Winter Wreath

I've passed other peoples doors and seen THE most gorgeous door wreaths, not just at Christmas, but, Winter ones with Ice Skates, Easter ones covered in colourful eggs, Autumn ones with twigs, leaves and berries.

I've thought what a lovely idea it is and wondered where they got these wonderful decorative items from.

After the Christmas Wreath....a shop bought one.  I pondered how easy it would be to make one.  Remember the Blue Peter versions made out of a wire coathanger, some tinsel and baubles?!

Mmmmm *thinking*. THEN this copy of Simply Homemade by Pratical Publishing dropped onto my doormat!  Look at that on the front cover!  AND....just like Blue Peter....yes.....you've guessed it - the basic design is made from a wire coathanger!

Well after I'd finished laughing about the Blue Peter coincidence, I got to thinking it might be do-able, so I got to searching for a wire coathanger.

To no avail....they all seem to be plastic now.  Then a Lightbulb moment struck me..... round handles.  You know - the ones you buy to make your own bags....look....

I searched the house for wintry coloured ribbons and fabric...the ribbons from my cardmaking stash (some of which I cut off of the inside of clothes...you know the ones - shops use them to get the clothes to cling to the hangers and you end up with them hanging out of your sleeves or strangling yourselves on them!)  The fabric was left over from curtains that I morphed into a roman blind for our lounge.

Then I got to thinking that the one on the cover of the magazine was lacking something.  Something dangly in the middle.  I toyed with the word 'Winter'...maybe I could fashion this out of wire.   Second thoughts....no!

Then I remembered this crochet snowflake tutorial from Lucy at Attic24.  To bring a bit of bling to my wreath I wondered if these could be made using a fine crochet hook and this......

Well, Twelve-Teen Daughter & I sat one evening (for longer than you would believe), cutting lengths of fabric and ribbon and simply knotting them onto the bag handle (which I had wrapped in a length of bandage like cotton from that old sheet that I also used for the upcycled chair).

It took quite a while to do, but suprisingly we didn't use all of the ribbon and fabric stash that I had put aside.  We built up layers, tied on a piece of ribbon to hang it. 

I sat for a couple of evenings before I went to bed and made 2 snowflakes which were then tied onto the wreath giving me the all important Dangly Bling....done!

Ready......I love it and I hope you do too..........Ta-Dah!!!!

And a close up of the all important Dangly Bling...........

And there it is.  Currently gracing our front door.  I love it!  What do you think?

Well, must be going..... thanks for dropping by again..... see you soon xx