Heart of Roses

Last year at this time, I noticed that Joann's had some pretty heart shaped wreaths for Valentines, all covered in roses.  I loved the idea!  However, I did not love the price tags, so I sighed and walked away, but as I continued to see them on trips to that store, the wheels in my head began turning . . . I looked at them critically and finally decided that I could make my own and make it better. Or at least, more to my personal taste.

Thereby arose my quest to find a heart shaped wreath base for making my own heart shaped rose wreath.  I looked at all the options out there and it took some effort because heart shaped bases are hard to find. When I did finally find some the bases were often just as expensive as the finished wreaths, and to add flowers and such on top of that didn't seem to make sense.  Finally I decided to purchase a fairly inexpensive tinsel-heart-garland wreath. Like this one.

Next, I proceeded to unravel all the garland off the wreath.  I saved the tinsel and now drape it around the ceiling of my front room or Valentine's, but I really purchased this wreath for it's frame.
Then I chose some roses.  It was difficult to estimate how many I would need but I made my best guess and bought some lovely pink rose buds with pretty clear glue drops on them that look like dew.

Then I tried to figure out how I was going to attach the roses to the sparse frame and still make it look good.

At one point while looking for inspiration on-line I saw some wreaths that were covered in ruffled ribbons.  I liked this idea and figured I could use ribbon to fill in any gaps in my roses.  So then I was on the hunt for ribbon, but it too was a bit pricey for how much I figured I'd need, especially if I ended up gathering it.  Luckily, I discovered some lovely hot pink spools of silk ribbon at my local dollar store.  I began stocking up on those every time I went there but it took a while to accumulate what I thought my be enough, and even then I had my doubts.

By this time Valentine's Day had passed and my enthusiasm for my idea had waned considerably . . . So the wreath frame hung in my sewing closest and the roses resided in a basket in the corner of my room until this February rolled around.

I have no idea why the wreath seemed so difficult when I wanted to do it last year.  This year, I guess because the problem had been stewing for so long, I just picked it up and knew what the answer to all my problems was.  Hot glue.

I didn't have a hot glue gun, but finishing a year old project seemed like the perfect excuse to justify buying one for myself.

As it turned out, I didn't have enough roses . . .

 That was okay though, because they still carried the same kind at Joann this year.  (Though honestly, the new ones seemed a tad cheaper fabric and I noticed there were six roses per bunch instead of seven. . . . Hmmm.)
At any rate, I decided against the ribbon ruffles as I wasn't sure how that would look or even really work, and just went with lots of roses and a ribbon bow.

I actually should have bought just one more bunch of roses. I could use six or so more to fill in some remaining gaps, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with my very rosy Valentine wreath, and pleased that I finally finished a project!

Go me!

Happy Valentine's Everyone!

~Julie :}

Update: 2/19/12 Mo' Better Pictures -- :}

Cute Clothing Idea for the Crafty

Last month I attended a baby shower for my husband's cousin who was about to have triplets.  Two identical girls and a boy.  At the shower we got to decorate the cutest onsies ever!  The idea came from my cousin Meg and it was so fun to do! (See here for an easy tutorial.)  These are the onsies I did.

I'm really excited about this idea because, obviously, this technique can be applied to more than just baby clothes.  I'm thinking of using this idea as an activity for my Activity Days girls.  They could decorate their own shirts, or we could use the same idea and decorate onsies to give to new babies in the ward. Either way, I think it could be really fun for the girls.


Update September 13, 2011:

I did do an activity with the girls in my ward and they really enjoyed it.  I didn't get any pictures, but it was fun to see how different and creative all the girls were when they design their own t-shirts.

Also, here are a couple more onsies from a baby shower held for my cousin at the beginning of the summer. The hedgehog one is mine and the frogs were done by my sister April of AE Design.