Autumn wreath, Pinterest inspired

Ok, I did promise myself that I would post more often but I tend to promise myself a lot of things and it never gets done. Like losing weight for example. One of these days I hope I can find (and maintain) enough motivation to actually accomplish that goal. Speaking of losing weight, one of my best friends from high school has lost a ton of weight and she looks amazing! Her wedding is coming up very very soon and I know she is going to look beautiful. I wish I could be there with her.

Anyway, if you dont already know, I love Pinterest. I tend to browse it every day and make promises (yes that word again) to myself that I will actually make the things I see on there. Now this doesnt often happen due to basically, what amounts to, life getting in the way. However, every so often I manage to gather the right supplies or food stuff, and find the time to start, and finish, a pinterest project.

I really like the whole wreath idea. I just think it adds that special something to a house that makes it a bit more homey. A while back I came across this gorgeous wreath:

 I love it and I thought it might actually be doable for me. There is a lot that I am unable to buy over here in the uk for the cheap prices that you can get them for in the US.Often when I come across something in pinterest that i would like to make it turns out that I either cant find the products to make it or its just not as cost effective as it would be if I could, say, run over to home depot. Not to mention the fact that over here I dont drive so it would also mean a huge trip out lugging around a buggy, my kids and my shopping goodies. So of course when I find something like this I get quite excited.

 

Ok, so ill get on with it. I gathered up my materials and I got started. Here is my end result:

 

and another:

I am still going to look for some autumny twigs and leaves and add a bit more to it but Im very pleased and how closely it come to the inspiration picture. It took a bit of time but it came out so lovely that I think I will be making more to have one hanging in my house throughout the year!

 

So here is how I made mine.

 

First,  gather your supplies. You will need:

• Scissors, or a rotary cutter and cutting mat.
• 35cm diameter polystyrene half round ring
• tulle in your prefered colours. I used 4 different colours here, about a metre each but this will depend on the fullness you are looking for.
• ribbons
• embellishments.
• (optional) paint

1. Start by cutting the tulle into strips. The length is up to you, how much you want it hanging off of the wreath. The width didnt matter to me as I was hoping for the very random look of thicker and thinner stripes so I wasnt all too worried about accuracy. If you want a more uniform and neater look you can always take the time to measure out and cut that way. I personally couldnt be bothered with all the fuss so I just cut very straight wavy and uneven strips along the fabric. It would probably make more sense to go through all the tulle and cut all of your strips at the beginning but since I wasnt going on instructions and I had no idea how much tulle I would actually need I just cut as I went.
   
   
   
2. 
   *Optionally, depending on the colours you chose, you might want to paint the wreath so the white doesnt show through. Had I thought ahead I probably would have painted this one with a gold or a light brown.
3. 

   

   starting out

   Tie each strip around the wreath, with the knot near the flat edge of the back. I used several different methods of doing this. Not the actual tying of the knots but the way I wrapped the strips. As you can see in the picture I didnt have much rhyme or reason going on and I basically just bunched them up and tied them. I also twisted them or if you would like them a bit more uniform you can fold them in on themselves lengthwise to get a thick strand.
   
4. Keep tying the strips around the wreath. I was very random with the order. I just kept filling in the spaces with colours that looked good.
 



Getting there....

 
5. Once the wreath is starting to look mostly full, scoot your strips as close to each other as possible. Arrange it so that they arent overlapping each other too much and you get the full effect of each colour.
6. 
    It wont look great until you have mostly filled the wreath so dont worry if its not looking perfect. Also dont worry too much about the tails as you can fluff them up at the end.
 
7. Before you fill the entire wreath make sure you have a space for your bows and embellishments. On this one I folded the larger ribbon in half and tied a bow like that, separated the 2 looks on either side and cut the trailing strands so they wont fray (at an angle or in a V shape) I also threaded through several shorter ribbons before the bow was tight. I tied 2 more bows in the same way with smaller ribbon above and below the bow and then fluffed them all up until I was satisfied.
8. At this point you can add any other embellishments you want. You can either thread them through the strips or the bows or hot glue. This is up to you. 
9. I finished it off with another ribbon tied in a loop. I tried stapling the ribbon to the wreath itself but the polystyrene doesnt have enough grip so I ended up threading a ribbon through the back of one of the strips in the back. If you make it short enough it wont show so it doesnt matter what it looks like. 
10. Done!!

So I apologize if any of that was confusing. Its my first tutorial so bear with me! I hope to add more soon. Here is another wreath Ive made:

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I didnt confuse you too much!

 

-Sam-

2 Posts in one day!!!

Here again, did you miss me?? Realizing how many times I post small little snippets of my life in facebook (yes, I am a facebooker so sue me.) I figured I could probably fit in a lot more. This is of course depending  on whether I can write withouth interuption. I have been staying up late most nights anyway but can you blame me? I have 3 kids and the only time I get to myself is after they go to bed. Im sure there are plenty of things I should probably do instead other than blog but what is it the kids are saying nowadays? YOLO? (You only live once for those of us not familiar with teenage slang).

My son is squeeling away at 'Jake and the Neverland Pirates' at the moment and I just love hearing it. He has discovered that those things called 'hands' have the ability to grab everything within reach and stick it in his mouth. My eldest daughter is watching the same show and eating a lunch that she and I prepared together. A very poor version of pizza (in my mind) but she created it and therefore its delicious. Basically, toast topped with pizza sauce, pepperoni and orange cheese squares. Dont rush to write down the recipe. Speaking of recipes, however, I recently found this recipe on pinterest:

 

And I decided to give it a go. Let me tell you, its one of the good ones! I made it for my brother in law who loved them and requested them any chance he got. These are mine:



 

 

If you decide to give the recipe a try, I would definitely leave out the salt. It says optional on the recipe but I put some in on the first batch and it definitely doesnt need it. The pepperoni and cheese give it enough. You could probably try different flavours in it too though I havent tried that yet.

