diy: yarn & felt wreath.

i've been seeing all kinds of these beauties since last year, and have been waiting just as long to make my own. i've even had all my supplies for months.

it was worth the wait, though. i love it.

maybe eventually i'll get the hang of taking step-by-step pictures of my crafts. but for now, i get too engrossed in trying to figure out what i'm doing to take a minute to snap any photos. these are the best i've got. at least it sets the scene for you, if nothing else.

yes, you've seen this photo before. 

one of my crafting buddies.

dear crafty friends: please show me how to wind my yarn so this doesn't keep happening?

eventually, i finished it.

yarn & felt wreath
what you need
one skein of yarn
felt squares
hot glue gun
straw wreath (these are my favorite because they are fat and super cheap)

what i did
1. glue the end of your yarn onto the back of the wreath. start wrapping, as tightly as you can.

2. continue wrapping until the entire wreath is covered, adjusting as needed. cut yarn and glue end to the back.

3. to make the flowers, take a felt square and cut out a large oval for bigger roses, and medium oval for smaller sizes. *note: cutting it in an oval shape will give the petals a more defined look, like in the photo above). if you'd prefer a more modern rosette shape, cut a circle. 

4. starting on an end, cut the oval into one long strip, cutting in a spiral pattern.

5. starting at an end, roll up the strip, adjusting as you go to make sure it's a secure roll and the petals fall where you want them. hot glue the end of the strip down to secure.

6. repeat in different colors and sizes until you have your desired number.

7. once you know where you want to place the flowers, hot glue along their bottoms, making sure you glue a few layers, and press them onto the wreath. repeat until finished.

8. hang it up. we nailed a tiny nail into the wood frame of the window and hung the wreath directly on it. you can also use a ribbon or fabric and secure it to the top of your door.

this porch is starting to look like summer.

love.

diy: yarn-wrapped letter.

let me share my first of two projects i finished this weekend. it's been on my list for months, so i'm pretty excited about it.

not the best picture, but i hope you get the idea. haha.

this was harder than i thought it was going to be. i looked up a few different directions online & it looked so simple that i thought it would breeze through it. most directions were just to the effect of wrap, wrap, wrap and glue.

not so much. although if you're an expert with the hot glue gun, you might not want to listen to me--i'm not an experienced crafter by any means. but, if you need a little extra explanation, this is for you.

you only need half of these (wreath instructions will be coming next). though, i consider coffee & LOtR are necessities. 

yarn-wrapped letter
---
what you need
hot glue gun & glue sticks
any letter style of your choice (michaels has tons of options, though i like that this letter has a cutout to hang it in the back. it makes life that much easier.)
a small skein of yarn (that's what it's called, right?)

what i did
1. plug in your glue gun & let it warm up. simple, yes, but i don't remember these things.

2. glue the first edge of yarn down on an end.

3. start wrapping, keeping it as taught as possible. try to cover as much of the end as you can--keep in mind, you're going to have to go different ways to cover the different sides & ends.

4. on the edges, you'll need to dab some glue to keep the yarn in place. do this as much as you need to, because you'll be wrapping over some of it later on.

5. continue wrapping around the rest of the letter, dabbing glue on odd spots as necessary.

6. repeat what you did on the first corner on the other corner(s). the main goal at this point is to cover all the letter with yarn as neatly as possible.

7. once that is done, now for the aesthetics. at the opposite end of the letter, tightly wrap over the edges in the same direction (see the photo above to see how i did it). this does take some trial and error, but don't give up. just find the best way to cover all around neatly, and glue some of it to keep it in place.

8. sparingly wrap your way back around the letter to the other end(s). since it's all wrapped tightly, it will blend it with the yarn.

9. repeat the patterns you came up with for the first end until everything is neat & pretty. snip the yarn, and glue that sucker down.

10. if there are some loose pieces, just glue underneath them and place them where you want them.

11. if you want to add embellishments, now's the time to do it.

12. hang your masterpiece & pat yourself on the back. you did it.

love.

scenes from the weekend.

i hope this monday is treating you well!

this weekend was much more relaxing than i thought it was going to be. for that, i'm thankful. because boy, we needed it.

first, we did a little cleaning & resting.

then we took a quick family trip to the thrift store.

which included looking through lots of books & a quick jam session.

i would have liked to scour more of the store, but with a sleepy toddler & lunch time approaching, we didn't have the time.

but that's okay, because the yarn i found was the perfect color for a little project i've been wanting to do in c.'s room (blog post to follow), & i am super excited about my lee smith book. i love her.

someone took a crazy long nap & instead of being OCD about all of the things i needed to get done around the house, i did this.

by the end of the night, i knocked two things off of my crafting-to-do list. & am very pleased with them. & can't wait to show you. but they'll come later this week.

on sunday, we all took a looooong nap (i hardly ever take naps, so when i do, it's pretty glorious). & i got some more exciting things checked off my list. they'll come tomorrow.

it ended up being the most relaxing/productive/peaceful few days we've had in awhile. i hope we can take the time to just enjoy each other & de-stress our little lives more often. because, it was pretty wonderful.

what did you do this weekend?

love.