Summery Popsicle Wreath

I love wreaths.  I really, really do.  It makes me so happy to come home to a dressed-up front door.  I had a hankering for a new summery wreath, but wanted something different, so I started thinking about special things that say summer to me.  Flip-flops are cute but I wasn't feeling it.  Flowers - boring.  Butterflies - maybe, but I would need a butterfly punch and I wanted to try to make this from things I all ready had on hand.  I also wanted to use an embroidery hoop as a base rather than buying a new wreath form.  Popsicles?  YES!  We always have craft popsicle sticks around.  I could make them out of felt that I had on hand.  And they would be big enough to cover an embroidery hoop but not too heavy to weigh it down.

Step one was making a pattern for the popsicles.  I folded a piece of card stock in half and trimmed it into a rounded rectangle.

Then I cut out the felt, 2 pieces at a time.  I went with bright, fruity colors - orange, grape, watermelon, mango, lime.  Using a strand of embroidery floss in matching colors, I ran a seam around the sides and top, leaving the bottom open to stuff.

I didn't have batting to stuff them with and give them some dimension, so I filled each with a folded scrap of fleece and it worked nicely.

After stuffing, I inserted a popsicle stick and used it to push the fleece filler up to the top.  Then it was time to seal the bottom with the stick included.  Just another quick seam and done.

The embroidery hoop was wrapped with a colorful strip of fabric.  I didn't fuss about the raw edges - left them as is.

Arranging the popsicles on the hoop was the most challenging part.  I was afraid to commit to gluing until I was sure it was OK.  I ended up overlapping the popsicles slightly, which meant that I had some exposed hoop at the top, but I liked it that way.  I think that if I had filled all the way around, it would have needed some more support to keep the top of the wreath from pulling forward.

Finished with a skinny ribbon bow to hang and voila!  An original, fun, free(!), colorful homage to the cool queen of summertime treats. 

Craft Room Organization - Ribbons

I am a very lucky gal, because I have my very own craft room.  (At this point my daughter would chime in that WE have a craft room.  It's the FAMILY'S craft room.  That's nice and all, but we all know that the craft room is my domain.) 

I love my craft room so much.  It's so nice to have a space that can get messy and have paint drips and beads and sequins and glitter eddying around on the floor.  I find that it really helps me to be more creative when I don't have to worry about being neat.  With that said, however, I do think it's important to be organized, because it's no fun to waste time searching for things or worse, buying duplicates of something because you can't find it when you need it.  Waste is unacceptable to me.  So I'm always on the lookout for ways to organize my craft supplies for optimal usage.  Here are some of my craft room organization solutions specifically for ribbons.

I have a bajillion spools of ribbon - satin ribbon, chiffon ribbon, curling ribbon, you name it.  I store all fabric ribbon on spools in wooden clementine boxes.  The boxes are sturdy and basically free and happen to fit perfectly 4 across and 2 high on one of my shelves.  Each box is assigned to hold a different color family.  Spools are nestled together in the boxes and then stacked 2-high on a shelf.  It's a simple solution that has worked really well for me.  One day I will paint the boxes or label them to make it easy to see what color family is in what box.  Maybe I will paste paint swatches to the front...

For curling ribbon, I decided to keep that near my gift wrap holder.  (A tall laundry basket was perfect to hold those rolls of paper upright.  I keep the paper from unrolling by slitting empty toilet paper rolls and cupping them around the roll.)  I found a clever solution on Pinterest - but I can't find the original post that I got the idea from.  Basically, you thread the curling ribbon spools onto a pants hanger.  Simple, right?  So easy to load the spools and you can see at a glance what colors you have - I clearly have too much yellow.  You don't even need to unload the spools to use - just pull out what you need and snip.

So this is all great for spools of ribbon, but what about ribbon scraps or bits of ribbon that come with wrapped around things you might buy, like pajama sets or a new blanket, or even ribbon that you harvest from things like gift bag handles?  (Yes, I keep all of that stuff.  Don't judge me.)  I have two approaches for those situations.  For longish bits of ribbon, I reuse those clear plastic circles that they sell scarves on in stores.  I just double the ribbon over the rings and hang them on a 3-hook towel rack that I found on clearance at Joann's a few years ago.  Voila!  The ribbon is out in plain sight as a reminder of what I have, is not taking up any storage space (love vertical storage!), AND does double duty as colorful craft room decor, AND does triple duty sometimes when my kids dance and spin and wave the ribbon rings around like little May Day sprites. 

Bits that aren't long enough to hang get rolled up and secured with straight pins and grouped in empty glass jars.  The jars go on  shelf with hooks that I bought from Hobby Lobby (with a coupon!) and painted.  More ribbon rings go on the hooks.

And because you can sort of see my Laundry Room quilted door hanging in one of the pictures, I'll conclude with a pic of the whole thing.  My mommy made it for me and I LOVE it and I love showing off her skills.  She is mega-talented.  Thanks, mom!  It's so cheery, it almost makes me want to do laundry.  Almost.