holiday DIY - cranberry wreath

thanksgiving is old news by now.  its all about christmas now which actually means its about getting giving presents, and eating lots of treats.  and decorating your house with little santas and reindeer and crap like that.  in my family we have a tradition of making decorations out of cranberries - an idea my mom got from martha stewart magazine like 15 years ago!   

its super easy and cheap!  kids can do it!  adults can do it!  i even had my dog helping me (kinda, not really)!  plus, everyone will think you spent money on some fancy wreath and will be oh so impressed when you say you made it your self!  this year we decided to add a cone to the cranberry decorations - i guess its supposed to look like a cranberry christmas tree.

materials:

stryofoam wreath or cone.  cone takes about half the time (or less).

toothpicks - lots of 'em

cranberries - we had 4 bags you'll have extra when you are done.  better too many than not enough!

scissors

step 1: cut the toothpicks in half.  i used about three times the amount in the photo below.  i definitely suggest using scissors versus breaking the toothpicks by hand.  breaking them hurts your fingers and creates splinters.  be careful when cutting with scissors, as one half of the toothpick might shoot across the room!

step 2: stick the cut side of the toothpick into the side of the cranberry, about a 1/4" into the cranberry.  more than half of the toothpick should be sticking out of the cranberry.

step 3: place your finger over the opposite side of the cranberry and gently push the cranberry down into the styrofoam.  try to avoid the toothpick poking through the other side of the cranberry.

step 4: work in a circular pattern around the wreath or cone.

carlos is wondering if he can eat the cranberries

step 5: once the first row is finished, start the second row and fit the cranberries together to avoid too much empty space.  this is why its good to buy an extra bag (we started with 3 bags and then ran out for a 4th), you might not get enough small berries to fill in smaller spaces! 

step 6: keep on working...

and working....

and working...

note the little santa in the background...

until the entire outside of the wreath is covered in!  leave the back of the wreath as is if it the wreath will be hanging on a wall.  i've thought about maybe painting the styrofoam wreath red before adding the cranberries since the white spots kinda bother me, but honestly the entire thing takes about 4 hours already...

now i've just got to get some lights put up and i'm ready for my holiday taco party!  what kind of decorations do you all put up for the holidays?  any special DIYs?   

friday night's alright for crafting

between spending about 3 hours at the dmv renewing my liscense in the morning and the pouring rain on friday night, i wasn't really feeling like doing anything involving leaving my house.  since the boyfriend had band practice and i was home alone (well just me and carlos) i decided to get working on some crafting i'd been putting off: painted drift wood & god's eye.  both inspired by the free people blog (of course)! the god's eye i'd made before, using popsicle sticks back in elementary school.

i had collected the driftwood back in novemeber, so it was about time i get to doing something with it.  i just used some acrylic paint that i had left over from 2-d art.  it was super easy and fun, doesn't require any special skills, except i only had red, blue, yellow, black and white paint which meant i had to mix all the colors myself.  the god's eye was pretty easy as well.  all you have to do tie two sticks together in a cross and wrap the yarn around each stick consecutively.  i used random scraps of yarn left over from various knitting projects. 

looks pretty good next to my diy dreamcatcher!

diy eco dreamcatchers

the weather this summer has been quite peculiar - warm, but not unbareably hot. so my good friend anjelica and i have been really into arts and crafts lately, since its nice to sit outside and do something with our hands. today after a delish lunch at fred 62, we got the idea to make our own dreamcatchers. i suppose we were inspired by a post on the free people blog, which had a post about using dream catchers as a display for hanging earrings.

our dreamcatchers are a little different, since it was a spur of the moment thing we just used whatever we could find in anjelica's house. to make an more natural dreamcatcher follow these instructions:

you will need:

- tree branches. we used branches from a eucalyptus tree that we actually just pulled off the tree, since the fresh branches were more flexible than the dried ones (which just broke when you tried to bend them.
- fabric. we used unbleached muslin, for a more natural look. i think that a light colored calico would be cute too.
- waxed cord. we used a thin hemp cord coated in wax, however there are various other options, just check your local craft supplies store.
- decorative additions. this really depends on personal taste. i used some shells, a crystal, and a feather i found in the backyard.

step 1: take your fabric and make it into strips. i choose the cut and rip method, as it has a raw edge and looks more homemade.


step 2: choose your branch, and remove all extra branches and leaves. you want a clean branch. the size of your dreamcatcher depends on how long your branch is.

step 3: carefully bend your branch so that both ends overlap slightly. you may have to break some pieces off to get your desired shape, and remember when you use a branch its not going to be a perfect circle but thats part of the beauty in using natural items.

step 4: tie on your first strip of fabric over the overlap of the ends and just start wrapping the branch. when you get to about 3 inches of fabric left, tie on another strip. repeat until you have covered the entire branch, and finish with a knot. i like to leave a few inches of fabric at the end to use to hang the dreamcatcher.



step 5: take a long piece of the waxed cord, but make sure its not so long that it get all tangled. tie it around the covered branch anywhere you want to start. move around the branch, looping the cord around the branch and then you will tie a mock knot after each wrap. make sure to pull the cord so that the mock knot is tight. after you go around the whole branch you will start making the mock knots on the strings already attached to the branch. keep doing this till you reach the middle and the middle space is small. tie a knot at the middle and cut of the extra.


step 6: take three more fabric strips, tie them on the bottom of the dreamcatcher. i kinda twisted them around in my fingers before tying them on so they wouldn't look so flat. this also helps when attaching the decorations. after you put on your decorations, tie a knot after each one, and then trim the strips to your desired length.



and there is your dream catcher. hang it where ever you like, or use it to display your dangling earrings. i put mine in my bedroom.