!

I wanted the texture of the burlap on the wreath, but also needed something more sturdy when sewing, so I put a piece of linen behind the burlap.

I sewed on the buttons, and then used a back stitch to sew the letters and stems on the flowers!

I added some ribbon to hang them with and viola! I think they turned out really cute!

Later, I went back and spray painted the hoops a bright green color.

Happy Birthday Lori and Emily! And thank you Grandma for the awesome gift! I'm sure there will be many more projects using these buttons in the future!

*What would you use the buttons for? I would love some suggestions!

Fun with Flowers!

I used to have this plain-jane lamp in my bedroom. There was really nothing special about it other than I got it from a good friend that was moving and the inside of the lamp shade had a little leopard print thing going for it. Other than that, it was just black: Black base, Black shade, just BLACK. And I have nothing in my room that's black so it stuck out- and not in a good way.

So, after some green spray paint, burlap, hot glue and a few fun flowers, I now have an awesome lamp that I love to show off!

I added this little fabric ruffle on the bottom to hide where the burlap was uneven.

I just stuck the flowers on with tape so I can change it if I want to...

The lamp looks great next to my new chair (still deciding if I'm keeping that fabric on the cushion) and now I have a great little reading spot in my bedroom!

*******

I got a little carried away making those flowers, so I used some extras on a wreath for the front door. I had been wanting to make one of those yarn wreaths for awhile. It was super easy and I just pinned the flowers on so I can change it out as often as I like!

I picked the green ribbon because its what I had lying around, but then realized it's St. Patrick's Day- Bonus!

I think I'm done with fabric flowers for awhile, but I sure do like them...

* I link my projects to the following amazing blogs whose links you can find on my side bar

- Todays creative Blog

- Someday Crafts

- Somewhat simple

Burlap Wreath

My front door was looking a little sad after the holidays so I thought I would try my hand at all those cute wreaths I have been seeing around.

I started out wanting to make a coffee filter wreath, but since I live in Houston and it is pretty humid 90% of the time, I didn't think it would hold up very well outside. I went with burlap instead!

I started with a basic styro wreath and wrapped it in plain white ribbon.

I took some burlap and cut about 50 3inch squares. I was not exact on this at all, some squares were bigger than others. I really just eye-balled it. That's the way I do things!

To make all the "puffs" for lack of a better word, I used hot glue. I put a dab in the middle of the square, folded it diagonally and then did it again. Again, i was not exact.

Then I just hot-glued each puff to the wreath, filling in gaps along the way.

And since Valentines day is the next holiday, I made some red rosettes out of some red burlap I had. I'm not crazy about them, but for now I think it will do. I may change that out sometime soon, but overall I am happy with the final product.

PS: can you tell the pictures on this post are tons better than previous ones? That's because of my awesome camera I got for Christmas! One day soon I will actually learn how to edit photos and then blog-world beware!!!