Little Hands Wreath

 

Little Hands make perfect Christmas wreaths.

 

 

All I had to do was get Sal to hold still long enough to do a rough tracing of his hand to be used as a pattern. I cut out 9 little hands, overlapped them and glued them together ( which failed). My glue wasn't strong enough to hold them together, so I ended up stapling them, but if I were in the States I would have just used my glue gun or Aleene's craft glue. I had a left over bow from our Christmas Tree explosion that I topped the wreath with  and hung it from a 3M command hook which seems to be our ONLY option for hanging things here.

 

An easy, cheap way to commemorate baby's first Christmas.

Make It: Rolled Diaper Wreath

I found that it is really really hard to let others do all the decorating for your baby shower, when you love crafting as much as I do. Don't get me wrong, my sister and sister-in-law put my crafting abilities to shame with all that they do, but I just couldn't help myself....I had to make SOMETHING for my shower.

Afterall, I am home all.day.long.bored.off.my......

So, I asked if they had anything for the front door, and the

answer was no. This gave me the green light to attempt a diaper wreath.

Most of the tutorials for diaper wreaths are for wreaths like the one pictured below, where the diapers are opened up, and the wreath form is sandwiched between the two sides of the diaper and then tied or rubber banded shut.

[craftelf.com]

That type of diaper wreath is the most common, but I wanted one more like this...

{photo and wreath from: A busy mom blog}

So, I set out to make one myself.

To make a rolled diaper wreath, you'll need approximately 20-24 diapers. I used a mismatch of leftover diapers I had on hand for our first nephew (he's almost 5 now!) and some newborn ones I have waiting the boy to be born. I also added in some flannel burp clothes I had sewn up, just for an added splash of color. If I were to do this over, I would have used all newborn diapers, because the Pampers I bought don't have prints on them like the leftover ones I used did.

You will also need a wire wreath form, available at most craft stores. They are usually green in color. Mine was 18" which was bigger than I wanted, but it was on clearance, and hey...it's no secret that I'm cheap! 18 inches would do!

I started by opening up each diaper, but leaving the tabs folded in. I started rolling from the top front down through the crotch and up the back until I had a perfect little bullet. I wrapped fabric ribbon ( the gray and white polkadots) around it, and tied it off on the underside..then repeated this 20 something times.

For the burp cloths: I folded them to be the same width as a rolled diaper, and rolled them up, and tied them with the same fabric ribbon.

Once all of my little diaper bullets were rolled, I got out some baker's twine, and threaded it through the fabric ribbon at the underside of each rolled diaper. This made it possible for me to tie each rolled diaper to the wire frame ( sorry, I didn't photograph that step). Just keep threading the twine through each roll, and tying each separate roll to the wreath...making sure to pack them in tight.

You'll end up with something like this...

Since I used actual fabric, cut into 1.5 inch "ribbon", I decided to make a large bow tie out of the same fabric for the top.

To make the large "bowtie", I simply cut two rectangles measuring about 3.5"x6" and placed them right sides together. I sewed around the edges, leaving a 2' opening to turn the fabric right side out. Once turned right side out, press, and topstitch around the edge of the rectangle, making sure to catch the folded in opening.

For the bow "center", cut a strip of fabric, measuring about 2.5" x 3.5" and fold in half, lengthwise ( makes a tube shape) with right sides facing in. Sew with 1/4" seam allowance, turn right side out, and then sew the two ends together, making a "ring".

Fold large rectangle of fabric accordion style, then slip it through the ring you just made. Position ring in the center. Open up the accordion folds and there you go...a huge bow tie for the top!

I tied the bow tie to the top of the wreath in the same manner that the diapers were tied on. Just thread twine through the backside of the "ring" on the bow, and tie to the frame.

Confused yet?

I hope not..but I realize, I might be worse than ikea with these instructions..I reallllly, realllly should have taken photos to do a step-by-step.

Here's how mine ended up..

Best part of it all?? The diapers are useable! Just untie and unroll!

Make it: Starbright Wreath

Oh Dollar Tree, how I love thee...

Take a look at my $3 wreath.

All it took was:

• styrofoam wreath form ( $1)
• 2 packages of starbright mints ($1x 2 bags= $2)
• glue (already had on hand)
  
• Clear coat spray (already had on hand)

And as with anything I do, there was a learning curve while making this wreath. I decided to cheap out and use a thin coat of modpodge, instead of using a glue gun to adhere the mints to the wreath.

It worked, but the drying process was long and slow ( took about a week), and the wreath lived on my kitchen table during that time. Had I used a glue gun, it would have qualified as a one evening project, hook, line and sinker.

So, although my wreath was made using modpodge, I will do the tutorial as though a glue gun was used. Seriously, it would have been soooo much easier had I used one. My Slurpee definitely helped manage my frustration levels.

Instructions:

• Clear workspace
• Line workspace with wax paper
• Unwrap mints
• Starting at the bottom inner edge of the wreath, start gluing mints side by side.
• As you start the second row, alternate the mints so that they fill in the little gaps
• 
• Continue until entire wreath is covered in mints
• Spray clear coat spray over wreath in a well ventilated area ( outside!)
• Let dry, and repeat clear coat making sure every nook and cranny is coated. This step is super important so that the wreath does not get sticky when hung in damp weather.
• Pin a ribbon into the back of the wreath form, and enjoy!