Burlap and Pom Pom Christmas Wreath

Yes, Christmas decorating has started around here... At least for the outside of the house, since it's been perfect weather for stringing up the lights while the temperatures are still in the 50's. So, I decorated my door with this ruffly burlap wreath I made, inspired by this one. I made mine out of a burlap coffee bag I'd been saving for a while, and since it had red and green print, I thought it would look great as a Christmas wreath.

Here's what I used to make my wreath:

• burlap, cut into three inch strips (or you could use burlap ribbon)
• wire
• wire cutters
• wire wreath frame
• small pom poms, in green and white
• white yarn
• green eyelash yarn
• hot glue gun

To make the wreath, follow the tutorial at this blog.
Here are some of my personal helpful tips while making the wreath:

I didn't worry about using a single strip of fabric, it worked fine for me using several strips, and I like the frayed edges, shabby chic style. But if you want a neater look, you could use burlap ribbon on a roll. I also twisted circle of folded fabric around before securing with wire to the wreath frame.
To finish, I secured the loose ends of fabric to the wreath circle with wire so it wouldn't droop.

Then, I played around with some ribbon for a bow, but decided a bow was not what this wreath needed. No, it needed some whimsical touches-soft fuzzy white yarn, fringey green and blue eyelash yarn and green and white pom poms.

Yes, I was happy with this Christmas wreath. I loved all the texture and playfulness. I joked that it reminded me of a cat toy. The nice thing about the way I decorated this wreath is that if I want to take off the yarn and pompoms and keep the burlap for a spring or fall wreath, it could be done easily. If you like this wreath, check out last year's Remade Winter Wreath or for more of my seasonal tutorials, click here.

Thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple!

Linking up with these parties.

Fabric Acorns (No-Sew!)

Well, after a busy and fun summer filled with big, big painting projects I worked on a teeny, tiny fall project that I love and was so easy to make--adorable fabric acorns. The best part is the ones I made are no-sew! (and no worm...real acorns are filled with them!)

I first saw this idea in BHG from Sweet Paul. The ones he made were velvetey fabric, which looked amazing...but a weird fact about me is I can't stand the feel of it...so I made mine with soft, silky touchable  fabric scraps in some of my favorite colors, finishing them off with a tiny bead on the end. These are so easy a kid could make them! So, if you want to get started...

DIY Wedding Photo Props and Decor

I have been having whipping up custom pennants for my husband's photo shoots lately. I pretty much see pennants/bunting everywhere these days, and I am honestly not tired of them yet!  I think they are so versatile and pretty and are the perfect way to decorate for a wedding birthday party or simply a room in the house. 

And all you need are a few scraps of fabric here and there to make them. I have repurposed denim for my boys' name pennants for their room, cut out felt for my"happy birthday" banner and even made a small fabric one for my vintage chalkboard. 

My latest ones are made of repurposed leftover IKEA curtain fabric and some upholstery samples. (Anyone who has bought IKEA curtains knows they come extremely long and you always have to trim them down-glad I found new use for the fabric instead of just tossing it...IKEA would be so proud...) 

Maybe you've made a few, maybe this will be your first time but they are so easy, I promise. And, they are no sew! 

Here's what you'll need: 

-leftover fabric

-monogram stencil

-twine 

-permanent marker

-glue gun

-fabric scissors

-Basically, you cut out one triangle and trace the rest from the first one, then cut out. 

-Hot glue each one to a long piece of twine

-Use your permanent marker to stencil your letters

-Embellish by cutting out  hearts, whatever and you're done! 

Here is the "hugs and kisses" wedding pennant I made for one wedding photo shoot. (I think the newlyweds loved it!)

And here is the "vowed" pennant for this sweet couple.

(I like these so much I think I might hang them up in the house around Valentine's Day...)
There are so many ways to customize pennants and using a permanent marker instead of fabric paint makes them really fast and easy to make. I hope they never go out of style! Later on I'll show you a really cute one I made for a one year old photo shoot.

Hope you enjoyed these and if you liked what you saw here, feel free to browse around and check out more of my tutorials, and thanks for stopping by ReMadeSimple!

DIY Birthday Pennant

This weekend we celebrated my youngest son's second birthday! Where has time gone?

It really is crazy to think that my little baby, who I thought at one time would never sleep through the night is now a big boy, running around, talking, laughing, getting into trouble every day!  

Anyway,  I've been working hard on an idea I thought up for a cloth birthday pennant that would last a lot longer (and look a lot cooler) than your typical paper store-bought decoration, for only a few dollars to make. 

I used a lot of different colors and textures to make it cheerful and interesting to look at, with yarn letters just for fun. 

And, here at ReMadeSimple I try to do most things with a "re"in there--so here you have a "reusable, recycled" no-sew birthday pennant! 

To make this you'll need:

several pieces of felt (I like Eco-fi because it's made from 100%recycled plastic bottles)

scrap pieces of fabric (I used a woven burlap type of fabric)

permanent marker or pen

yarn

glue gun

scissors

Here's how I made this pennant:

You'll basically cut out your triangles (13) as large as you want them to be. 

I measured and cut one, then traced the shape with permanent marker onto all of the other pieces of felt and cut those out.

Then, arrange them right next to each other on a table or floor and use their length to see how long you'll need your yarn to be. (I allowed for about two feet of extra yarn on each side).

Use your hot glue gun to glue the edge of each triangle to the yarn.

Next, trace and cut out 13 circles out of felt or fabric in whatever color you want.

Hot glue each one to the center of the triangle.

Finally, cut small strips of yarn and shape them into letters, glueing small pieces at a time.

 (It might help to shape the whole letter first to make sure it looks right.)

The finished pennant hanging in a window, so bright and cheery!

Making this pennant took me a few hours, but it now makes decorating for birthdays

and tearing down so much easier and quicker.

The pennant will just fold up and could be stored in a small pouch for next time. 

(Maybe I'll have to fashion one of those next!)

I purposefully used colors and style that I can use for our whole family for years to come,

 and I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

(It's so fun to see something you imagine turn out exactly how you want it to be.)

What do you think?

Thanks for visiting today! I hope you leave feeling inspired and took some time to snoop around at the rest of my projects and tutorials!

In my next post, I'll be bragging more about how cute my two-year old is with some photos of his birthday bash and the fun theme I chose for him.

Until next time, 

I regularly link up with these parties and this party.

Repurposed Fabric Rope Bracelet

I first saw these cool rope cuff bracelets on a blog called
Sew.Craft.Create. They were so unique and bohemian looking
I couldn't wait to try them. So, I interrupted all my Christmas
crafting to do just that! But the no-sew way.

 Every where she said to sew, I glued with a low temp glue gun.
I  made three from repurposed fabrics-the blue from scrap fabric,
the yellow from a vintage napkin, the cream from a T-shirt.
Click here to view Heidi's detailed tutorial.

I love the variety of styles you can make with this fun tutorial and
that I  got to use some vintage buttons I had been saving.
I think the T-shirt one is my favorite because it is stretchy and
I like how the pattern looks. I plan on making more as
gifts with different colors and accessorizing my
wardrobe--the thrifty way, of course.

Linking up with these parties.