DesignsandEvents: Making Mirror Image Wreaths for the Shed

Hi! Well, the last few days have felt like fall again. It has been a roller-coaster ride of temperatures around here lately. Most days have felt more like August than October and I think that is why it has taken me so long to get my home decorated with fall decorations. However, today the weather finally felt seasonably correct and I thought it was a good day to show you how I made two mirror image wreaths to go on the doors of my shed.

I started with these materials from Michael's. Being a procrastinator paid off in this regard. I got all the silk flowers I used for this project for 60% off. Not bad when you consider these were nice quality silk flowers to begin with and somewhat pricey.

I fell in love with these burgundy sunflowers and the lavender and green fuzz-ball flowers shown here. I am not sure what flower the fuzz-ball is supposed to replicate but, I loved it nonetheless.

I needed to mix in orange tones to give the wreath the pop of autumn colors needed this time of year. So to get the process going, I laid the flowers out on the straw wreath and played around with their placement.

Originally, I was worried about using these silk flowers because the stems were very thick and I wasn't sure how I would keep them in place on the wreath. What I discovered was the stems punctured the straw wreath quite well and were very easy to put in place. I added a dollop of hot glue to make sure they stayed exactly where I wanted them and wouldn't fall out unexpectedly. This system worked out perfectly.

This spray of orange flowers provided the orange pop of color on the wreath. I cut each stem with wire cutters...

and placed them in various spots around the wreath. I actually put one of the orange flowers into the fuzz-ball flower to break up all of its lavender and green. Doing so sent a thread of orange throughout the wreath which was what I wanted.

I used greening pins to hold some of the flowers in place because the stems of some of the silk flowers were too flimsy to be pressed into the straw wreath. Greening pins are u-shaped and work really well when dealing with a straw wreath. The straw wreath accepts the pins nicely. The greening pins are easy to use and a quick fix for a lot of wreath projects.

Here is the first wreath I finished. I liked the colors and textures and size. Everything, so far, was good. Next, I needed to make the mirror image of the first one to get the look I was hoping for. However when I looked at the materials I had left over from the first wreath, I realized I did not have enough to make the next wreath exactly, exactly the same. I was going to have to improvise :/.

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This was how the next wreath turned out. It wasn't totally exactly the same but, it was close enough to pass, I think. It actually turned out somewhat fuller than the first. I think I was overcompensating for the lack of certain materials.

Next, I had to figure out a way to hang the two wreaths on the door. I have two hooks on the glass panels of the doors. The plastic kind that can be removed easily. The perfect solution for glass doors! However, the hooks were a little too high so, I needed to add some ribbon so that the wreaths would hang a bit lower on the door. I ended up using some harvest ribbon I had found in my Halloween supples. I tied a knot at the end of a loop of ribbon, attached it to the wreath with greening pins and glued the pins in place with some hot glue.