Coloring our Chaos: A Burlap Happy

I have a love/hate relationship with fall!

First, I LOVE most all things that come with the season. I love the weather, I love football, I love s'mores, and I love pumpkins. The not-so-loving part of this comes with the ridiculous allergies that generally plague me this time of year, but I happily manage through the season with a cocktail of medication. And, yet it still makes me happy!

In the process of decorating, I found this wonderful picture of a burlap wreath...and it just wheels started turning. The best part--it's easy, it didn't cost much money, and it is a do-able craft project to start and finish while the little guy is napping. Score for all the mommies!

And, it's fall appropriate, so you can use it until Thanksgiving...even bettter!

Here's what you need to get started:
-2 yards of Burlap (About $8 at Hobby Lobby)
-14" straw wreath (Another $4 investment)
-Hot glue gun
-Pins
-Scrap fabric for flowers
-Needle and thread

Start with your burlap. It needs to be cut in four strips (so, you'll have extra) that are about 6 inches x 72 inches. If you're a precise measurer, I would advise taking a deep breath and chilling out first...burlap is messy and rugged by nature, so there's no point in killing yourself by ensuring that your strips are perfectly symmetrical. You'll use two strips to wrap around the wreath to cover it completely--secure with a few small pins.

For the next step, you'll need to make a ruffle. Don't worry, it's EASY! Layout one strip of burlap, take your needle and thread, and start at one end--making a very loose top stitch. Once you've made a stitch on one strip of burlap, pull both ends of the thread while pushing the burlap closer together to make a ruffle. Viola!

Measure your ruffle around the front side of the wreath. Remember that since you'll make two ruffles, you'll want your bottom ruffle to be secured in the center of the width of the wreath. When the ruffle fits, tie off your thread and secure with a few pins. Once your ruffle is semi-secured, grab the hot glue gun and start gluing the ruffle completely to the wreath. Repeat the ruffle making step again, then secure the second ruffle closer to the center of the wreath's circle.

Now, you have two ruffles on your wreath--how easy was that?

Next, we're going to decorate a bit. I grabbed four pieces of scrap fabric--the larger pieces are 8"x8", and the smaller fabric is 6"x6". This looks more complicated, but I promise it's just a matter of folding (over and over and over again). Just need to secure the center of your fabric flower with a pin. And make sure that your frayed edges of the decorative fabric are folded in. Once you pin the flowers to the wreath, you might have to do a little adjusting to make certain that the flower is the right shape. Adjust and pin as needed!