Fall Decor

Since I have officially given up on sewing (or at least taking a break for a few months), I've turned to other craftiness lately. I was absolutely determined to decorate for fall this year, and I'm hoping to decorate once winter and Christmas show up too. I have a few more ideas in my mind that I haven't started yet for fall, but at least I got two things done: a fall wreath, and a burlap banner. I may not get around to anything else, but I can pick up next year with two pieces already in my collection.

The wreath has been on my thoughts for a while. I finally bucked up and printed all my coupons one weekend, went to three different stores, and bought plenty of supplies! I haven't owned a glue gun until now, so that was definitely stopping my craftiness. In total, for all of the supplies to make the wreath and the banner, I spent less than $20. I still have burlap and leaves leftover to make something later if I want too!

The wreath is just a green wreath form with brown yarn wrapped around. I was inspired by many yarn wreaths, but particularly this wreath from Six Sisters because the yarn didn't have to be perfectly placed- they just covered the wreath form multiple times. The wrapping took me about 45 minutes for one wrap, and another 15 for the second wrap- about an hour. I then used this tutorial from Take Heart for the flowers, which were way easier than I ever could have imagined! They were probably done in a half hour total, making the whole project under 2 hours. I am in love with this wreath and I want to make a variation for each season!

The burlap banner was definitely not on my thoughts for a while. I just bought burlap on a whim, and the leaves were nice and fall-ish so I got them too. This is one of those projects that just came together without any mishaps- hurray! I cut a triangle out of paper as a template, then cut my burlap triangles. I was just going to freehand the lettering because I didn't want it to look perfect, but I soon learned painting on burlap with a foam brush is just a little tricky. Instead, I took the extra time to print the letters out and cut each one into a template. With those templates, the painting of the letters was super fast and I love how it turned out.

For the leaves, I just stuck them to the burlap with my new amazing glue gun. I hope they'll stay glued over the years, but it'll be a simple fix if they come off. To finish it all off, I glued the triangles to a piece of string to keep them all together, then I sewed one straight line at the top of the banner so everything will stay put. The finished banner is over 10 feet long, so I'm not in love with the fact that I have to make it loop rather than hanging it in one big swoop across the wall. However, someday we'll have a longer wall and I can hang up my burlap banner each fall!

 

The full banner. It makes me so happy every time I see it!

What did I learn? I love crafting. These two projects made me feel better about my creativity skills, since lately the sewing has been making me depressed. I also learned to go slow and make each step as perfect as I can, so that the whole finished project looks good. I'll always be glad I didn't freehand those letters!