Silk Flower Unicorn Wreath

My sis-in-law gave me this great FloraCraft styrofoam unicorn horn that she picked up at a trade show recently. Suggested projects were a bunch of unicorn horn headbands for kids and pets. I've seen plenty of those and didn't want to make another existing project. Then I thought, what if I attach it to an actual horse head? I scoured the Internet for a wire horse head form and found this stylized one that I liked.

Craft Outlet 24" Horse Head Tinsel Work Form

I spent a good chunk of time taking off the pipe cleaner tinsel and the metal bands holding it on to get it down to just the wire form. Sore hands and blisters are optional.

The rest of the supplies include:

FloraCraft Styrofoam Blocks and the unicorn horn (available at Hobby Lobby in July)

A big mess of silk flowers and picks that you like for your project.

Crafting wire to attach the blocks to your frame.

16 gauge floral stem wire for your unicorn horn

Peacock Feather picks for the eyelashes

Martha Stewart Pearl Craft Paint (I used the Gold Mother of Pearl Color)

Mod Podge Extreme Glitter

Wire Cutters

hot glue gun

Ribbon to hang it up.

I used a long serrated knife to trim down my styrofoam block to fit in between the wires on my form to have a place to attach my flowers and stems. Then, I wrapped the craft wire around them and the frame to keep them in place.

I took apart about 4 large picks of white hydrangeas to start hot gluing them all over the front and the sides of the styrofoam and the the frame, leaving the side of the mane open for later. Watch out for hot glue burns!

You want to make sure that you can't see the styrofoam or the frame through the flowers. Choose a small flower as the nostril if you prefer. Next get the picks you chose for your mane and start stabbing them in the foam down the side. These long picks of colored foam balls are perfect as a mane. I pushed the parts of the pick closer together up the stem to make a fuller bunch and layered them in a rainbow color. Hot glue them to the foam so they stay where you want them.

I added a row of big roses to cover the back of the mane, or if you have enough mane picks add more to the side.

I pushed the horn on the floral stem wire and added a few coats of pearl paint and a final top coat of the Mod Podge Extreme Glitter. It's glittery and pearlized.

Trim the wire down and insert the horn in its proper place with more hot glue. Add some more flowers around the base to cover seams and give your unicorn a flower crown. Cut a piece of peacock feather off the tip and sparingly hot glue it in the correct spot as the eyelashes. On mine, you're actually looking at the back of the feather, which is black.

Thread some ribbon through the wires on the back and hang it up on your door wreath hook.

She looks so pretty!

#FloraCraft #ModPodge #Plaidcrafts #PaperPoniesCrafts

Light the World Wreath

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints launches their #LightTheWorld campaign every Christmas. The focus is to act kindly and do acts of service for anyone around you to brighten their holiday season. I wanted to create a wreath that showcased lights and stars with the Light the World phrase right in the middle.

This beautiful wreath was made using products from a variety of manufacturers, none of which are associated with The Church of Jesus Christ. Other opinions and ideas are all my own.

I already had some of the tools and supplies needed for this, including a high quality Wood Burning Set from Plaid  that has a temperature control, sturdy tips, and comes with a nice storage case. I was anxious to try it out for the first time on some wood cutouts that I had.

The flat tip attachment can be used to transfer laser printed images onto wood. In my design program I created a star shape the same size as my wood piece and centered the text I wanted to use in the middle of it. It helps to use a font with no color fill so you can see the outside edges to trace when you start the wood burning. Don't forget to use the mirror image setting so the text is the right direction when it transfers to the wood.

Cut out the paper and tape it face down to the wood and turn the heat setting for the wood burning tool to the line separating the orange and red sections. After it heats up use it by applying even pressure and move in circular motions to transfer the toner to the wood. You can peek under the paper to confirm it is working and you didn't miss any spots. I reused the paper on a second star and it worked, just a bit lighter.

I used two different star cutouts planning to use the one I liked better when I was done. Wait for the tool to cool down before changing to the universal tip. Turn the heat setting for the wood burning tool to the red section and wait for it to heat back up. Then practice on paper or scrap wood!  Find a technique that works for you, but remember, you can always go back over a section to make it darker, but you can't make it lighter. Go slow and gently touch the tool to the wood until you get the hang of it.  When you feel comfortable you can go for it, I recommend lightly tracing the edges of the letters, and then filling in the gaps.

Not bad, for my first time wood burning! I liked the thicker star better. The words on that star were smoother than on the thinner star.

Now get your wreath supplies. I went to my Smiths Marketplace and got some discounted Christmas decorations and I had a coupon. Christmas sales are the best!

I got a small wreath, gold star ornaments, branch picks, gold berry picks, and gold wired ribbon. I also had a small string of led wire lights left over from another craft project.

Using floral wire, start wire-wrapping the branch picks to the wreath.

It might be a good idea to have a rough design planned out. Remember, floral arrangements look better using an odd number of groups. So you can divide your decorations into 3 different sized groups and choose areas to put them.  I wanted to have my main group on the right side just below the center with the other two areas on the left side to balance it out.

Next start adding the stars and the gold berries. The stars worked better wiring the points of the star to the tips of the wreath branches, making them visible and stable.

Then add a star and a group of three berries a third of the way around the wreath from the main group.

That left me with three berry picks in my last group, which I put in the empty area, leaving space for the bow on the top.

It's starting to look pretty good. At this point, make sure your decorations are firmly attached and won't fall off if knocked around a little.

Attach your wood burned star ornament to a gold ribbon and hang from the middle of the wreath. Then make a big bow with long tails and wire that to the top of the wreath over the knot where you tied the star. Then I made a ribbon loop and tied that to the top behind the bow so you can hang it up on a wreath hook. Wrap the wire led lights all the way around. Hiding or hanging the battery pack behind the knot of the big bow.

Doesn't it look great? I like how the ribbon weaves through the branches on the wreath and through the ornaments. The Light the World star is right in the middle where you can see it.

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Succulent Spring Wreath

I was asked to post a picture of this wreath when I finished it. It's a wreath kit from S.E.I. that I bought at the ScrapbookUSA show last month. I liked the colors in the kit and that it used some foam flower shapes with the double sided paper flowers.

It has almost everything you need to make it. The kit says that hot glue is recommended. I say it's required, or all those pinned flowers in the foam will pop off really fast. I added the lavender grosgrain ribbon as a hanging loop. I don't know how they hung that one up. It's kinda soft styrofoam you're building on.

I'm sure you can take all your personal flower punches and dies to make lots of layered flowers out of your own designer paper to create your own wreath. This particular kit has tons of leftover flower pieces that you can use for other projects. I had enough leftover that I could probably make a second wreath.