Spring Wreath Made with Watercolor Paper Rosettes

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade."  ~Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

Perfect description of this freezing first day of spring! I have had this wreath up on my door for a few weeks now, beckoning warmer days and blooming flowers to come already! It is made from burlap and different types of paper rosettes, including some watercolor paper I painted that turned out so pretty. 

If you've been on Pinterest, you've probably seen lots of ways to make burlap wreaths. The accordion style below is my favorite and easiest to make, in my opinion. For the tutorial I used, click here. It is basically weaving a piece of wire through the folds of a wide strip of burlap and securing the back with wire. 

A helpful tip I figured out while shaping your wreath is to use clothespins all around the circle-it holds the wreath together while you secure each section with wire. I also used burlap on a roll instead of cutting strips for less mess and to save time. 

For the paper rosettes, I used thick handmade paper and also painted some circles of watercolor paper and cut them out after they were dried. Paper rosettes take a little practice to get right but are fun once you get the hang of it. There are a few tutorials out there that show the same basic technique: 

First you start by cutting out a circle a few inches wide. They don't have to be perfect. It helps to use thicker paper, like watercolor. 

Then you draw a swirl from the outside in, trying to space them evenly. 

Begin cutting out the swirl all the way to the center along the line. 

After your swirl is cut out, begin rolling the paper from the outside in. I used dots of tacky glue to hold them in place as I formed my rose, but you can also use hot glue. 

After making a few different sizes, shapes and colors of rosettes, I hot glued them to my burlap to finish the wreath. I love how it turned out-the rustic burlap contrasting with delicate pastel flowers. Since it was going on my front door, I sprayed on a coat of spar polyurethane to protect it from sun and humidity damage.

 This wreath is really fun to make-I recently got to teach a group of women at a nonprofit art center how to make them and love how different each one turned out. There's so much you can do with the burlap base-I consider it the "year round wreath", this is the third one I've made, just changing out the embellishments to fit the season. I'm pretty sure this one will be up until the fall-maybe then I'll make one with bright yellow leaves or white pumpkins? 

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Two Ways to Reuse Vintage Christmas Lights

Here's an easy repurposing Christmas decorating idea I thought of while my husband was stringing up lights outside. We like to put the big fat vintage looking lights out there. But one strand wasn't working. Instead of throwing the whole thing out, I unscrewed the lightbulbs and put all the blue, green and white ones inside of a hanging lantern in my dining room.  

Then I filled a mason jar with the warm colors, red and orange.

I like it because it's fun, easy and unexpected. And I'm not piling lightbulbs into a landfill...
Next, I'll show you my fireplace facelift. Something about Christmas coming gave me the itch to finally paint the dark brick to transform the look completely. Stay tuned for the big reveal! 

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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!

Repurposing Baby Food Jars

Source: babysavers.com via Kristina on Pinterest

I've got baby food on the brain again! Our sweet 5 month old baby boy just started eating pureed veggies this week and I am thinking again about what to do with all those mini jars too cute to throw in the recycling bin.

A site called Babysavers had a post called "Ten Great Ways to Repurpose Baby Food Jars" and I love this idea I saw there-photo frame jars!

Aren't they gorgeous? I imagine how elegant these would look displayed on my mantel in a group like this with a few tea lights lit around them. ( Click here for the complete step-by-step instructions.)

Two years ago, when baby food was on my mind with my middle son, I made a few of these with Mod Podge and tissue paper:

Source: remadesimpleblog.blogspot.com via Kristina on Pinterest

I added a tealight and wrapped wire around the rim and the ordinary jars were transformed!

Another very simple, pretty idea I found on Pinterest were these:

Source: blogs.dexknows.com via Kristina on Pinterest

If I could decorate for my wedding day again, I think I would try this! So simple and beautiful.
Now, I can't wait for my little guy to go through a few more jars of food so I can throw them in the dishwasher and get started on my photo frames...

DIY Stenciled Toenails

Here's a quick, fun project just in time for sandal season and showing off pretty painted toes. Last month, I had fun with a campaign where I got to play around with a huge box of Martha Stewart's new line of craft supplies to create a Mother's Day gift.

One of the stencils Plaid sent me were these cool reusable adhesive ones with tiny little flowers and patterns on them. What could I use them on? Candleholders, glasses, jars, for sure. What about my toenails? (Not sure what Martha would think...)

 I reminisced back to my junior high days of painting bright polka dots and stripes on my nails and I decided I wasn't too old for fun, colorful nails. So, I bought favorite colors together-yellow and gray and try this little experiment.

And guess what? It worked out great and was so easy to do-not to mention so much cheaper than nail stickers or airbrushed ones. And, it's pretty handy that the stencils can be reused over and over again.

Here's how I did it:

First, I painted my base color-I chose a concrete gray.


I allowed to dry completely.


Then, I pressed the adhesive stencil onto my toenail where I wanted the pattern to be.


I wiped off the extra polish, then dabbed my second color, pale yellow onto the top of the stencil completely filling in all the holes.


Finally, I carefully pulled off my stencil to reveal the pattern.


(I didn't even have to wipe off the stencil each time or wait for anything to dry before removing the stencil.)

So, there you have your easy, cute, colorful DIY stenciled nails. Thanks, Martha Stewart crafts for making it happen!

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Spring Medallion Garland

I have loved the look of medallions ever since I saw them in last month's issue of Better Homes and Garden's. Have you ever seen Sweet Paul's ideas? I love pretty much all of them and I want to make everything he's done. Here are the wall medallions he made-aren't they pretty?

Source: bhg.com via Kristina on Pinterest

These seemed really easy to make so I decided to try some mini ones for my mantle. It's been looking a little bare since all the major holidays are over so I figure these springy flowers would add nice pops of color and spice things up.  And they do!

Here's the easy tutorial for making some of your own:


You will need: 

• decorative paper at least 20" long (I used handmade wrapping paper)
• scissors-straight or decorative cut
• paper glue or glue gun
• yarn, twine or string
• scrap paper in different colors for center circles

First, cut your strips about 20" long using decorative or regular scissors. 

(The wider the strip, the larger the medallion--my mini ones were about 2 inches wide.)

Then, fold each strip about 1/4 " -1/2" wide accordion style.

Next, glue the short ends together to form a tube.

Before you flatten each tube, cut out circles in different shapes and colors to add to the centers of the medallions.

Now it's time to flatten each medallion and glue together at the center.
Add your circles to the centers with a dot of hot glue or paper glue.

To make into a garland, I hot glued my medallions to the back of twine to stretch the length of my mantle.

And here are a few shots of my finished Spring medallion garland:

 These were really fun to make and I plan on making bigger ones in different colors next time a good excuse for a party rolls around. They would be a great way to repurpose a catalog or an old book, don't you think?

Hope you enjoyed this post and thanks for visiting ReMadeSimple!

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