Today, October 4, 2012

Today’s Project: Decorations.Must.Be.EVEN!

A few days ago, I made this for my door:

A fall wreath I created from plastic grocery bags and a wire hanger.

This door happens to be the side entrance to our house, by the driveway.  It is the door that people use the majority of the time, so it makes sense to deck out this part of the abode for holidays.

However, my front door was calling to me mournfully:

‘What about meeeeee, Rora?  I feel so naaaked…’

With that kind of pleading, what’s a girl to do?  There’s only one woman who can save this door from oblivion!  Who has two thumbs, no cash and some time on her hands? THIS GIRL!

So I made this wreath:

I just happened to have another wire hanger hanging around. (HA! I crack me up!)  Which, I of course, took full advantage of. 

I’m all out of brown grocery bags….hmmm…WAIT!  What’s that?  A bird? A plane? NO! It’s an unsuspecting tree! Perfect!

I happen to be blessed with having some lovely trees in our yard that display some great seasonal foliage.  I really take no credit for them, as they were there when we bought the house.  We were so fortunate that the people who owned the place before us took great time and care to design a lovely yard.  We are especially fortunate that it doesn’t require special care as my sweetie is busy working all the time and I inherited my mother’s glorious Brown Thumb.  As I told my kids this summer, I know about farming, not flowers.  Give me a field of soybeans and corn and I can tell you exactly what needs to be done and when.   But put me in front of a patch of gladiolas and I will hem and haw and say, ‘Gee, aren’t those daisies pretty?’  Yep. I’m a flower idiot.  My Healthy-Habits friend used to be convinced she could teach me…till I demolished the indestructible plant she gave me. Sorry. :/

However, I can yield a pair of clippers to snag some branches! Yepppers!

Here’s some pics of the pretty trees:

I fashioned a work space on the back deck for this project as I was sure that I would make a nice mess:

I started with the yellow tree, as that was really my favorite in the yard at present and I thought the color would compliment well the red/orange tone of the door.  I worked in a loose ‘star’ pattern and wired on the branches with some floral wire (thank you Dollar Store!)

Layer #1:

Slight frustration as I realized the reason those leaves are such a pretty yellow is because they are going to fall off soon…which they did…a lot…as I was working with the branches. Grrr…I had a lovely pile of leaves in my lap as I was working.   However, I did try to cut branches that had an interesting overall shape, so when the leaves are gone, it will look twiggy and cool.  That is my story and I’m sticking to it.

Next I wired on the purple-ish tree branches.  These had some prickly thorns that you don’t really notice, so it was quite literally, a pain.  No, Healthy-Habits Friend, I didn’t use gloves as I should have. And yes, I will be calling you in a couple of days to ask ‘what is this weird rash?’ And, of course, at that time it will be well within your rights to throw out a big ol’ ‘I told you so!’ or ‘For Goodness Sake! What were you thinking?!’  Ahem.

Layer #2:

I had a couple of flowers left over from the other wreath, so I wired those on…

Then, being a crafting freak, I have a bunch of random ribbon bits leftover from other projects. I keep them in a drawer labeled, appropriately enough, ‘Random Ribbon Bits.’  These I fashioned into a bow:

and wired it to the wreath

I added some dead twigs from the purple bush once I hung it on the door.  I thought these added a bit of extra texture to the piece.

And there you have it!  My doors are now evenly decorated for fall! YAY!

Now to do the rest of my 45 ft long porch…sigh…

Woman's work is never done...