Wreath Inspiration

I subscribe to a lot of decorating and craft blogs.  Probably too many, but on several of them I saw a link to this wreath:

(original found here)

Anyway, I thought it was really cute and something I could probably do.  I only looked at it quickly, but it stayed in my head for awhile until I finally just bit the bullet and went and bought a wire wreath at Michael's.  I figured I had a ton of muslin fabric I could use up and the wreath was about $1.50.  The most I was losing was some free time and less than $2. 

Then I really started thinking - this looks like a wreath that could be used all year long as long as I didn't decorate it too Christmasy.  Then I thought some more about having an "M" on it somewhere for our last name.  Then I thought how fun it would be to make a new little "something" that hangs on this wreath each month/season with a different "M".  It gets dangerous when I start thinking like this.

It's not a difficult wreath to make actually.  I simply ripped about 1 inch strips of fabric and then tied them around the wire.  I finally figured out a pattern for how to tie them that took up the right amount of space and helped streamline the construction process.  It did take a lot more fabric than I realized.  So I found the picture again and discovered that the inspiration was made with burlap; much thicker than the material I was working with.  It probably took up a lot more space when tied as well.  I worked a little for a couple nights and then I ran out of fabric.

I went to Joann's the next day and couldn't find my fabric in the muslin section.  Apparently I had broadcloth fabric.  I don't know if there's a difference, but they are both fairly cheap.  I went to have some yardage cut and the lady at the counter asked what I was making.  I explained my concept and she said, "Oh!  Those fabric tied wreaths were SO popular a couple years ago."  Proof positive that I am nothing if not up to the minute in both decorating and fashion.

Here's my efforts:

I originally intended for the wreath to hang from the top of the door by the ribbon wrapped around it.  However I ran into a major snafu: I was going to fasten it with duct tape; duct tape doesn't hold in the frigid temps we get. 

We had one of those 3M hanging things affixed to our door already.  It's been there for about a year and I have no idea why.  But Mike suggested using that and the wire in the back fit perfectly and the wreath doesn't move.

My "M" idea turned out okay.  I like it at least and Mike said he did too.  I had the little ornaments and they weren't getting used this year so that worked perfectly.  I simply strung them together with some sewing thread and tied them on.  They can easily be removed for the next season's decoration.  The ribbon is just wrapped around and loosely tied in the back.  The "M" is a fairly neutral color that I might be able to use again later in the year - or at least next fall.  My biggest problem was figuring out how to affix the letter.  In this instance glue dots from my scrapbooking stash came to my rescue.

I've also discovered that I'm recently obsessed with wreaths.  I think they could actually get addicting to make.  Not just this kind, but so many others I've seen on the decorating sites.  Yikes.  It could get dangerous.

But for now we are good with this one.  I'll have to start thinking about a general "winter" theme though to get us through March.