Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Wreath #2

So ladies, I got a little carried away with my wreath and it is HUGE!!!!  I put it on the door to our apartment, but it was too bouffant for NYC...and it intruded into our neighbor's space. :) So my husband picked up my crushed spirits, and we found an alternative place for it.  I think it worked out quite nicely.


Okay, here are my suggestions, pitfalls, etc.
1)  Buy the 10 inch wreath form.  The only size they had at the store was the 14 inch, and it made the process so much longer and made my wreath too big to fit on the front door.  So unless you really want bouffant, go with the 10 inch form.
2)  Use weathered book pages.  I used one of Mitch's law school books that he didn't want to keep because the information in it is already out of date.  I felt okay about tearing up the book because it was just going to goodwill otherwise, but I think the look would be enhanced with weathered pages versus the stark white.  So go to a used book store and find a book that is falling apart and use that.
3)  Use a normal sized book.  The law book was on the larger size, and again, that added to the bouffantness.
4)  Do not overlap the pages when you are gluing them on.  I made the mistake of overlapping the ruffles for the first few layers, and as I realized, it decreased the poofiness of the ruffles.  The lack of poofiness made me add another layer or two (I lost count) and in turn added probably about another hour onto the project.  You can actually tell in the picture above that the lower layers are much more dense than the last layers.
5)  When you get to the last layer, it helped me to cut the page length so that there was less bulk to glue down.

It was a fun project, and I think it will go much faster next time.  And I will be more careful and not burn myself. :)  Also, E asked me if I thought she could do this book page wreath instead, and I actually think it would be easier than the one that C and I did.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

What do you think of me?

Dearest CAKEs -

I am a little nervous to show myself to you, but the blog challenge demands it - so here goes:


Can't wait to see my brother and sister wreaths in VA and NY!
With love,
the mint julep (name of our casita) TX wreath



Thursday, March 10, 2011

Book Page Wreath Challenge

Hey Ladies!


We have all been quite lazy with our blog lately, so I thought that I would give it some love. I also thought that I would set a challenge for us.  We have all talked about how we need a creative outlet outside of our jobs, and I think this blog/our friendships can help with that.  So I am here to challenge us to make a book page wreath by the end of March.  That gives you a little over two weeks to make your wreath and post a picture of it for all of us to see.  I am actually pretty excited to see us all do the same project because I know we will end up with four very unique interpretations.  It only takes about two hours, so clear a Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon or heck clear one night after work and get crafty.


Since I set the challenge, I will pledge to have it done within a week (by next Thursday) and I will check in on your ladies and offer encouragement.  We can do this, and I am very excited about it!  C, you asked for some accountability, so I brought it! :)


Love you ladies,
A