Book Wreath Tutorial

I've come across several different kinds of book wreaths but this style called my name.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money on this so I went to the dollar store and came home with:

A pretty large book
Two rolls of 2 1/2" satin-ish ribbon
A small package of Glue Sticks
One of those green florist rings

The green ring had square edges so I took a kitchen knife to it and carved until the edges were round.  I didn't worry about the back side, just the top outside and inside.  It was messier than I thought it would be but in the end wasn't too bad.

I wasn't sure if hot glue would stick to the green florist ring very well so decided to wrap it with one of the rolls of ribbon.  The ribbon turned out to be a good call as a friend assured me hot glue would not have worked well.  Plus, this ivory ribbon was much better peeking through than the green would have been.

Next I took the cover off the book and started cutting out pages with a box knife.

After a while, the pages started getting smaller as the parts of the pages left behind got thicker.  Eventually I cut the spine with my kitchen scissors and was able to take the pages out like it was a tablet.  Much Better.

Next, I stacked about 6 pages and cut out large circles.  I tried drawing a circle first but ended up just freehand cutting them as it was easier for me.  Feel free to use a small bowl or plate to trace around.  I did try cutting out an oval to use more of the page but found out that made for some really wild flowers that were harder to roll.

Next, I cut the circles in a spiral. I tried drawing this first but again, it was easier to freehand cut them. I liked that each set of 6 or so were different as I never cut the spiral exactly the same. I did also discover that the center should be fairly small.

Next, I took the curly-cue pieces and rubbed the outside edges on a brown distressed ink pad to give the flowers an aged look.

This step is optional.  Here you can see what the flowers look like with and without the ink.

Next, grab the skinny end not the fat middle and start rolling.

Every couple of rolls, put a small dot of hot glue.  Ignore my sad looking hands and split thumbnail!

Keep rolling until you get to where only the middle circle is left.

Use that bottom flap/circle to make the bottom of the flower.  Add a glob of hot glue and press down.  I used a scrap piece of wood to protect my table.

Now is the fun part.  The last part was the slightly tedious part.  My son is in next year's High School Musical, Fiddler on the Roof so we watched the DVD while I was cutting, inking and rolling.  Nice!

My husband thought it didn't look too bad with just a few flowers on the wreath so that's an option as well.  I ended up using about 85 rolled flowers.

 

Taaaa Daaaaa!

It's driving me crazy that I didn't trim the ends of the ribbon before I took this picture!

Have Fun!

Hero

I have a new Hero in my life.  Her name is Kyra.  She is my niece.  She is beautiful.  She is a teenager. 

I was privileged last week to witness the birth of Kyra's baby boy.

It was a crowded room.

Kyra, her Mother (my sister), her Grandmother, two sisters, a cousin, two Aunts and her boyfriend were there. 

We were all there to cheer her on as she delivered a precious little person. 

We had tears in our eyes.  One, because it's a miracle to witness and two, because a teenager shouldn't be going through something so huge and life altering.

Sure, Kyra made choices that let her to this hard time in her life.

It's not my place to judge her.  It is my place to love her.

Kyra had her baby boy on a Thursday and on Saturday, she did one of the hardest, most courageous things she will ever do in her life.

My hero, chose a wonderful family to adopt, love and raise this sweet child.  I think she chose well.

I was asked to make a quilt to go with him to his new family.  Kyra, her Mother and I met at the fabric store and she picked out some cute fabric.  I was honored.  It was hard to sew while trying to keep my eyes dry.


Kyra, you are my Hero and I love you.

I'm the only girl in my house.

Since the day I got married 25 ½ years ago, I’ve been the only girl in my house.  I’ve been thinking of some of the benefits and decided to list a few.

I have several friends with the same one-sided gender household.  Feel free to add to the list!

1.       My makeup stays in my makeup drawer.

2.       I don’t have to share my shoes.

3.       At rest stop bathrooms, both boys go with Garth and I get to go in alone.

4.       I get to watch more documentaries about war and guns than I ever thought I would.

5.       Although it hasn’t happened for a few years, I got to spend time on the floor playing with Knex and Legos for hours while having great conversations about bugs and the like.

6.       I don’t feel the extreme need to shout “I call that …(insert name of cool car here)” while driving around town.

This one happens to be Jensen's favorite.  I think if he saw one in real life, we'd have to potty train all over again...



7.       I get to have a G.I. Joe Christmas tree topper.

Our 20+ year old star tree topper died last year.  This year our tree had a double top so what else could we do?  It made me happy every time I looked at it!

8.       I get to help my sons with Cub and Boy Scout stuff.

This is from this last year 2011

9.       Bathroom humor is actually kind of funny.

10.   My boys are trained to respect my Dooney & Bourke and Coach and bags.  Jensen has been known to point out a Coach bag or two on t.v. shows.  Garth is really proud of that one.

11.   I don’t have to kill all the spiders.

12.   I usually don’t have to lift heavy things.

13.   I’m able to take a small bit of pride in a loud belch.

14.   I have 3 handy jar openers.

15.   Nobody wants to ride my pink bike.  Although Gordon has ridden it a time or two in a moment of desperation.

Ahhhh, I LOVE my life!