.Spring Wreaths.

This afternoon I had a few hours to myself and decided to hold off on unpacking, laundry, and cleaning..I decided to craft. It's been a while and I've missed it. Adam and I had a wonderful weekend visiting family in DE and came home to find VA in bloom! The colors inspired me to add a few more "Spring" touches to our little home. I chose to work with green (surprise, surprise) and thought it would be perfect for Spring as well as a certain holiday coming up :) If you have completely forgotten what holiday this is, here is one hint for you:

Kiss Me,

I'm Irish!

St. Patrick's Day is coming soon and even though I normally do not decorate for most holidays other than Christmas, I thought I would change it up this year! I made two small wreaths to hang on our sliding glass doors in our dining room. They were cheap, fast, and easy to make! (the perfect kind of craft!) Here are the materials needed:

Materials needed to create Spring (St. Patrick's Day) Wreaths:

      - Split Peas (purchased from Walmart for $.79)
      - Two 8 inch straw wreaths (purchased from Michaels for $.99 each with coupon, 

        originally $1.99 each)
      - Hot Glue Gun
      - Hot Glue Sticks

      - Elmer's Glue

      - Paint brush

      - Cookie sheet

      - Foil

      - Twine

This entire project cost me under $5.00 thanks to using supplies found in my home. Love when that happens! Because I am a nanny of two little girls who love to craft and watch me craft, I made a quick tutorial for your children to make a wreath of their very own :) Now your little ones can craft with you AND make the same thing as you! Fun right?!

Making Your Wreaths

1. Gather all of your supplies and prepare a clean, organized space to begin 

    crafting. (We all know it will not last this way BUT it's fun to start clean!)

2. After covering your cookie sheet with foil, pour your split peas into cookie

    sheet.

3a. For your children, pour Elmer's glue onto paper plate with paint brush and

       straw wreath close by.

3b. For yourself, grab your handy dandy hot glue gun and prepare to use a lot 

       of hot glue sticks ;)

4a. For your children, demonstrate how to dip the paint brush into the glue 

       and how to "paint" the straw wreath by smoothing out the gops of glue.

4b. For yourself, choose a small section to work on at a time. Draw lines of 

       hot glue to fill entire section. (I started by drawing a rectangle and then

       drew lines to fill in the middle.)

Now comes the fun step for both parties! Things are about to get "cooking!"

5a. For your children, once the wreath is covered in Elmer's glue (except the 

       backside), have your child or children place the wreath upside down into 

       the cookie sheet filled with split peas. Using their hands, they can rotate 

       the wreath into the peas and "smush" the peas up the sides of the 

       wreath. (Just like Mommy when she breads chicken!) When they are 

       finished, they can carefully turn it over to sit and dry. Here is the final 

       look:

It will not be filled completely with peas and that is o k a y. It's perfect because of the hands who made it :) {reminds me of an everything bagel..yep, I'm a Jersey girl!}

5b. For yourself, once your hot glue is filling in a small section of your 

       wreath, hold wreath on top of peas in cookie sheet and use your hand to 

       cup peas on top of your wreath. Again, this will be extremely reminiscent 

       of breading chicken. After completing a few small sections, it will begin to

       look like this:

6. Your child/children will be finished with their wreath but you still have 

     some work to do ;) Continue hot gluing small sections of your wreath and

     covering immediately with peas. It will begin to resemble this:

7. After about 15-20 minutes, you will be finished and left with a darling little

     wreath to enjoy!

Before I ran out of daylight, I managed to snap these two shots of my wreaths hanging up! I will post of few more pics tomorrow so you can see the whole room.

Thank you for reading! I hope you and your kids will enjoy making these Spring/St. Patrick's Day Wreaths! Remember..cheap, fast, and easy to make..the perfect craft ;)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

{Hi everyone--I am writing this little update/tip on 3/14/12 to inform everyone your spilt peas will turn brownish-yellow after about 6-8 weeks. I would recommend spraying your finished wreath with a clear gloss protective spray found at any craft store. I am not certain this will work but I am sure it will keep your spilt pea's vibrant color last longer :) Luckily this craft was cheap and for me rather simply to make so I did not mind throwing it out after two months. Good luck crafting and feel free to inform my readers how you kept your wreath green! Take care and happy crafting!}