Pinteresting: A Wreath For All Seasons

From Webster's Dictionary--

frus·tra·tion

noun \(ˌ)frəs-ˈtrā-shən\

: a deep chronic sense or state of insecurity and dissatisfaction arising from unresolved problems or unfulfilled needs

Example:

You see that white space? That's styrofoam. You know why it's there? Because, even after buying out that particular style of ribbon at Michael's, there wasn't enough to cover it. The wreath stayed like that for about two weeks, during which time I stalked Michael's like an unstable spurned lover. Finally, Thomas suggested we drive over to the next town and check their store. Luckily, they had the same style, so the wreath is now finished (pics to come). Today, though, I thought I'd walk you through how I put this baby together. I call it, "A Wreath For All Seasons".

See, a few months ago, I went surfing around Pinterest. This generally proves dangerous, because I love the idea of DIY-ing something cool, but tend to pick things that turn out to be a heck of a lot more difficult than I'd imagined. (I'm klutzy...things break...I get hurt...you get the picture. My next project is a fire pit, by the way. God help us all...) Anyhoo, I ran across this:

Pin originally came from here.

I absolutely loved the idea of hanging our initial (which also happens to be an S) from a ribbon, as seen in the middle picture. "I can do that!" I thought. So, off to Michael's I went, armed with a sale paper and a 40% off coupon.

I wanted a year-round wreath, so I decided to go with very simple, basic colors, and no flowers or leaves or anything seasonal. Black and white go with pretty much everything, so I settled on a damask ribbon to cover a styrofoam ring. For the initial, I found a white wooden S, and painted it with some metallic silver spray paint I had lying around the house.

Owl pajama pants. Very glam.

The ribbon's just wrapped tightly around the ring. Easy peasy.

Anytime a roll of ribbon ended, I hot glued the edge down (preferably in the back) and started up a new roll exactly where the last one left off. Seriously, absolutely zero skill was needed for this project. The S is looped through a length of black ribbon with white edging, and the ribbon is hot glued to the back of the S for stability. I did tie the ribbon around the ring before hanging the S, and left plenty of ribbon hanging down so I could use that to attach the wreath to the front door.

The reason it's a "Wreath For All Seasons"? The decorations that I later added to it can be swapped out at will, meaning I can use this for Easter, Fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas--you name it! How'd I do that? Stick around and find out...

Buy or DIY? Halloween Spider Headband

Yes, I realize it's only August, and the beginning of the month, at that, but over the weekend I saw that Michael's already had some Halloween merchandise out, and there was a spider headband too cute to pass up!

Way cuter than a witch's hat, any day.

The headband isn't available on the website (actually, nothing is. You have to go to a brick and mortar store to make any purchases), but I wanted to share it with you, in the event you have a Michael's nearby, or are crafty and want to DIY your own.

It's like a fascinator, but on a headband. It's cocked to one side.

It doesn't appear to be a difficult project, if you choose to make one. The base is just your basic, black satin headband. It looks like some sequinned tulle was either stitched or glued on to the band, then topped with a black organza bow and a beaded spider. The spider might be a challenge to replicate, but that could just be your excuse to get really creative and come up with your own design! Maybe you could go crazy with curling ribbon? How about some grinning felt pumpkins? Or, you could use the basic design to come up with something not even remotely Halloween-y. I can see this becoming a glamorous, feather and crystal covered evening accessory, without having to spend too much money or exert too much effort.

Close-up of the construction. Sequinned tulle, ribbon, ornament. Easy peasy.

However, if you're like me and burn yourself everytime you think of plugging in a glue gun, the Michael's I visited carried these in the lime I got, red, and hot pink. They also had variations with skulls and pumpkins, and all were $9.99. I used a 40% off coupon to snag my headband for around $6.00. I think it'll look really sweet with my Little Mermaid t-shirt for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Happy Haunting!

Cutsey Custom Kisses

My friend (and reader) Genna brought this craft idea to my attention yesterday, and I had to share it with you guys! If you're still looking for inexpensive stocking stuffers, classmate/co-worker gifts, or if any of you moms just need something fun to do with a troop of girl scouts or slumber partiers, this may be just the ticket.

Brooke over at Cheeky Kitchen posted a super easy and cute recipe for homemade lip glosses. Click here for the entire post, or just scroll down for the recipe. I suggest clicking, because the site is so much fun you'll want to flip through previous posts. Fair warning: you'll easily kill an hour.

Photo Credit: Cheeky Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon paraffin wax
4 teaspoons coconut oil
4 teaspoons petroleum jelly
4 white or pink (or whatever color you like) candy melts
1/2 teaspoon oil-based candy flavoring

Directions:

Grate the wax into a ziploc freezer bag. Add the coconut oil, petroleum jelly, candy melts and the flavoring. Place the bag in a bowl of very hot water and allow the ingredients to melt together. Massage the bag a bit to mix the ingredients together. Snip a corner from the bag and squeeze the ingredients into small containers (we used sterilized bead holders purchased from JoAnn). Pop your lip gloss containers into the fridge to cool completely. Gift and enjoy!

These are so adorable! Now, if you want to up your geek quotient a tad, swap out the pink candy for green and label with a Ghostbusters logo for super slimer-y kisses. Or, go for blue, and see if your smooches transport you through time and space. It's all up to you, and what your imagination can come up with. Have fun, and let me know how they turn out!