 

Well hubby has just come home and Ive tidied up the table though Ive created more boxes that need to be sorted. The kids are playing on my brother in laws xbox kinect that he has left for us to try out!

 

Be back soon. Maybe tonight when the kids are in bed!

 

Sam. x

 

PS- I apologize about my spelling, it seems my spell check has had a spasm.



New family member and more crafty goodness

Its been forever since I've blogged. So much has happened that I could probably have written down but of course, due to the nature of these things, I haven't had the time.

Newborn Logan

Logan at 5 months

First of all, I should mention the fact that I have had another little one to add to our family, so we are now a very robust family of 5. He is my little boy, one and only, and his name is Logan. He is the most beautiful little man but of course I'm a bit biased. He was born on the 11th of April via csection (as were the other 2) and is now 5 months old. He is the most smilingest (yes I realise its not a word lol) baby Ive ever seen. And I'm in love with him.

I am now done with having babies, which can be a sad and happy thing at the same time. I feel as Ive gotten to a point where I am running out of big things to look forward to. I know that there are plenty of things in my kids lives coming up to be excited about (first birthdays, teeth, haircuts, school etc) but the next big thing for me personally is turning 30 I guess, which happens in a few months. Then another 10 years before a major birthday and even then, not much comes with them except getting older. Ive done my school years,16th birthday (can drive) 18th birthday (new privileges), 21st (more new privileges), gotten married, had kids, Ive even added a few extra big things when I moved myself across the ocean! Of course I never really went to college. I went through skin school and unfortunately due to the economy, that turned out to be a big waste of time and money (though I did love it). That might still be a possibility for me in the future but we shall wait and see.

In other news, Ive been crafting a lot more! Ive also been participating as much as possible in a few lovely groups on facebook, mainly Aly's Crafty Den (which is closed for membership at the moment) working on Crafty exchanges and hoping I don't screw anything up!

Ive also recently gotten a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine that has been on my crafty wish list for a while and I am so excited to have it! Here are a few cards I have made with it:

 

 This back to school card was made for a challenge which ends soon. I hope I win! Its made by cutting out several elements, some lovely background paper from Lidl, and distress inks in barn door, walnut stain, mustard seed and peeled paint. Ive also stamped the backgrounds of the 'back to school' working and the schoolhouse with some background stamps. Personal Impressions music background and a flourish stamp that I'm not sure of the brand.

 

 

 

 This is another challenge card. Everything was white card to begin with then then inked with distress inks in black soot, dusty concord, mustard seed, crushed olive and wild honey and pumice stone. I also used diamond stickles on the flowers and the witch and used uniball signo broad white gel pen for the 'Happy' and dashed lines.

 

 

 

This card was completely by accident. My mother in law took a trip to Ally Pally this year and she so kindly brought me some distress stains that I had been hoping to try. This was done with picket fence distress stain over black cardstock and stamped with a snowflakes stamp also with picket fence stain. I liked the look so much that I decided to put together a card with it. I distressed the edges with faded jeans distress ink and tore the bottom bit off to give it a bit of a different edge. I used weathered wood distress ink on the edge of the large snowflake and on the outside of the label. I then used black soot distress ink on the outside of the label to give it some dimension. I used Diamond stickles on the snowflakes and the label and stamped the sentiment with memento Rich cocoa in a stampin up sentiment. At the bottom is some white patterned paper with embossed snowflakes and I used some lace and patterned paper to break it all up a bit.

 

 

I hope you all have a lovely rest of the weekend and that you enjoyed taking a small peak into my life and crafty adventures. Until next time I get a random burst of bloggy inspiration!

 

 

Sam. x

 

*I am also on Pinterest! Click here to go to my boards and follow me!*



Moving, starting out and about me.

Tomorrow is my first big move since Ive been over here. Tomorrow we move from a tiny flat on the third floor to a wonderful little townhouse down the road. This is a big deal for me because its another one of those steps in the stairs of life. Your first house. Granted, its not one that we have bought but still, its my first house with my new complete family.

I guess I should explain a little about me. I am a 28 year old Mexican/American currently living in the UK. Ive moved a lot my entire life due to my dad's work. I'm not complaining, I loved it (for the most part). Now I have continued the 'tradition' as an adult. I guess I decided that neither Mexican or American men were what I wanted and went for a British one. Yeah, way to make things complicated. Anyway long story short, I met my husband, fell in love, got married, moved to England. I should also mention that I had a baby girl at the time so, yes, it wasn't easy but we did it and here we are.

I now have 2 precious girls, 5 (nearly) and 3 months old. I love them to pieces. And they have also inspired this new urge to get crafting. That and going from someplace where almost anything you could ever think of was available just down the road to a place where...well.... lets just say its quite the opposite and you have to really search well if you want something specific. Don't get me wrong, I love it here despite the wet (its really not as rainy as people make it out to be). It has just given me an excuse to make things myself!

So here we are, moving tomorrow! No internet until the 9th unfortunately but that's ok I have plenty to do!! I am going to make my special crafting space and finally get my new sewing machine! I'm am not a very disciplined person by the way so I'm going to make a special effort to continue this blogging seeing as I enjoy everyone else's so much. Wish me luck! For now I guess I can share with you the cards I have made... keep in mind they were taken with a cell phone so not the best quality.









Origami shirt men's birthday card





origami shirt card

cupcake birthday card



valentines day shaker card





Tempus Fugit (time flies) Birthday card

Have a wonderful February!

- Samantha