Pinterest Interest: Initial Wreath

On my Pinterest account I have an entire board dedicated to wreaths. I love them! I am just now getting into making them and have found that this new hobby is really fun. Every time I pull in my driveway and walk up my steps to our front door, I get a little bubble of joy. I say to Ryan "Look at our wreath! Isn't it pretty?!"

This design idea was inspired from the blog Broken Treasures . She has got some great ideas and tutorials. This is my take on her beautiful Initial Wreath. 

I started with a pressed board letter that I found at Hobby Lobby, some yarn that I had left over from a scarf I had perviously made and a glue gun. (A crafters best friend!)

I took my yarn and started wrapping my "S" and used my glue gun to help keep it in place as I moved along. The ends were a little tricky, but I just glued and made a long zig zag pattern up and down the end and it worked great.

Once I got it all wrapped and looking wonderful. I added some decorative pieces that I found at Michael's. Some red and yellow/green foam berries, a felt flower, and an amber gem that I glued to the center of my flower. I then glued down all these pieces to my "S".

Then to finish it off, I added some sheer ribbon that matched my yarn to hang my initial wreath on the door.

Happy Wreathing!

Coming Soon! While I was at Michael's I also got some other stuff to make a grape vine wreath that I'm really excited about!

Thrift Store Treasure

Today I ran by my neighborhood thrift store looking for some odds and ends. While searching through the frames and wooden shelves I came across a bag that had a wooden giraffe in it. With closer inspection I discovered that it was handmade giraffe bank. The poor thing had fallen apart and was in desperate need of a makeover.

Recently one of my good friends had a little girl and they decorated her nursery with pink giraffes. Wahlah! My creative gears started turning.  Overall the bank was in good shape, just needed some TLC and she would look brand new. Plus she was only 99 cents!

As soon as I got home I started working on her. I wiped her down, sanded some rough spots, and took a dive in my paint box. I came up with a perfect hot pink and decided on white for the spots.

After several coats of pink I finally had a "well duh!" moment and realized if I primed her she would cover better. And of course she did. So once I got the base coat on and her reassembled everything else came together quickly. I added brown to her feet, horns, and tail, adorable white spots, and a pink heart to show she was made with love. Plus I dropped in a couple of coins to help get the savings started.

I think she turned out great and I know my friend is going to LOVE her! (I'm almost tempted to keep her myself) There is nothing like taking something old and forgotten and turning it into something new and shiny.

Happy Thrifting!