Feather Wreath

Hello everyone!  Jeez, I've really been slackin' on my blogging the past couple of weeks.  I hate when I don't write for long periods of time.  I'd love to post a new project everyday but it's kinda tough to work on projects during the work week - I'm sure a lot of you can relate.  And my garage is getting harder to work in now that winter is in full swing and the temperature has been in the 30's.  Brrrrrr. 

But the good news is that even though I wasn't blogging during the past two weeks, I've been keeping quite busy with some fun projects.  Also, I always manage to check in daily with all my favorite websites and blogs to read about what's going on...because we all know good ideas, projects, DIY work and home decorating NEVER sleeps.  Thank goodness for that. 

Tonight I want to share one of several projects I've recently completed, a feather wreath.  I didn't hang a wreath on our front door last year because I couldn't find one I loved.  Also, I was so busy with our bathroom makeover and other odds and ends around the house that finding time to make one wasn't an option.  I decided yesterday morning to make it happen this year after spotting some old faux wreaths at an estate sale. 

Here it is!  Isn't it gorge?  If you want all the details on how I created this beauty, keep on reading...

Welcome to the Steins! 

As you can see above, our cluster of town houses was chosen to have pink doors.  I HATE them.  A neighbor started a petition to have them painted this past summer (heard we got the approval from the board and all) but that's the last I've heard.  If it were up to me I'd have painted our door, and all the neighbors doors for that matter, by now. 

I wanted to work with the pink door and make something that tied in the color, hoping that as a result the door would like a little nicer.

Materials Used:

• Wreath - $4.19
• Small Bells - $3.59
• Small Ornaments Balls - $3.49
• Ribbon - $.50
• Glittered Leaves - $3.78
• Faux Berries - $.98
• 7 Bags of White Feathers - $11.13
• Hot Glue Gun (had)

Grand Total:  $27.66

These are the material I chose to use.  As you can see, I went with pinks, golds and purples.


I chose a straw wreath because it was this or a Styrofoam one.  The straw wreath was heavier and I thought this would be better because I didn't want my wreath to fly off the door.



I used a hot glue gun to glue the feathers around the wreath.  I found the best way to glue was to lay the wreath flat.  Because my wreath was going to hang flat on my front door, it wasn't necessary to glue feathers all the way around.  Depending on where you put yours, you may or may not want to do this too. 

First step is to glue the feathers.  I found what worked best was to cover one small area (about 2"x 2") at a time with glue and then press about 3-4 feathers (feather pointing upward) into the glue.  This was repeated until one a full row of feathers covered the wreath. 

Then, I continued gluing the feathers row by row.  Determining how far you should space each row will depend on how fluffy and full you want your wreath to look.  For mine, I put glue at the bottom of the feathers from the previous row (shown below) and then pressed a new row of feathers about an inch below where the previous row ended. 

The image below shows the wreath after about six rows of feathers.  Making progress.  I continued to glue rows of feathers all the way around until there was only about 4 inches of the straw wreath visible. 

Next, I used the remaining 4 inches of straw space to play around with my berries and glittered leaves.  I cut a bunch of pieces off in order to get just the right amount of glittered bling.  Once I knew exactly how I wanted the leaves and berries to lay, I globbed a bunch of hot glue onto the bare straw area and began pressing my decorations firmly into the glue.  

After giving the glue some time to dry I glued feathers around the berries and leaves and then continued on until the straw wreath wasn't visible any longer.

 

I linked a couple bells and ornaments onto a piece of ribbon and tied the ribbon into a tight knot so that they would bunch together in a nice arrangement.   Make sure you cut the ribbon long enough to tie around the wreath.

When I knew where I wanted to place the bell and ornament arrangements on the wreath, I used the remaining ribbon and wrapped it around to the back of the wreath and tied a knot (shown below).  I felt this was the best way to add the arrangements because I can always change them up next year or move them around if I chose - without ruining the feathers.  One quick snip with scissors and the arrangements will come right off. 

Finally, I tied a thicker, shinier ribbon around the top to use for hanging my wreath.  The whole project was completed from start to finish in about an hour and a half. 

Feather wreaths at HomeGoods right now are going for $25-35. 



So pretty

So shiny



So fabulous.  Loving the glitter bling and soft colors

This tutorial is partying with the best of them at