Fall Wreath....

Hi Everyone!  I wanted to show you the fall wreath I made.  I took it to the Essex Labor Day Market, but it didn't sell.  So I'll be taking it this weekend to the craft fair.  I made it to show off the wreath stands I made.  I have found that if you have a wreath stand and no wreath on it, people just don't know what to do with it.  I always try to make sure and have at least one wreath.  So this is the one I made.

 I used a grapevine wreath as my base.  And added a multi-colored pip berry garland to it.  But it seemed a bit dark.  So I added some 12" pip berry picks that had some of the same colors as the multi-colored ones but also had cream ones in it to lighten it up.

 Then I added these rusty metal maple leaf picks to it.

 And painted this metal welcome sign and wired it on.

 Next I took this rusty metal dragonfly.  It too was a bit dark so I added a touch of red to the wings and face to help it stand out.

 And I added some pine cones and the burlap to hang the wreath by.

 And a group of acorns.

And there you have it.  A simple fall wreath.  And if it doesn't sell, I'll be perfectly happy to hang it on my door.  Well, thanks for stopping by.

Wreath Stand...

Happy Monday Everyone!  I thought I'd show you one of the things I did this weekend.  I made a wreath holder.  I'm sure you've all seen the metal wreath holders you can buy in stores.  I think they cost too much so I've been making them for over a year now.

 Here's the stand with a very large sheet music wreath on it.  (Trust me, it's behind there).

Here are a couple of stands.  The super tall one is for sitting on the floor, without being to near the floor.

Here's how I make them.  I cut a scrap block of wood that's 4"x4" down to the size I want, in this case it's about 10" tall.  I cut a 1"x8" and a 2"x8" scrap piece of wood down to the same size.  I never use any real measurements, I just sort of go with what I think looks good together and what I can find in my scrap barrel.  And of course I dug out one of the spindles a friend was nice enough to give me after they took down their porch.  Before I started putting anything together, I sanded all the wood with my orbital sander so I wouldn't have to sand anything after it's together.  I find it works better that way.

On both the 1"x8" and 2"x8" boards I found the center and marked it with an X.

Then I pre-drilled a counter sink hole into both pieces of wood so that the screw is sunk into the wood.

Then I found the middle of the block of wood, used Gorilla Glue and a 3" screw to attach the 2"x8" to the block of wood.

I did the same thing to the 1"x8" piece of wood to attach it to the spindle.

Using my handy nail gun, I glued and nailed the 1"x8" piece of wood with the attached spindle to the block of wood.

Then I added a coat hook to the spindle and a ball with a flat edge to the top to sort of finish it off. 

Now, I just need to paint it.  I'm thinking it needs to be a bold color like maybe red or a navy blue.

I've also recycled wooden closet dowels into wreath stands, like the black one.  I'll have to get this painted and into the shop.  Well, thanks for stopping by.