A Gift Wreath and Natural Spring Vignettes

Before Easter I wanted to make my daughter, Amanda, a special gift as a thank you for having our whole family for Easter dinner.  In preparing the food items and miscellaneous things I was bringing for the holiday, I ran out of time to make my "special gift".  Little did I know I was coming down with the flu and it would be a few weeks before I would get back to making it in earnest.  However, I finally did start to get better and was able to work on it bit by bit.



Amanda is a neutrals kind of gal.  Her house is filled with them.  Everything is very tasteful and I really appreciate her style. She loves Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware.  Who doesn't, right?  And, her home reflects this taste. Therefore, when I decided my special gift would be a homemade wreath, I thought a simple wreath of greens and white silk peonies affixed to a grapevine wreath would work nicely.  Very "neutral".

As I was preparing to write this post I realized that I had not gotten my act totally together while making the wreath in regards to taking photos of my whole process.  Terribly sorry.  It was relatively easy, however.

At the very least, I can give you my supplies list!:

•                         A Mixture of Silk Greens
•                         A Spray of White Silk Peonies
•                         Sprays of Small White Cascading Silk Flowers
•                         A Grapevine Wreath
•                         A Pipecleaner to make a hook on the back of the wreath

While I was recouperating from my illness I noticed the scenery outside my windows and wanted to use my camera to capture some of the scenes.  I wanted to catch the moments before they were gone and had fallen away.  Since I didn't chronicle the whole wreath making process, I thought it might be fun to share some of the natural vignettes I was seeing outside my window.

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These early sprouting leaves have a beauty all their own.

This was the end result of my wreath or so, I thought.  All who saw the wreath thought it was finished and looked nice but, the more I looked at it on my own the more I felt it could use something more; as per usual with me :).

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Every year the daffodils, hyacinths and helleborus amaze me!  Helleborus have become my favorite spring flower.

I took a few photos of the wreath as it sat on the door of my shed and I kept thinking, "It needs something else.  It seems unfinished."

All the while I was experimenting with my camera and taking more photos of the spring scenery in my yard...

and, still thinking of how I might improve my gift wreath.

Finally, I thought I might try to use some of the mini white silk flowers I had mixed in with the peonies.  I would place some around the bottom of the wreath and let them cascade downward.  That seemed to do the trick.  It was just the right amount of "more" needed.

Continuing with my natural spring vignettes, I was excited that the forsythia was abundantly full of blossoms this year.  Last season, we had experienced a funny fall where we had a few unseasonably warm days and somehow the following freezing temperatures killed the forsythia buds making it so I had virtually no forsythia blossoms come spring.  It was good to see them come back again this year.

After taking a few shots of the enhanced wreath, I decided it was ready to be delivered to my daughter.

Unfortunately, I was unable to take a photo of the wreath on her front door.  It was a pity because she has such a lovely front door.  Maybe I will bug her to take a picture and send it to me :).

My final spring vignette photo is of the huge magnolia tree that sits next to the deck off the back of my home.  I caught this photo as the petals began to open.  You can see one of my forsythia bushes below.  Doesn't the yellow look pretty against the pink magnolia flowers?

This photo was a picture I took of the magnolia tree on a cloudy day looking out from inside my living room.  I wanted to take one last photo before the petals began to fall.  Everything is so fleeting in the spring...beautiful nonetheless!

Hope you are enjoying the beauty of spring wherever you are.

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