A Valentine Wreath

 I've never been one to decorate for the seasons or for each holiday, except of course for Christmas. Then it's game on. Each fall, I put out a few decorations and scatter some pumpkins or gourds around, but other than that my house is generally the same year round. Over the past year I've really wanted to change that and now that we are in a house that we expect to be in for four years, I feel like I can stretch my creative muscles a little more easily. With that said and because Valentine's Day is in one week and love is in the air, I thought I'd share my brand new Valentine's Day wreath with you.

The inspiration for this wreath came from many places. I originally saw this gorgeous wreath and immediately set out to Joann's in search of some floral stems and grapevine to make my own. Not finding what I had in my vision I began perusing the store aisle by aisle until I came upon paper mache letters. I scooped up a 12 inch letter of each and then began brainstorming how I could transform them. Now, let me just clarify from the beginning here, I am NOT inherently creative. I am left-handed and supposedly lefties are more "artsy" but somehow that gene passed me up all together. I am, however an excellent copier. :)
I remembered seeing a ruffled heart wreath on Pinterest that was created using fabric. As soon as I thought fabric, I thought of my sweet and insanely talented friend Jeannie and a wreath she made last summer with upcycled t-shirts from goodwill. Naturally, you can guess where my next stop was. To goodwill I went and came out with an x-large women's pink t-shirt and a large men's red t-shirt.
Over the next two nights after the kids were in bed, I got to work doing this...

and this...

Now, here is where I should show you a pic of how I painted my letters before going to work creating my ruffles. But, I grossly miscalculated (read: didn't calculate at all) how many circles of fabric I'd need and therefore didn't paint the sides of my letters until after the fabric was on. Don't be like me.

Back to the ruffles. Here is how you make them. Take your circle of fabric and fold it in half creating a semi circle.

Next, fold your semi-circle in half again to create a quarter. In some tutorials I read, it was recommended to put a dot of hot glue at the bottom middle of the semi-circle before quartering it. I did this the first few times, but soon discovered a more lazy efficient method and just skipped the dot of glue entirely. I don't think it made a difference in my finished product, but to each their own.  

Then just drop a dot of hot glue on your letter and smash your quartered circle, point side down, into the glue like so.

After repeating the above steps lots and lots and lots of times you'll end up with something like this

Repeat all of that lots and lots and lots more times, glue a ribbon to the back to hang it from and you've got this! A beautiful and festive new addition to your previously unadorned and boring from door. That is if your front door is anything like mine was.

Oops! I failed to mention that to attach the letters to one another, I poked a hole through each letter in approximately the same spot. I just eye-balled it. I used a pointy screw-driver looking thing from Hubs' toolbox, then threaded with ribbon and tied it in the back. Easy peasy. :)