Make Along Monday Challenge

My dear friend Shelly, from Dolen Diaries, teamed up with several other amazing bloggers to do a fun monthly challenge called Make Along Mondays. The first Monday of the month they announce a creative challenge. The last Monday of the month you post a picture of what you made. You don't need to be a blogger to participate. You can just snap a pic and post it on her Facebook page. It is just a fun way to give you a reason to create! So pop over to her blog and check it out.

This month the challenge was to make a summer style wreath. In addition to that, I challenged myself to... 1.) actually complete this project and 2.) only use supplies I had at home. This forced me to think on the fly. I had seen a lot of really cute wreaths made from rope so I took that as a jumping off point.

 As I started wrapping the foam wreath with rope, I noticed it was beginning to gap. I don't know if I was pulling it too tight, but the look it was making was driving me nuts. So I scratched that idea.

Now I had a problem. I had been hot gluing the rope down as I went, so I couldn't get it off the foam. My only option was to cover it with something. I found some scraps of burlap in my stash of fabric. (Yes, I do have a craft supply hoarding problem, don't judge.) I took the scraps, folded in the frayed edges and wrapped it, erasing my ugly mistake.

I wanted to embellish it with shells to give it a summer feel, so I dug through everything looking for shells to glue on. Being from Florida, I made a vow a long time ago that I would never BUY a shell. I have so many shells that came straight from the beautiful beaches of the Gulf Coast of Florida. But all of those shells are packed and in storage. So I was back to the drawing board again.

What screams summer? Think.....Outdoor festivals, fun in the sun, childhood....I came up with making a mini bunting to string across the wreath. I simply cut small triangles, punched a hole on each top corner and strung it on a piece of twine. I handwrote the letters, but you could use stamps if you have them. Next, I jazzed it up with some festive ribbon.

Pinwheels always remind me of being a kid. So I broke out my amazing, life changing Silhouette Cameo machine and cut some pinwheels using fun paper. If you don't have a Silhouette machine, here is a link to a video on YouTube by One Minute Crafts showing how to make one yourself. I tied the mini bunting on with twine and just pinned in the pinwheels, that way I can change it up with the season. And Ta-Da!

 

In the end, it was so much fun! It was the therapy I needed at the end of the day.