Creating Sarah: wreath

I have been seeing yarn wreaths all over bloggy land and I absolutely love them all!

I decided it was about time for me to make my own.

It turned out rather nice, don't you think?

I figured they were probably pretty easy to make, so I didn't use any particular tutorial to make mine. I just did it the way I figured would work.

So, here's what I did:

First, I got a wreath form. When I went to the store, they were out of styrofoam forms (it must be wreath season or something!), but I did find this straw wreath for only about $3.

I left the plastic on it to hold all that straw in.

Next, I gathered the tools: Yarn and glue.

I don't know if other people have used glue to hold their yarn down, but it seemed like that would work best, especially with the plastic.

I started out by putting a good amount of glue directly on the wreath.

I smeared that glue around with my finger (because that is the funnest way to spread glue) and stuck one end of the yarn to the wreath. (P.S. I just put glue on one side, not all the way around.)

Then I started wrapping it.

It was at about this point that I realized it would probably be easier to wrap the yarn if it was wound up in a ball instead of in the skein. So, I took a little break and made that big skein into about 5 smaller balls. That was much, much easier to wrap with.

I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped until I had covered the whole thing.

It became apparent that one round of wrapping wasn't going to cover the wreath adequately.

I mean, look at all those holes!

The wreath was going to get cold.

So, I wrapped and glued and wrapped and glued and wrapped and glued again.

There.

Doesn't it look much more cozy? (Ignore that one little hole at the bottom. I don't know how that happened!)

And, I was worried the glue would make the yarn stiff, but I didn't use a ton so it worked out perfectly. The wreath is nice and soft and, yes, even huggable.

Next, I needed some embellishment.

I searched all over for ideas and finally I came across this post over at A Pretty Life in the Suburbs.

I knew right away that those were the flowers I wanted! And, wahoo!...there was a tutorial.

I used felt and followed her tutorial. It was quick and easy and before I knew it (well, not really before I knew it...it only took about half an hour) I was surrounded by pretty flowers.

mmmmmm. They make me happy.

I pulled out my hot glue gun and arranged those pretty flowers nicely on my cozy wreath.

I think it gave it just the touch it needed (and also it covered up that rogue hole!).

I really like that yellow one that is sitting there saying, "I don't quite fit in with these other guys, but I don't care because I'm bold and bright and pretty all on my own."