Fall Decor: Rustic Silk Leaves and Feathers Wreath

 

Happy Monday all! We in America move full speed ahead to our national day of thanks and gluttony and I've finished the last of the things I'll make ( I think ) for this short season between Halloween and Christmas. Anxious to get started on some Christmas goodies so be on the lookout! 

Also humbled and excited to have been again featured in the Hometalk weekly newsletter last week! They included my Plastic Egg Acorns and Pinecones and I couldn't be more tickled. If you aren't on Hometalk, you should check it out both as a place to share your creations and to find even more inspiring ideas! 

Supplies:

• Square Wreath Form. I actually had some inserts from 12x12 shadow box frames that I used but you  could also use a square frame. 
• Silk Leaves (Michaels 80% off)
• Twig Vase Fillers (Dollar Tree)
• Feathers ( Michaels)
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

From left to right: Shadow Box Frame Inserts, Silk Leaves, Dollar Tree Birch Stumps and Twigs

The frame inserts are not the sturdiest so I glued two of them together to stabilize them. The silk leaves I found for 80% off at Michaels. I used two packages of 30 with a few left over.

These came in two sizes, the larger having some gold veining and the smaller being plain. I alternated these around the wreath. Pretty straightforward. After I glued the leaves around the frame I placed a few of the birch "stumps" , offset, "because I did" which is a technical creative term!

I have a ton of these twigs left over so may save them for next year or throw them in a vase. 

I grouped three feathers (Michaels, Art Minds or Creatology) at the base of each "stump", then added some of the twigs. 

To finish, I had some of these Acrylic Gem Maple Leaves in my stash from a past project so glued a few of those on. Living in the West, this may be another thing I leave up year round. Haven't decided yet. We don't have specifically "Western" decor but I like some bits here and there. 

Et voila!

Fall Decor: Leather and Feather Hoop Wreath

Happy November everyone! Or as I like to call it , the eighth month of "Marchvember" because...2020. I hope you all had a safe Halloween, and now we Americans gear up Thanksgiving, our annual gluttonous feast which for many will be a little different this year. 

I think I tell this story every year, but when my son was little he got VERY frustrated that things went from Halloween to Christmas while Thanksgiving seemed to be treated as an afterthought. So trying to be a good mom, I made sure to decorate sufficiently for Thanksgiving month! When he left for college and wasn't going to be able to come home for Thanksgiving, he made sure that I kept the tradition which went without saying! During undergrad and grad school we've been lucky to get him for a few weeks at Christmas so ironically, he's never even here for Thanksgiving decorating makes me feel like he's here. 

I found these Mum bushes at JoAnn for 80% off which were the inspiration for this wreath. 

Supplies: 

• Silk Mums 
• Embroidery Hoop (10 ")
• Feathers
• Leather Scraps
• Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

I had the feathers on hand from Michaels for a project I thought I was going to do last year. I decided to use the spotted ones. Pheasant, I think? 

The leather scraps were a happy accident. Before we moved from Seattle, my husband wanted to check out a store that made a lot of their own leather goods. I went with and they had these bags of scraps for sale. When he said "She makes things" they gave me one free! You can find bags of scraps at craft stores or check around if there are places that make leather goods. You never know! 

The first step was to cut the "mum head" from one of your bushes, and hot glue it to the bottom center of your wreath. I used the claspy thing at the top as a guideline. 

The next step is to add your feathers. I pulled ones from the pack that more or less went the same direction and laid them out on each side before gluing. Once I was good with the way they looked, I hot glued them to the hoop on either side of the center mum and then trimmed the stems. 

For the leaves, I just grabbed some similar sized scraps and freehand cut leaf shapes. Glued these atop the feathers, and then in the space between the leaves and the center mum, add the contrasting colored mums on either side. 

To finish, I made a "bow" of leather strips that were in my scraps. If you don't have these, you can cut your own from other straps, use leather cord, ribbon, yarn...

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