hearts & crafts: cute shit you can make for spring.

as of yesterday, my valentine's day wreath was still hangin' out on our front door. i should be embarrassed, but it's so cute, that i'm not. however it killed me a little to let st.patty's go by without changing it, and i couldn't let that happen for easter, so i made something that will work for the holiday, and that i can keep up until i find something to make for the summer. i am really happy with how it turned out, and it took less than an hour to make.

how we do: happy spring wreath

i was able to purchase everything i needed at michael's and with my 40% off coupon, got everything for less than 20 bones. you can make any variation of this you like by changing up the colour scheme, using mesh instead of burlap, felt flowers instead of silk and the list goes on.

start by laying your burlap across your wreath the way you like: straight across, on an angle, or two rows, the choice is yours. leave enough that you have the same amount on each side, and glue it down to your wreath. at this point, you can gauge what size letters you will need to print out.

 choose a font you like and print out your phrase. "happy spring", "welcome" or "beat it", whatever tickles your pickle. i used 'century' font at 200pt , and it miraculously turned out perfectly. cut each of the letters out of paper before cutting them out with felt, to make sure it will fit across your burlap banner nicely. once you're good to, get your letters cut out with felt. you will need super sharp scissors, a large glass of wine and some serious patience. welcome to the shittiest part of the project.
tip: i'm an asshole and chose a 'serif' style font (the kind with the little detail at the ends of each stroke). to make your life easier, you could choose a 'sans serif' font, and this step would take 1/3 the time. ps-'sans' is french for without.

once your letters are cut out, place them where you want them on your burlap, and then glue them on with a bit of hot glue. you want to get your spacing right, and i don't want you throwing this thing out the window if you start gluing them on and end up only being able to fit "happy s" on your burlap.

with your letters in place, you can trim the ends of your burlap however you like. i kept it clean and simple, and just did a 'banner style' cut into each end. the burlap isn't perfectly stiff, so the ends do flop a bit, but i don't mind a little flopping action now and then. 
shit can't always be stiff.

the hardest part is over, and the rest of this project is easy peasy, so grab another glass of wine, you could finish this baby hammered. separate the branches of your silk flowers, and cut off a few to start. i only ended up using two full branches, and a few extra blooms to get the fullness i was looking for. if you want more, use the whole stem. i didn't want to ruin my good scissors cutting through the plastic and metal of the flowers, so i used the clippers i use when cutting fresh greens and flowers. 
worked like a charm.

decide where you want the flowers and start inserting them into the wreath. i didn't bother gluing them in, as the wire in the branches allowed me to bend them into place beautifully. i also weaved the flowers into the grapevine, so it looked natural and like they were growing out of the wreath. if i ever want to change up the wreath, all i need to do is pull out the flowers, pop in some new ones, and voila.

i cut the burlap lengthwise down the center to make a strap to hang the wreath with, but you could use anything from raffia, to twine or satin ribbon. it looks really pretty from the street, and once i get some petunia's planted in my urns, i will be good to go. 
happy spring bitches!