10 Minute Burlap Wreath

Posted on August 3, 2015 by simplyschulze

Wow, it sure has been a while! I had high hopes for some more consistent blog updates over the past few months but apparently moving can really take a toll on one’s free time, lol. Good news is, we have arrived safely (and mostly sanely, ha) at our new home in Quantico and are so happy to be here! We just love our house and new community and I can’t wait to share all of the fun times and crafts that are sure to come at this new station :).

As usual, even though life has been completely crazy I have somehow still found time for lots of projects, one of which was this 10 minute burlap wreath! In trying to meet new people, one of my new neighbors was sweet enough to host a wreath making party and this is the simple design I chose to create for my August wreath. It’s a good thing this wreath only takes ten minutes because of the several hours we spent chatting and sipping wine, there was only a tiny portion of time actually spent making wreaths, haha. This particular design requires very few supplies and even less time, so it’s easy to throw together in a pinch and most importantly for my fellow mamas – you can create it during naptime and still have time for a nap yourself ;)!

10 MINUTE BURLAP WREATH

SUPPLIES

12 inch wire frame wreath – available at your local craft store, I purchased mine at Michaels using a 40% off coupon.
2 10-yard rolls of burlap – these usually run about $5-ish per roll at Michaels but if you hold out for a sale or coupon you can usually get them for 40% off. I purchased mine when they were on a 50% off sale so they only ran about $2 a piece!
Floral accents – the options for floral accents and greenery are endless so my suggestion would be to choose the ones that are on clearance, as mine were.
Plain wooden letter (optional) – while the letter is optional I think it adds a cute flair to the wreath. Mine was the only “S” left so it was on clearance for only $0.79!!! I hit it with a coat of white spray paint I had on hand and voila, done!

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: Begin by unrolling your burlap garlands and secure the end of your burlap to the frame (sometimes this is done using wire but I simply cut a small slit length-wise to create two small tails on the end an then simply tie it to the frame). For weaving your burlap in and out there are a few different methods, one of them is detailed here in this YouTube tutorial, but another would be to cut it into long strips and weave it in and out in an “under-over-under” manner, making sure to “poof” and bunch your loops along the way. As I mentioned in similar tutorial for my 4th of July Wreath it’s a little hard to describe this method and much easier to learn it visually, that being said YouTube is an excellent resource to actually see this method in action.

Step 2: Once you have created the burlap portion of your wreath simply cut the stems of your floral and greenery accents to a manageable length (about 5-10 inches is good, just long enough to be able to wedge them into the frame) and stick them into the frame at your desired location. You should not need any wire to secure them, mine were able to fit tightly into the frame atop the burlap without issue.

Step 3: If you are using an initial or monogram accent, secure it to the opposing side of the wreath by using a decorative ribbon, twine or clear fishing line to secure it to the wire frame. Once this is done you may go back and manipulate any of the burlap loops and floral accents to your liking!

There you have it! Not much to it at all, huh?! It really does take about ten minutes and if you mind your sales and coupons this can be created for less than $10! Mine cost about $12 total 🙂

DIY Fall Wine Bottle Decor – Perfect for any season!

Posted on October 17, 2014 by simplyschulze

So before I get too ahead of myself with incessant posts about baby P’s first birthday and DIY Halloween decor I just wanted to share this little tid bit of my fall decor that I whipped up using things I always have on hand – wine bottles and scrap fabric 🙂 Now as I do on at least one day most weeks, I found myself in the fabric store buying the fall themed burlap for my DIY Autumn Pennant Banner and happened to walk past their display of little seasonal over-priced chochkies (is that how you spell that word? lol) and saw a cute little decorated wine bottle. As I do with most of the fabric store ready-made decor I passed since I was not about to pay $12.99 for a bottle (a small one at that, if it had actually contained wine at any point I feel bad for the person who emptied it – they got jipped! lol) wrapped in twine, however I did snap a picture and make a mental must-DIY-that note.

Before I get to the tutorial I think it’s worth mentioning that as I fulfill my holiday decorating goal of keeping my home decor themed with each holiday, I’m realizing the fact that Halloween falls right in the middle of the start of fall and Thanksgiving really messes with decor in that I came up with a whole bunch of autumn-y type ideas for our home only to remember that I would have to put up Halloween pieces and then pull the fall stuff out again for the whole harvest/autumn theme that goes along with Thanksgiving. Super complicated stuff this decorating business is, lol! Anyway, before I figured out that I would wind up in a decorating pickle, I decided to re-create the little wine bottle craft that I saw in the fabric store the week before only I would go a step further and create a set of four! Two things I love about this project: first, it is super easy and cheap to create and while I know wine isn’t free but lets be real, wine bottles are plentiful at the Schulze home, lol. Second, since there are four bottles and the embellishments are interchangeable I can easily swap out the wording for any holiday for instance, “noel” for Christmas, “love” for Valentine’s Day, “booo” for Halloween and so on. This can be made with any scrap fabric if you have a particular color scheme in mind or want it to fit the theme of a particular room instead of a holiday that would work too!

my inspiration!

my version 🙂

SUPPLIES

*this supply list is for my specific creation, any scrap fabric combinations can be used!

4 wine bottles, labels removed
scrap burlap (plain and printed)
scrap lace
scrap fall print fabric
twine
gold ribbon
faux fall leaves
crafting letters or stencils
orange acrylic paint
hot glue/glue gun

DIRECTIONS

Step 1: I began by removing the labels from my wine bottles by soaking them in some warm soapy water then scrubbing off with a sponge. Since I drink relatively cheap wine the labels remove pretty easily but if yours are a little more stubborn Goo-Gone will take them right off.

Step 2: I then cut my strips of plain burlap and lace and secured them around each of the wine bottles using a few dots of hot glue.

my lace was actually cut from a pair of curtains that I found at a thrift store for $0.50!

Step 3: Next I prepared my “fall” portion of the decor by cutting four small squares of fall themed fabric and then four smaller squares of printed burlap to be glued atop the first squares. Next took my faux fall leaves (purchased at Walmart for $0.98 for a package of about 12!) and used a dot of hot glue to attach two to each fabric square.

98 cent Walmart leaves!

Step 4: At this point I took my craft letters left over from another project and painted them orange (they were originally brown but I felt that the orange stuck out better, at this point you can also stencil the wording directly onto your fabric squares using acrylic paint). Once they had dried I glued each to the front of my fabric squares. To attach the square to the bottles I cut two small holes in the top of each of the fabric piece and ran a piece of twine through each and tied them around the body of the wine bottles. Finally I tied a decorative ribbon bow atop each of the bottle necks – done!

finished product 🙂

Rustic Burlap “Autumn” Pennant Banner

Posted on September 23, 2014 by simplyschulze

So as I’ve mentioned, last year I made a commitment to myself to keep up with my holiday and seasonal decor. As a kid my Mom always put a lot of time (that she didn’t have) and effort into decorating my childhood home for the holidays and I’d like to do the same for baby P and any other future children I may have. Since in my opinion it’s a tad early for Halloween decor (it still feels like summer!) I thought I’d get my decorating started with a few easy fall themed pieces that compliment our regular home decor. This pennant banner is super easy to create and is both fun and elegant and most importantly – cheap! Mine cost about $3.00 to create. Happy fall, now go make a cute pennant banner to celebrate 🙂

This project was inspired by my DIY Rustic Pennant Banners that I use for party decor, follow this link to see how you can jazz up your next event!

My fall version!

SUPPLIES:

Burlap – the amount you need depends on what you would like your banner to say and how many letters it will contain, but you will likely need less than 1/4 of yard which will cost you about $1.00-$2.00.
Twine
Brown acrylic paint
Small paint brush
Large stencils – I used my reusable stencils that I used to create my DIY Rustic Burlap Pennant Banners, they are available at Staples.
scrap fabric (optional)
Scissors
Scrap paper

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: Begin by creating a pattern out of scrap paper (I just used a piece of computer paper out of my recycling bin) in whatever shape you would like your pennants to be. I chose a square shape with an inverted triangle at the bottom which measured about 7″ wide by 10″ long.

I made sure that my letter fit atop the pattern.

Step 2: Once you have your pattern, use it as a guide and use a marker to trace as many as you need onto the back of your burlap then cut them out.

Step 3: After all of your pieces have been cut. Use your stencils and acrylic paint to apply your letters to the tops of the burlap using your small paint brush. Use a generous amount of paint. Set aside to dry.

Step 4: Once your letters have dried use your scissors to poke a small hole in either end of each of the tops of the pennants through which you will thread a piece of twine. At this point if you wish you can dab some mod podge on the ends of your pennants to keep them from fraying but since mine was going to be up high out of tiny finger reach (lol) I didn’t bother.

Step 5 (optional): If you want to add little fabric tassels to the ends to jazz it up use the same method I used in creating my Scrap Fabric Banner but instead with a few pieces knotted together.

Pottery Barn Hack – DIY Faux Succulent Wreath

Posted on September 19, 2014 by simplyschulze

So I have a confession to make, despite the awesomeness that is this wreath, until I made it I hadn’t gotten swept up in the whole succulent craze. This is probably because anything that becomes popular automatically becomes unnecessarily expensive, even fake plants, lol. Come to think of it, back in the day I knew succulents as “rubber plants” and my parents would lure us to the Home Depot with the promise of being able to buy a little rubber plant or cactus if we cooperated (don’t worry, since then I’ve learned to extort better items from my parents in exchange for favors, lol), haha. Anyway, back to the wreath. J’s sweet Aunt M asked if I would be able to make her a wreath and sent me a picture of a Pottery Barn faux succulent wreath (pictured below) and went on to explain that since the wreath would not be under the shelter of a porch or storm door it would need to be made of materials that would withstand the elements and this one seemed to be fitting. I was super intrigued as I hadn’t attempted a faux flower or moss wreath before and couldn’t wait to get started. Well, in typical Natasha fashion I got caught up in approximately one million other projects (worst niece ever! lol) but the other night I was determined to get both this succulent wreath and my own September wreath done and did so in just a about two hours (which makes it all the more embarrassing that it took so long for me to start, ha)! The wreath turned out beautifully and is made even more attractive by the fact that the cost came in at around $50.00 while the PB version was $99.00! I was almost sad that I wouldn’t get to keep it for myself, lol, but I am happy to know that it will have a good home being enjoyed by J’s Godparents 🙂 I also think that it is worth mentioning that this is one of the most simple wreaths I have made although it looks the most complicated, all it requires is a wreath frame, some Spanish moss and artificial succulents so please don’t let the illusion of complexity be off-putting to you!

Pottery Barn inspiration! No offense to PB but so not worth $100!

SUPPLIES:

18″ grape vine wreath frame
14 artificial succulents (there are SO many out there, I just picked mine based on the PB version to achieve a similar look)
Spanish Moss
Glue Gun/Hot Glue
Wired Burlap Ribbon or Ready-Made Bow
1 Pipe Cleaner

INSTRUCTIONS:

Step 1: I began by laying out my my wreath components: the faux succulents, the moss and the bow. I messed around with the arrangement and grouping of the succulents and moss to see what looked best. I made sure that wherever I wanted to place the succulents their stems could be wedged between the vines and that they would lay flat as possible against the wreath frame.

Step 2: Once I was happy with the layout of my wreath I used hot glue to attach each succulent one by one by covering the stem and bottom of the succulent with a generous amount of glue and wedging it back between the vines and pressing down firmly. For each moss section I would cover the area atop the wreath frame on which the moss was to be attached with a generous amount of hot glue and gently press the moss on. NOTE: When handling the moss and separating your packaging try to tear it apart as little as possible aside from separating it into sections. To get it to cover the area you need gently stretch it.

Step 3: I worked in the above manner until all of my moss and succulents were attached, the long stringy succulents I secured by applying a little glue to the top of the moss or frame where the long strands would lay and attached them that way. Finally I attached my bow using an olive green pipe cleaner, that way if Aunt M chooses she can switch out the bow at her will!

Obviously there are tons of variations on this wreath, there are so many varieties of faux succulents and they can be arranged in any manner. If you don’t want the trouble of having to use moss you can purchase a wreath that has been pre-covered in moss (although this may run you a bit more price-wise). I will report back to let you know how this wreath withstood the PA fall and winter, however, my DIY Felt Flower Wreath made using the same frame held up nicely without shelter so hopefully this one is equally as resilient!

DIY 4th of July Burlap Wreath

Posted on July 2, 2014 by simplyschulze

Hi everyone! I know I have been just awful about updating the ‘ol blog these past few weeks but between moving and heading back up north for a mini family vaca I have been all over the place! Good news is that I am back on the grid lol, and prepared to pollute blogland with TONS of new posts including my hubby’s surprise 30th birthday bash (a whiskey and cigar themed party, a huge success btw) which I had to keep off the blog until now, as well as some new crafts and recipes I have been working on in between organizing the house and ripping my hair out in frustration over moving haha.

Okay, back to the wreath. Being that we were heading out of town just one short week before Independence Day, I knew I had to eek out my 4th of July wreath if I wanted it to be displayed leading up to holiday. This was not my first burlap wreath rodeo, I had tried my hand at it once before for my Easter wreath (a post that I am yet to get around to lol) and was super surprised at how easy it was to create given how impressed I was with the final product. So while J did his best to wrangle baby P (who is crawling lightening fast these days and getting into everything) I managed to get this wreath done in just about 20 minutes! I will give you a run down of the specific products I used but obviously it is not necessary that these items be used, as the thing I love most about burlap wreaths is that there are a variety of ways on which to elaborate on such a simple idea and that they can be adapted to fit any color scheme or holiday. If you’ve seen one on Pinterest and are hesitant to try it out, don’t be – it is almost impossible to mess up. I know a lot of the written explanations for weaving the burlap can be confusing but if you YouTube “burlap wreath tutorial” you will find a much more helpful guide to making one, I promise! Happy 4th of July everyone, please watch some fireworks for me, baby P goes to bed at six so chances are I will not be watching any aside from what I can see from my porch lol.

baby P looking adorable right before he started slamming the bouquet violently then trying to eat the petals lol.

4TH OF JULY BURLAP WREATH

WHAT I USED:

18″ wire wreath frame – I purchased mine for $2.50 at a local craft store specific to my area but you can get them on Amazon for around $5.00 or so.
2 rolls of red and blue chevron wired burlap ribbon (10 ft. each) – I purchased mine from Walmart for $3.47 per roll but a Google search revealed that it can be purchased just about anywhere, lol.
1 roll of plain burlap ribbon 5 1/2″ X 15 ft – available at any craft store.
white satin 1″ wired ribbon
Flag Print Faux Daisies – these just happened to work perfect and were available at Walmart, however, any red/white/blue flower combo would work or even a bow instead!
1 white wooden letter

HOW I DID IT:

Step 1: I began by weaving my burlap into my wreath, I will refer you to YouTube for the tutorial on how to actually weave the burlap in and out of the wire frame so as to not embarrass myself with an explanation that will make no sense, haha. I will say, however, that I did work by weaving the plain burlap for a few loops, then exchanging it with the chevron ribbon and I worked in “sections” of burlap instead of weaving the whole 15 feet through at once because that would have taken FOREVER. I would just work it through for a few feet then cut it and start over in the next section, since my chevron ribbon was wired it was easy to secure it even though I was not using the whole roll at once.

Step 2: Once I was done weaving my burlap and chevron interchangeably. I wove my 1″ white ribbon through the wreath in no particular pattern. This was simply to be the “white” in the red/white/blue holiday color scheme, the wreath looked perfectly fine without it.

Step 3: I cut three of each print of daisy from the bunch and stuck them through the wire frame, weaving the stem through the three metal bars so that the flower would remain secure. Then using a piece of twine I tied the wooden “S” to the wreath right atop the flowers.

inspecting the flowers again lol

Step 4: Once the wreath was complete, I took a few minutes to “poof” my loops and rearrange my flowers so they looked just right!

finished product!

This wreath cost me right around $15.00 to make and just out of curiosity I did a quick Etsy search for a “4th of July Burlap Wreath” and almost spit out my drink when I saw that the average wreath was going for an average of $50.00 plus shipping – WHAAAAAAAAT???!!! NO, NO, NO, people, you are getting ripped off, especially because you can buy almost all of the necessary components for one of these wreaths at Walmart. Furthermore, if you make a plain burlap wreath you can simply adjust it to each holiday or season by adding embellishments (a big benefit of the burlap wreath is that it is not permanent, if you mess it up or want to change it simply unweave and re-do) so potentially you can have the best wreath on the block time and time again for just around $10.00 for the year. So please, to keep me from having anxiety over thinking of people swipin’ that credit card for a $60.00 burlap wreath, at least attempt to make your own! Friends don’t let friends pay good money for cheap crafts lol.

DIY Rustic Burlap Pennant Banners

Posted on May 27, 2014 by simplyschulze

As usual last night I was up way too late crafting, but I was excited to get these done and off of my to-do list. I have a few parties coming up and I knew these burlap pennant banners would add a little extra something to the table displays and make for a great piece of decor to have on hand for future events. There is nothing too special about these and as I’m sure you’ve seen on Pinterest they are extremely popular, lol. However, since I used cheap store bought stencils for my project, I thought my tutorial would be worth sharing as I noticed that a lot of tutorials as that you create your own stencils which is just way too time consuming for my lazy butt. I would say more but there isn’t much else to say, just easy breezy party decor at it’s finest! Hope this tutorial comes in handy for your next shindig, I will be posting pics of how I use them at each event at a later date! Happy Memorial Day everyone, thank you to those who have served, past and present and of course, to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

Squishy baby says thank you to our troops!

DIY RUSTIC BURLAP PENNANT BANNERS

NOTE: If you’re interested in making these with a different fabric check out my post on DIY fabric pennant banners, great for parties or photo backdrops!

YOU WILL NEED:

Burlap Fabric (the amount you need will depend on how many letters are in your words, I was able to get over 30 large squares out of 2.5 yards)
White Acrylic Paint
Paint Brush
Large Alphabet Reusable Stencils (available at Staples for about $7.00, I will be using these for several projects so it was a good investment, alternatively you could print your letters out on paper and use an X-acto knife to cut them out and create your own stencil)
Glue Gun
Twine or Ribbon

DIRECTIONS:

Step 1: Create a template for your pennants in whatever shape you would like, I chose a rectangle with an inverted point at the bottom. The measurements will depend on the size of your stencils but if you are using the large 5″ ones as I did, I found a good measurement to be 7.5X7.5 inches.

Step 2: Using your pattern as a guide, cut out as many pieces of burlap as you need. NOTE: I did not care about fraying as I though it added to the rustic look, however, to keep your piece from fraying you can spray it with a bit of fabric stiffener or brush the edges with mod podge and allow to dry before going on to the next step.

Step 3: Using your stencils, holding each steadily in place paint your letters onto the burlap and set aside to dry.

soooo many letters! lol

Step 4: Once letters are dry (I allowed mine to sit overnight), lay out a piece of twine long enough to accommodate the letters with slack on either end for tying the banner up for display.

Step 5: Apply a line of hot glue to the top of each burlap square and fold it onto itself, pressing down to create a firm seal. The spacing of the letters is up to you, I did not measure it out, just eyeballed it. Once you are finished your banner is ready for display!!! Check back to see how I display mine 🙂

Fun idea: If you want your letters to be interchangeable simply do not glue them to the twine but rather use a small hole punch to punch two holes along the top of each pennant and weave the twine through or use mini clothes pins to hold them to the twine!

DIY Spring Chevron Wreath with Pennant Banner

Posted on May 21, 2014 by simplyschulze

With J gone for fleet week, I’ve been staying up far too late, watching Hulu (I started Nashville, not my fave show so far, but it’s alright) and crafting my little bootay off. I may have mentioned in previous posts that I love to decorate for holidays/seasons and made a promise to myself to do so, especially while baby P and any future babies are growing up. So far I have made good on my promise, and although most of my decorations come from the dollar store, it still counts, haha! I recently found myself at a loss as to what to do decor-wise between Easter and Memorial Day/Independence Day, so I decided to leave the inside be and just make another cute front door wreath since I was so pleased with the way my Easter wreath came out. Since I had picked up a few yards of burlap for some larger pennant banners I plan on making, I thought it would be fun to add a teeny tiny pennant banner to my wreath, especially because it would act as a trial one for my future banners. This wreath was super easy to throw together, once I had created my mini pennant banner and fabric flowers, it took me under 10 minutes to assemble the whole thing! The best part is, with the exception of the ribbon and Styrofoam wreath, I used items I already had on hand so the project cost me about $8 – BOOM! Give this one a try, if you don’t want to make the fabric flowers yourself you can always purchase ready made ones at your local craft store (but first read my tutorial on fabric roses and see how easy they are to make!), the rest is easy breezy!

DIY SPRING CHEVRON WREATH WITH PENNANT BANNER

YOU WILL NEED:

Styrofoam wreath (I purchased mine at Michael’s using a 40% off coupon, download the Michael’s app if you haven’t already, they will scan coupons right off of your phone)
Chevron Ribbon (Mine was wired but it doesn’t have to be, they sell large rolls of chevron ribbon at Walmart for $3.99)
8-12 Fabric Flowers (Tutorial Here)
String or Twine
Burlap (since the banner is so tiny just ask for the smallest piece they can cut for you, burlap costs $2.97 at Walmart so a 1/4 yard will cost you about $0.75 and you’ll still have left over fabric)
White Acrylic Paint
Small Letter Stencils (I had picked some up for another project I’m working on but I’m sure the dollar store has stencils that would work)
Paint Brush
Glue Gun
Scissors

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1: Assemble your fabric flowers by following this tutorial. The amount you will need depends on the size of the flowers you make and how much area you want them to cover on the wreath. If you are using store bought flowers or none at all skip this step.

Step 2: Start creating your pennant banner by fashioning a triangle guide out of paper (I used a post-it haha), the size of your pennants will depend on the length of your name or words you are using. My last name is seven letters long and a 2″ wide by 2″ long triangle was perfect for mine. Using scissors, cut out your triangles. NOTE: It is optional to use modge podge or fabric stiffener to seal the edges of your burlap triangles so they do not fray. I skipped this and they are fine.

Step 3: Once your triangles are cut out, using your stencil, paint and paint brush, carefully paint your letters onto the burlap triangles. Be sure to protect your work surface with a piece of paper or wax paper since the paint will seep through the burlap. Allow a few mins to dry, this is a good time to start working on the body of the wreath!

Step 4: Take your wreath and ribbon and attach the end of your ribbon to the styrofoam wreath using hot glue. Keep wrapping the ribbon around the wreath, overlapping the previous section each time, place a dot of glue underneath the ribbon each time you wrap it (I suppose this isn’t totally necessary but I didn’t want my ribbon to move at all once I was finished covering the wreath).

Step 5: Your burlap letters should be dry by now. If so, take a piece of twine, ribbon or string and use hot glue to attach your burlap triangles to the string by applying a line of top glue to the back top of each and pressing onto the string, it is best to do this over wax paper so that the glue will not stick to anything. Make sure you leave a decent amount of string before the start of your first triangle so you will have a means to attach that side to the wreath.

Step 6: Attach your banner to the wreath by tying each end to each side, you be the judge of placement and tautness of the string. Once I got the banner tied how I wanted, I used a small dot of hot glue on each side to secure the string (again, overkill with the glue but it can’t hurt right? lol). Now, attach your flowers however you see fit, I alternated sizes and colors but feel free to arrange them however you’d like! The bow is optional, I just thought the top looked naked. Now throw that bad boy on your front door and know you’ve now got the best wreath on da block 😛

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