09 November 2010

autumn baby shower: paper wreath

I love this wreath. I love the look. From the first time I saw it on MaryJanes and Galoshes, I fell in love and I knew it would be perfect for the green and brown baby shower. Doesn't it look like dried hydrangeas?

I also love it because
  • it was easy
  • it was super cheap
  • it gives big impact
  • it's frilly and fluffy and textural
  • it gave me an excuse to buy a 2.5-inch scallop punch
I'll skip the whole tutorial, since you can follow it easily on MJ&G. But basically, you buy a bag of brown paper lunch sacks (I found my bag of 50 for $0.79), buy a wreath form (mine was from the dollar store, so it was $1), punch a gazillion little scalloped circles and glue them onto the wreath form. I used about 20 bags per wreath, punching six scalloped circles from each bag.

To get the frilly, flowery shape, you place an unsharpened pencil in the center of a scalloped circle, fold the paper around the pencil like a flower, place a dab of hot glue on the paper covering the end of the pencil, and stick it on the wreath. Repeat, repeat, repeat, and repeat.

I estimate it took me 2-3 hours to punch the circles, and 3-4 hours to glue them to the wreath. Super simple to do while watching TV.

And the result is so lovely:


After the baby shower, I was taking down decorations and setting some aside for the new mommy. She happened to bring some dip in a white bowl (Martha Stewart from Macy's, if you're curious), so I set the bowl inside the wreath to remind me that I needed to take both to her. Then I looked at it, and looked again, and was blown away to find a whole new use for my new favorite wreath:


Go! Make one. 

Do it. 
It's multi-functional. :)