Feather and Eucalyptus Wreath

My front door has been naked since The Boy was born, and the several months before were filled with store bought wreaths. This is not normal for me and today I decided to get on that. Granted, I spent all day yesterday fighting off hoards of ants. Since their entry point is right by the hinged corner of our door I spent an abnormal amount of time staring at the door yesterday. I've been itching for a project lately. Like, itching to the point that I've almost bought a bunch of stuff we don't need off Craigslist just so I can refinish something. This was a much better "indulgence."

The Boy fell asleep on the floor and saved me from the trip I had planned for Goodwill so I had a few minutes to kill.

One thing I've learned about myself is that I like simple, clean lines. All the grand ideas on Pinterest are lovely, but most of them are too cluttered for my taste. That's not to say I don't admire them endlessly, I just wouldn't be content with them in my own home. I gathered a few supplies:

• An oval yarn-wrapped wreath I made from a pool noodle and have used several times already
• Two natural toned peacock feathers
• Three strands of gold painted eucalyptus - purchased at the dollar store to decorate for Thanksgiving a year and a half ago (and making a home in my bathroom since then)
• A length of plum ribbon

In case you can't tell, I like to use and reuse what I already have on hand.

It was simply a matter of deciding how to layer things. Peacock feathers in the back, eucalyptus in the front.

Wrap it with the ribbon, and BALL GAME! It's done.

My favorite thing about using pool noodle wreaths is that you can attach things with straight pins. This makes the decor secure and easily changeable, meaning you can reuse the wreath numerous times. I'm actually amazed I've been able to keep this white one reasonably clean with three kids and a husband, not to mention months and months of rain.

I used a few pins under the folds of the ribbon also, just to hold things in place. You can only see a couple if you look from the back but it is very secure.

Then The Boy started to tease me with wakefulness, but after a good stretch or two he was out again.

And.... I decided to change it. I didn't have ribbon to hang it with that I felt worked with the plum so I grabbed this old skirt (it was already chopped up and was in my scrap fabric box) and snipped the hem off the bottom. To save time and having to lug out my mom's old 43,579 lb. metal sewing machine, I just ironed a fold on the edges so it appeared hemmed. Once wrapped and pinned like the ribbon was you can't even tell.

I was more worried about the fold holding on the piece to suspend the wreath so I went the highly technical route of using a few pieces of packing tape to hold it in place. Fancy, I know.

Then I hung it using Martha's old trick: two push pins in the top of the door.

And Voila! It's done! No more naked front door, a small creative indulgence, and taking only 15 minutes start to finish - including changing it up - I didn't even use all of naptime.

Win/win/win.

Feather earrings on the cheap

I feel like I scored. Target clearance is one of my guilty pleasures in life and has been since at least high school, if not before. So many things I never knew I always needed have made their way home with me after discovery on the endcap of some aisle or another. Squirt knows the drill. We always walk behind the toy section and past the ends of each row to see if there are any glorious red "clearance" signs posted. Yesterday, while acquiring last minute Valentines Day stuff, I spotted this:

It's a little hard to tell since I used a busy background, but it's got a length of bead chain, a length of rhinestone chain, the 5 feathers, and a nice extender chain and clasp. This baby had been marked down from $12.99 to $3.88. Even better, I'd been planning on making some feather earrings but needed the findings that hold them at the tips AND I've been brainstorming a project that would need a rhinestone strand like this one. Double score. Don't you love when you find something on the cheap that fits with projects already in your head?? I sure do. Especially since I'm putting myself on a self-imposed craft spending fast. No craft spending til April 1- no fooling.

I hope I survive.

This was easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. Using my round nose pliers (because they are the only ones I have for jewelry and I use them for everything) I opened the jump rings that held the feathers onto the necklace.

Stacked the feathers how I wanted them, and added them to an earring wire.

Then I pinched the ring closed and went to model them in the bathroom for myself. They highlight the new VS jammies The Hubs gave me for V-day quite well, if I do say so myself.

Talk about double bonus. These puppies were crazy cheap and crazy fast. Earrings comparable to these at Tar-jay are running about $8, and I like the black/white neutrality of these so much more than the crazy fake colored feathers they are selling now.

Have you ever scored something on clearance that was exactly what you were looking for? That sort of thing makes my heart happy.

Button and Feather Clips

I saw this link on Pinterest that I flipped over right away. I pinned it at bedtime, and by 9:00 the next morning it had been repinned 22 times, which means that by now this is definitely not a unique idea. It also means that a fire was lit under my bum to get on it and make some quickly before the trend passes. Since I don't wear bobby pins with great success I decided to make some on clips instead. I've come up with three different approaches to this look and can't decide which ones I like the best.

These have been so much fun I'm thinking of using this as a craft for my daughter's upcoming birthday party.

This first style uses metal clips that I found in the ribbon section at Walmart, though I hate to admit to shopping there. They are intended for making bridal accessories, but they are cheap and I am frugal when it comes to my crafting. The big difference with this one is that the button is at the tip of the clip rather than the hinge. It feels backwards, but I've found that we wear this style more than the others. Perhaps because of the awesome black and white bling one in the middle. (Click the pic to see it larger and read the instructions).

On style 2 I put the bottons on the hinged end of the barrette. It feels more "logical" this way, yet I just don't like it quite as well. We've also found that the feathers curling up are fun in my daughter's hair, but for my hair I prefer the feathers curling down. Who'd have thought? 

The third style is the bobby pin style just like what I pinned and the original source can be found here. I found it easier to glue the feathers to the button first rather than the piece of felt.

Side by side the three styles of feather clips. I really didn't expect to love the white feathers but they are so much fun! The red buttons are for my daughters for Valentine's Day. Do you think they will like them? If you make some leave me a message and link so I can see. I'd love to see yours!