The ability to create something out of nothing...or from what appears to be unrelated materials and/or very "basic" materials...is good for the soul. Back when I was a young kid, Carol Duvall was our generation's version of Martha Stewart when it came to "crafting". She had her own television show here in Detroit called "Here's Carol Duvall!". She made Christmas ornaments; she made picture frames, she made toys...Carol was the "it" lady crafter extraordinaire! After 56 years in television, Carol retired to Traverse City, where she currently resides in an assisted living complex. I tried finding youtube video clips from her shows back from the 60's; no such luck. She really was inspirational in showing us all how to "craft" before crafting went mainstream---let alone became the mega billion dollar + industry that it is today. Back in the 60s and 70's, "Franks Nursery and Crafts" was the only retailer that actually had a significant part of its retail space dedicated to craft-related items. Next aisle over were the lawnmowers and garden hoses. Boy, things sure have changed (thankfully!) since then for the craft industry!
So why craft? As I alluded to, crafting is good for the soul. When we can literally get out of our own heads in order to do something "different" and positive with our time and our fingertips...it's all good! I don't know about you, but I remember the first time I sat in front of a sewing machine my 8th grade "homemaking" class...and physically froze over the idea of "How am I going to do this?!" Well, it may have taken me a month to make my first double-breasted and scoop-necked corduroy jumper, but I DID finish it! I wore it too! When we can accomplish something all on our own whether it be sewing, woodworking, upcycling, painting..(and the list goes on!)..it DOES feel very good from the inside out! Instead of ruminating on all that's wrong in this world and in our own personal lives, crafting provides us an "out" that IS more helpful than harmful to us. I mean, did you ever see someone working on a craft project while simultaneously flipping out over some person, place, or thing? Of course you have NOT! Crafting requires sustained focus; sustained focus is a good thing and actually works to settle the emotional part of our brains down when they are otherwise flaming out of control. Crafting is like having access to the firehose and the steady stream of cold water to put out that dumpster fire occurring within one's own mind! Any craft which requires that we pay attention, engage in some form of counting or keeping track of patterns, works our hands in a rhythmic way, etc.---these are the skills that also help heal the effects of PTSD on its sufferers. Grab a copy of "Surviving Survival" by Laurence Gonzales if you doubt what I am saying here. Crafting, learning an instrument, learning a new language, even traveling somewhere you haven't been before; all these things "work" to help calm, soothe, and relax us when we are otherwise agitated and anxious... ;-)
In this time of Covid-19, I decided to craft and bake the gifts I will be giving to friends and family this year for Christmas. I saw an oversized knit onesie on the net yesterday; the seller wants $900 for it. I didn't think my husband or daughter would appreciate it, though I'm not kidding it was beyond impressive. Here it is:
Can you imagine wearing this to Kroger because you've run out of yogurt? LOL!
In all seriousness, using your own talents, skills, and capabilities to make, bake, create, or upcycle what you've got to give (away!) this holiday season IS a good thing!
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Today, and for something different, I will present to you what it takes to make your own DIY Christmas wreath using dollar store supplies! I found a bag from the dollar store in our basement this morning. Inside were the fixings to make my own wreath. Clearly, I am ADHD. However, I just finished my wreath...so why not share what I did? (Photo below!) Since I am more of a reader by nature, I'm going to write down my recipe for the wreath I made today. You can go to youtube also, of course, but I do like my version too! :-D
Go to your favorite Dollar store and pick up a black metal wreath frame. They come in different sizes. You pick which size you most prefer. It's a dollar (or less if on sale).
Now get yourself a bag of pipe cleaners. With the holidays, I selected silver. Pick a color for your pipe cleaners that will blend in with the "theme" colors chosen for your wreath. I went into the store last year not knowing what colors I wanted, until I saw the colors I wanted! (Silver, gold, off-white, and gray)
Get five rolls of mesh ribbon (9 feet per roll), each roll is 2.5" wide. I bought two silver rolls and two gold rolls of the same exact type of ribbon (heavily sequined). Then I bought a fifth roll that was of a completely different type of silver ribbon (looked like a crocheted mesh).
Get three rolls of 5/8" ribbon (9 feet per roll). I bought three completely different types; one was white ribbon with gold Christmas trees running down it, one was silver glitter, and the last was gray ribbon that had "Believe" printed down it in white lettering.
That's it. That's your "supply" stash to create your wreath; I used a medium sized black wreath frame; if you use the largest one available...double the above-mentioned ribbon amounts.
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To start creating your wreath, cut your pipe cleaners in half. Easy.
Unroll your first silver and then gold wide mesh ribbons and place one on top of the other. Now you can start to attach these two ribbons to your wreath frame using the pipe cleaners you have cut.
Start along the bottom row of your frame (the widest part) by scrunching up the end of your two ribbons and then holding them to the frame itself as you wrap a pipe cleaner around them and the frame (tightly!) and twist the pipe cleaner twice (to hold the two ribbons in place against the frame).
Create a "poof" with your ribbons, scrunch ribbons together at a spot about 3" or so away from where you started. Wrap pipe cleaner around scrunched ribbons to connect to this part of your wreath frame. To "poof" means just to let the ribbons stick up in the air a bit like a bubble, rather than laying flat agains the frame as you connect each pair of ribbons to the frame itself.
Continue to do this all around the wreath frame (bottom row); when you get to where you started, scrunch your ribbons again and wrap the pipe cleaner ends from that 1st "scrunch" to your ribbons now. (You don't need to add another pipe cleaner here.) Then move the ribbons up to 2nd row from the bottom of your wreath frame and repeat the poof-scrunch-wrap-against-frame-with-pipe-cleaner process.
When you get to the end of the ribbons from your 1st two rolls, start again with the 2nd two rolls of the same mesh (wide) ribbons until you have covered rows 1, 2, and 3 of your wreath frame.
At this point, you have a 4th row (inner circle) of your wreath frame yet to cover with another "poofed" mesh (wide) ribbon. I happened to chose a different silver mesh ribbon (wide) that looked like it was crocheted. You can choose the same ribbon(s) you used for the first three rows; that's up to you! I used a single roll for mine; I did not use two ribbons held together as I had for the first three rows of my wreath.
Use your last mesh (wide) ribbon(s) of choice to connect them to the 4th row of your wreath frame.
When you are done, you can pull apart and "poof out" your ribbons in a way that looks best to you...while taking note of the open areas of your frame that you can now cover using your 5/8" ribbon choices (group of 3 ribbons).
Eyeballing it, use the existing pipe cleaner "ends" to wrap around each trio of your 5/8" ribbons that you have cut to 4-5" in length (I didn't use a tape measure; I used two squares length on my desk calendar to measure and cut my ribbons out! ;-) ). You can then arrange your three ribbons in the shape of an X with the 3rd ribbon running down the middle of each X you create. You can also staple the ribbons in the center so they don't shift around when you place them on your wreath where you want and twist the pipe cleaner ends around them to connect to your wreath frame.
When you have created all your 5/8" ribbon trio segments (stapled)...you can start putting them where you like on your wreath and attach with the pipe cleaner ends you see.
To finish "off" each pipe cleaner..you can either twist the remaining ends around a pencil (for a "curl" effect)..or just cut them down (short) so they don't stick out.
Voila! Here's mine!
Until next post...and Happy Holidays 2020! :-D