How to make a heart wreath using crazy unconventional methods and free stuff I found at my house

Okay-

so...if you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know how much I love to make wreaths.

(see some examples HERE)

I heart pretty wreaths BIG time, so it was natural to make one just for the big V-day that's around the corner.

I wanted a heart wreath, but the only heart wreath forms I found were too small-

the hob lob had a foam wreath form that was only about 8 inches wide (I didn't want a baby wreath, I wanted a big mama wreath)

and Michael's only had a small twig heart wreath.

Oh...and speaking of Michael's...

can I get off-track a moment and tell you how dissappointed I am at that store? The hob lob will let you pull their coupon up on your smart phone and use it JUST BY SHOWING THEM YOUR PHONE SCREEN, but Michael's???

oh no.

nada.

nope.

not happenin.

in fact, when I asked the girl if I could show her the coupon on my phone, she looked at me like I had just asked for all the cash in her register, and then said,

"ummm.....I ummmm, have to ummmm, put it in my drawer"

me: you can't just type in the code from the coupon? that's what they do at hobby lobby.

her: ummmm, no. I have to put it in my drawer.

Michael's, if you could join the rest of the world in 2011, that'd be awesome.

moving along....

here's a pic of the finished wreath-

and here's how I made it-

In my brain, I had this grand scheme all planned for how I would make a larger, thicker heart shape than the forms I'd found in the stores.

Newsprint.

Yep.

Newsprint.

I went home after that fab trip to Michael's and found my newsprint sketchbook from an art class I took in college.

(don't worry- I didn't use any paper that I'd drawn on, but believe me- some of my work from college is, umm, special. Perhaps I'll post pics of what was in that sketchbook later on...)

I started wadding up blank pages like this-

and figured I could secure pieces together with masking tape until I had a heart shape.

Okay...masking tape,

masking tape.

Couldn't find any masking tape, BUT, I found black electrical tape. That works the same, right?

so I crumpled and taped,

crumpled and taped,

(see the heart starting to form? Fascinating, right?)

I had trouble getting the middle to stay dipped, ya know, to make the heart shape at the top.

No worries-

we had picture-hanging wire in the ole' toolbox.

Now it dippity-dips up there and stays put.

After a few more wraps of newsprint to beef it up a little, I had this-

Ready for burlap now!

I cut my burlap (from the remnant section at the hob lob, of course) into strips like this

and just started wrapping...

when I made it all the way around, I secured the end with hot glue

and ta-dah, my friends.

a heart wreath made from newsprint, electrical tape, wire, and burlap that stays together when held up like this and everything.

Now to make it pretty...

I went back to my remnant supply and pulled out some V-day appropriate colors

I was really digging the red fleece and the red/white stripes, so I got to cutting some circles. I always use one of our M coasters that were a wedding gift from my friend Kara when I make felt or fabric flowers and it works great. Of course, if you don't have M coasters, you could always use the peanut butter jar lid. They may or may not me the same size. (trust me though, they are) 

I take each circle, fold it in half, and then fold it in half again until it looks like this. Then I secured the tips to the center of a felt circle until it was covered.

With the fleece circles, I did a lil something different:

I still folded them in half twice, but cut a heart shape in the top like this, so that when opened, it looked like this:

(oooooooooo, aaaahhhhhhhhh)

hot glue the tips of those babies onto another felt circle, and you get this:

B-E-A-utiful, aint it?

next I snagged some red berry twigs from a vase I had sitting on my desk and stuck them into the burlap. No glueing. Just jammed them down in there.

attached some pink tulle and my flowers, and that was all she wrote folks.

Done.

And thar she blows, just a hanging on our Narnia door.

(that door in our foyer leads to a hallway that leads to the back of the house. We've called it the Narnia door since we moved in because, well...because it's cool, ya know?)

So...any one out there make any crafts using slightly unconventional methods with stuff you found lying around?

I'd love to hear about it.

Seriously- it would make me feel less crazy.

(I'm linking to these fabulous parties-------)

the Shabby Nest Frugal Friday

Fingerprints on the Fridge