Wreath-a-rific!!

Isn't it amazing how sometimes when we are really strapped financially, we get uber creative??  Well, my front doors have been bare for over a month now because I didn't have a Valentines wreath.  Since I now have at least 1 cute St. Patty's Day craft done and ready, I thought it was high time I got the doors taken care of.  I scavenged a few items from my craft closet and got to work.  Pretty pleased how the final project turned out... here's how it all came together {you are not allowed to judge the photos, the plastic kept making an awful glare so I was goofing around with the flash}:

I had 2 straw wreath forms I bought at Hobby Lobby at Christmas time for 50% off.  Got them both for around $3.50.  I dug through my scrap fabric box and found several different green fabrics and some tulle cause you can never have enough tulle!  

 The rest of the items I found at my 99c Store... The signs I scooped up last year because they were green and already painted {sometimes I'm just lazy, not creative}.  The shamrocks were a great size and had some extra ribbons and stuff attached so I'm thinking I could do something fun with those.  The pins are a must because I am so cheap I want to be able to break these puppies down and reuse the wreath forms.   

Yes, I am that cheap!

First, all you do is rip some strips of fabric.  Start by snipping a small bit the width you want and then think of that one wretched mess your toddler made that afternoon and pull HARD. Pfew!  Repeat as long and as many times as you need until your frustration is good and used up.  This is a fun technique because it is both quick and I like the look of the frayed edges.  Note: I started with these 2"-ish strips, but after working them around the wreath, I decided to undo and go with a 1"-ish strip.  Up to you.

 

 Ahhhhh, a nice pile of strips... Guess my 2 year old will live to see another day ;-)

 See how I ripped the strips again to make them smaller... Now, figure out how you want to layer them and start pinning.  After this pic I decided to add another color so I ended up with 5 different colors.  Here's a tip for you, wrap them in this same order as if they are one big piece of fabric.  That will make the final product uniform.  I tried wrapping each color, and then trying to overlap and I lost a few of the fabrics.  So handy that I only pinned them so it was really easy to redo until I got the end result I wanted. Not gonna lie, it took me more than twice to get it just right.

Here's what I mean by wrapping them all as one piece. Does that make sense?

 

Voila! I used the tulle to add little "szhusz" behind the clovers and used it to make hanger at the top.  Remember those dangling strings from before?  I added them to the hanger for a little extra pop.  At this point, I did not like seeing the pin in the middle of the clover.  It took me a little while to decide to try my hand at fabric flowers!  I'm HOOKED!  And since I had just a "few" extra strips of fabric laying around, I whipped up a few to add to the wreath. 

 I just love how it turned out!  Seriously proud of myself because I usually am not good at creating things on my own... I am REALLY good at copying other people's ideas so this is a big deal for me.  

 Close up of the flowers.  They are a little tight, so I may work on my technique, but not bad for a first shot right?  {really wish those holes were not in the clovers, but what are you gonna do for $1}

Here they are!!  I love having double doors in the front, but it gets pretty expensive when trying to decorate 2 doors.  So happy that this project came in under $10 for both!! 

NOTE: Now accepting advice for removing that tacky No Soliciting sign without totally peeling off the paint like I did when I removed the original magnet wreath hanger. Can you say 'eye sore'! Yikes!

Hope you like it and are inspired to make something GREAT and GREEN!  

Happy March everyone!!

p.s. Remember those ucky signs.  Like I said, I only liked the fact that they were $1 and already green and finished.  I just had to take the sticker off the back and whip out my Sharpie!  I didn't end up using the signs for the wreath, but I might find somewhere else to put them cause I just like how it turned out too!  

{This was NOT my idea - surprise, surprise}

 p.s.s. Just linked to my first EVER blog party!! WHOO HOO!! Of course I did it wrong, but what can I say... that's what I get for staying up way too late doing fun projects! Check it out