This post is part of the Simply Homemade series. To see the rest of the posts, start here.
Well, things have not been going as planned over at the Glover household. I don’t know about you, but Christmas is a study in flexibility, and I don’t mean seeing if you can still touch your toes after eating all that peppermint bark. Schedules get rearranged, simple errands take longer than usual, and sometimes, instead of doing the things you should, you opt for a long winter’s nap.
So. Today’s post was supposed to involve fabric, scissors, and the Oh-So-Scary sewing machine. It doesn’t. My plans were derailed because someone forgot to take pictures of the final result of the sewing project and didn’t realize it until the dark of night when it was too late to do anything about it.
Enter the Backup Plan. Instead of doing a project involving minimal sewing skills, we’re doing to do a project involving minimal gluing skills. Yippee! Here’s a sneak peak:
Bells and Burlap Wreath
Okay, that wasn’t really a sneak peak. That was more like the reveal. But it’s Christmas, and aren’t we all tired of waiting for the good stuff?
Now you’ll just have to stick with me while I back this train up and tell you all about my Bells and Burlap Wreath after you’ve already seen it.
Whilst walking around my favorite charity the other day (ahem, Hobby Lobby), I spotted these fabulous burlap canvases on sale. I snagged one in a lovely shade of 12×12.
I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it until we walked past a whole herd of jingle bells, also on sale. Now, I’ve always wanted to make a jingle bell wreath but I’ve never done it. I said to myself, “What could be easier than making a jingle bell wreath on burlap?” Practically nothing!
We hauled it home and got started. This is what we did:
Step 1: Make a Circle
Find a plate or a bowl to use as a guide to draw a circle on the burlap. Do not center it. Leave more space at the top of the canvas than the bottom because you will be adding a bow later and you don’t want it looking weird.
Step 2: Add Jingle Bells
I bought a package of 75 bells for this project (and hoped it would be enough). You could use more, but I wouldn’t use any less. I was barely squeaking by with the bells I had but I didn’t want to go back to Hobby Lobby because I swear, it costs me $50 just to walk in the door.
Using a hot glue gun, glue the jingle bells to the burlap. Place them together side-by-side on the circle you drew. Then, create an inner circle but this time, space the bells a bit apart so they don’t look too planned or perfect. Wreaths should be random!
Kya, my seven-year-old daughter, put the bells on the burlap and you can see they got a little bunchy at the bottom, but it doesn’t matter. After you create an inner circle, randomly glue a few bells on top of the bottom two rows. Adding the extra layer of bells makes everything even out. See?
Step 3: Add a Bow
Make a bow with some nice wide ribbon and secure it to the burlap with a bit of glue. It helps to tack down the dangling parts of the bow too so it all stays where it should.
Also, I should have ironed it. Oops.
Now, you could be done at this point. I thought I was until I asked my husband what he thought of my project and he did that thing that husbands do where their eyes glaze over and they say, “Ummm…”
Apparently, it needed a little something-something more. So…
Step 4: Embellish
If you look back to the first picture in this post, you’ll see that I added “stuff.” But wait–don’t scroll up. Here it is again:
Jeff thought my Bells and Burlap wreath needed a little green. He also thought there was too much space in the middle. I could have added another layer of bells, but like I said before, there was the whole problem of entering Hobby Lobby for “one thing” and coming out $50 poorer.
Instead, I decided to use what I had on hand (what a concept). I added a cardboard gift tag with the word “Noel” (because I like that word) and some smaller bells on ribbon. There’s also a sprig of green, just for my guy.
He said it was an improvement so I kissed him.
Step 5: Give (or Keep) Your Bells and Burlap Wreath
You could give your project away. That’s the whole point of this series, right? Or, you could realize that the Bells and Burlap Wreath is the perfect addition to that shelf you have in the stairway.
Ahem.
Looks like I might have to go back to Hobby Lobby after all.
P.S. Save yourself the trouble and make two from the get-go.