Saturday, October 16, 2010

Crafty



A couple of weeks ago, I saw an online tutorial for making an inexpensive fall wreath. Since I'm cheap and only a little bit crafty, this idea spoke to me.  The supply list is short (leaves, glue, a sturdy piece of material shaped like a square) and the difficulty level is pretty low.  Caroline and I went to Michael's this morning to buy two more birthday gifts.  For those keeping track:  this would be for the 5th birthday party in four weeks; tonight's birthday is a double affair (sisters with birthdays just days apart) so two presents are required.  Yep, that would be six birthday presents and five parties in four weeks.  That's a whole lot of birthday cake!

Any way, at the entrance to Micheal's, I happened upon packages of fall leaves for .99 and I suddenly remembered the wreath idea I had recently read about.  I grabbed a few bags of leaves and thought long and hard about what to use as the base.  The tutorial mentioned foam board, but it cost $6 for one piece, which, in my frugalista eyes seemed a bit much.  Instead, I opted for a piece of sturdy cardboard I already had at home.



The cardboard was a chore to cut, but since it would  be entirely covered with leaves, I didn't worry too much about straight lines and jagged edges.  I pretty much eye-balled the cutting of the wreath form, but this is a very forgiving project, so even *I* didn't stress about it.


I originally thought Tacky Glue would work, but the leaves I bought required a product more adhesively advanced.  Enter the glue gun.  Last year, I let one of the neighbor boys borrow my glue gun for a school project, which he returned to me with only one glue stick left.  I'm pretty sure he used ten glue sticks in the assemblage of his project.  Thankfully that one measly glue stick was enough to finish the project.  I have leaves left over and plenty of cardboard to make another wreath, however that will have to wait until I restock my glue stick supply.



In other news, we're heading to Caroline's soccer game in a little while.  It's sunny, cool and BREEZY, so even though our hair doesn't stand a chance out there on the pitch, we'll be able to cheer on the Crocs while enjoying the lovely fall weather.


We're in charge of soccer snacks this week.  A good mom would bring pretzels or raisins, but I'm opting for something a little more fun:



Don't worry, they get oranges at half time



and will wash down their Rice Krispie treats with organic juice.




As soon as the game ends, we have to zip back home so Caroline can quickly change before we toss her off at tonight's birthday party. 

Such is the life of an eight year old.


What's going on in your neck of the woods?  Any fun weekend plans?

3 comments:

NK said...

Well, we spent the day at The Home, cleaning it. Which actually was a lot of fun. Maybe not *fun* but it didn't make me want to claw my eyes out. My dizziness is making me want to do that, although it's MUCH better. At least I'm getting a column out of it, although I've forgotten the topic. (Oh yeah, sloth, my favorite sin.)

Glad your kid is such a social butterfly and you and the shmoops had a good run yesterday.
Tomorrow I'm speaking at a brunch for Catholic ladies. Let's hope I don't fall down, although that would be fun.

Alison said...

I'm glad you're not so dizzy any mo.
Sloth is awesome! Slothliness? Slovenliness? Slothinity? That's a hard word to use, but so fun to perfect the art of.

If you fall down, just pretend you're genuflecting.

Sissy said...

I love that fall wreath! Good job! Don't you love what a little hot glue can do?