a dollar well spent

I made my wreath decision. The one I made is sort of a hybrid of wreath Option 2 and Option 3. I liked the fullness of 3 and the coloring of 2 (and a tutorial included sure doesn’t hurt!). Here is the most excellent part of all: this wreath cost me exactly 1 dollar. No lie (Well... 1 dollar, an old book, and about 3 hours to be fair). I have to admit that it turned out a lot better - and substantially larger - than I had anticipated.

{like it on the white door, but can’t wait to try it hanging on a darker one, in front of a large mirror, or with ribbon from the rod above a window}

I pretty much followed this tutorial in the way that I folded the paper (check out the video) and “antiqued” the edges of the paper, but that was about it. Here are some changes that I made and liked better:

:: For the wreath base I used a wicker-like braided base (from the dollar tree) instead of a foam one. Benefits: (1) