yarn wreaths

Living where I do each little apartment looks the same. It's hard to show your decorating identity inside and out. Often times I feel as though I am living in a beige cell. In the inside of my apartment, we have tried to break the monotony with lots of art and it helps to have so many talented friends.  On the outside of our little place it's not quite as simple.  We are just another door in a long line of doors all looking the same. That is why I love a yarn wreath.  They are incredibly simple, cheap, and a great way to brighten up a drab door and to stand out a bit. In the Fall I created this simple wreath with leftover yarn and felt.  But now with the grass and flowers waking it was time for something a bit brighter.

For those who haven't attempted to make one of these wreathes I thought I would write some brief instructions. But there are plenty of tutorials online and just as many if not more ideas as well.


Supplies
-Yarn (I used a cheap brand since you don't need it to be particularly soft or nice quality)
-Wreath form (For the fall wreath I used a foam form.  For the spring wreath I used a straw form.  The straw form made the wreath look a bit chunkier.)
-Felt
-Hot glue
And that's it! Seriously, you shouldn't be spending more than $15 dollars to put this whole thing together!

Instructions
-If you purchased a straw wreath form leave the plastic wrap attached it will make it easier to cover.  If you purchased a foam one remove plastic wrap.
-Find the end of yarn that will unravel the yarn from the outside in (note: opposite of how most knitters and crocheters take their yarn). This will save you several hours of untangling knots!
-Tie end of yarn around wreath form and start wrapping the yarn around.  When making the Fall wreath I was very neat with how I wrapped the yarn.  I was careful to wrap each strand of yarn around so that it would fall neatly next to the piece before it.  This gave me a very neat and flat finish.  With the Spring wreath I just wrapped the whole form like crazy until every sport was covered.  This way caused some areas to be covered in yarn more and gave a messier, bumpy finish.

-When your wreath form is covered to your liking tie the end of yarn to a wrapped section of yarn in what will be the backside of your wreath.
-Next the flowers, again there are a million and one tutorials online for felted flowers.  For the fall wreath I did a simple rose-like flower.  To achieve this look cut a circle out of felt of your choice.  Then cut into the circle in a swirl until you reach the center.  Next roll the swirl of felt up onto itself (like a cinnamon roll mmm!) gluing periodically.  Glue the end and glue onto your wreath.

-For the Spring wreath I made pansies.  For this all I did was cut out pansy shaped petals, hot glues them together and finished with a button.
-Finally, hot glue on those decorations.

-Hang and know that you have the coolest door in your whole cellblock!

-erica