Valentine's Day Yarn Wreath

The worst thing about putting away my Christmas decorations is how sad and barren my house looks after. (The second worst thing? The fact that no matter what I do, I always end up with decorations that do not fit back in the boxes. But I took them out of those boxes! It's their home! Are you too good for your home? Go home, decorations!) So this year I decided that I was going to make some Valentine's Day decorations to get my house through that sad transition.

A yarn wreath seemed like a fairly easy and inexpensive way to achieve this. I started with a styrofoam wreath (Michael's, $4.99), a ball of pink variegated yarn (JoAnn's, $2.99), some Aleene's Tacky Glue (JoAnn's, $1), and some scissors. 

I glued the beginning of the yarn to one side of the wreath. I wanted a clean look, so I wound the yarn tightly and in perfect straight lines. Here is the beginning:

This is a close up of how I was winding the yarn:

I went once around the wreath and it took about an hour, maybe an hour and fifteen minutes. Every once in a while, I would push all the yarn together so that it was as tight as possible. Also, pro tip: Sometimes, you should turn the wreath over and make sure the other side isn't all messed up. I ASSUME that could happen to SOME PEOPLE if they aren't paying attention. It definitely didn't happen to me, no siree. 

This is what it looked like when I was done winding the yarn. I really like how the variegated yarn made it look. 

Excuse the poor picture - it was getting late.

To jazz up the wreath a little, I got some felt pieces (I used just one 9x12 white piece) to make rosettes. I traced circles of varying sizes on the felt first, because I failed cutting in Kindergarten and I was definitely NOT going to freehand this. I used a Christmas mug, the top of a CD holder, and an old Rodeo giveaway item for different size circles. 

What, you don't have a headless monkey riding a dog at YOUR house? 

Once you cut the circles, you then cut the circle into a spiral. Like so:

Cutting the spiral

The spiral and the piece left over.

Then I took one piece of the spiral and rolled it around itself until it formed a rosette. Glue the last bit to itself, and then glue the whole thing onto the little piece left over. 

You know what's hard? Photographing a white flower. 

I then glued the rosettes to the wreath, braided some yarn, and hung the wreath on the door. I might add some more flowers later, but for now I like the clean, simple look of it. 

In the end, I think it turned out pretty. Craft #1 a success! 

Why Do I Think I Can Craft?

It is well-documented that I am not "crafty". I learned to sew when I was a kid, I made a tote bag, and then I forgot everything I ever knew and never sewed again. I learned to crochet, made a couple of long skinny lines of yarn, and then stopped doing that. I even did that rug weaving thing, made half a rug, and quit. I get discouraged easily and don't like doing things I am not good at.

BUT THEN! Pinterest happened. And there are so many cute things! And they all make me totally overestimate my crafting abilities! So this blog will document my forays into the world of crafting, cooking, baking, and everything else that Pinterest makes me think I am an EXPERT at. Stay tuned!