Newspaper Wreath

I have had a very interesting weekend!  My computer completely died!  I lost a bunch of pictures and my photoshop program.  I'm so bummed!  I've pretty much expected my computer to die but I thought it would hang in there longer.  :(

I have such a love hate relationship with computers!! My sweet amazing and very supportive husband had me go and get a new computer.  I still can't believe I have a new computer!  I have been day dreaming about getting a new one for such a long time!  I'm in love with how fast it is!  My time will be now be spent in a much more productive way. 

I still have the dilemma of what to do about photoshop though.  I was using photoshop cs4 and I was finally feeling comfortable with it and had a good system down with editing photos.  I have heard lots of good things about lightroom though.  So I'm torn about what to do. Should I upgrade to photoshop cs5 or get lightroom 4?   Lightroom is cheaper which is majorly appealing to me but I want to get something that I can use for a long time. 

So my point in telling you all this is I need help! Do you guys use photoshop or lightroom?  Ugh I don't know what to do. 

Oh in my search for what to do I did discover that you can download a free one month trail of Lightroom 4.  Which is awesome!!So if you're in the same boat as me try it for free! Click here for the link to the download.  I did download it but since its so new I'm still trying to figure it out. It so hard learning new programs! 

Anyways on to the latest craft:

OK you've probably already seen these wreaths around but I've been dying to make one for a long time.  So encase you haven't seen this then please keep reading and if you have bare with me.  These are so inexpensive and so easy to make but look amazing!

This is a wreath made with:

Wire wreath form

newspaper (took about 2)

spray paint

wire or zip ties

Costs me about 5 dollars

Here's how you make it.

Cut the newspaper down to rectangle shapes

Then grab about 5 or 6 sheets of your cut down sheets and lay it across the wire like so:

Then with a piece of wire wrap around the wreath form and center of the newspaper and pull it tight.

Separate the sheets of newspaper

Then scrunch them up

Now do this over and over till the whole wreath form is full.  Pack it tight.

It should end up looking like this:

Next, take it outside and spray paint it with your color of choice.

I then used Raffia to hang it in my room over my mirror.  I think the raffia adds a nice touch but its not necessary, I think it looks good without it too.

 

Enjoy!

Bye for now!

Chelsea

Spring Wreath

Over the past few years my husband and I have been working hard at planting flowers and trees around our house.  This year I finally feel like all that work is paying off. I am loving all the beautiful spring flowers that are in bloom especially the ones by my front walk.  They make the house look so inviting.   Just looking at them make me smile and relax a little. Now it's just keeping it looking that way when the temperature goes up past 100 degrees!

So the other day my sweet sister, Jessie, called and said she made a spring wreath and wondered if I'd be interested in putting it up on this blog.  I, of course, jumped at the chance! All of my sister are so talented and it so fun to see and hear about all the projects they are involved in!  They inspire me daily!   So this amazing Spring Wreath was made by my amazing sister! 

(pictures courtesy of Jessie :) )

I will try my best to relay her directions so you can make one too! 

Jessie said Joannes was having a sale on there spring flowers. ( Hopefully they are still on sale or if not keep an eye out for coupons or for them to go on sale again.) So she bought 6 bundles of lilac flowers at around 5 dollars per bundle. (By the way I have a few lilac bushes around my house that are in bloom right now and they smell amazing!)

Next, she cut the stems in half so she was left with a shorter bundle of blossoms. 

Using a foam wreath form she stuck the end of the stem into the form and also used hot glue to secure them in place.

She would periodically fill in spaces with the leaves.

Keep going all the way around until the form is completely covered and the wreath look nice and full.

After, she glued a ribbon in the back of the wreath for a hanger.  Jessie, also mentioned that she put any left over blossoms in a vase, which I loved! any added color around the house always brightens my spirits. 

There you have it! A easy but very cute spring project! 

Happy Spring!!

Chelsea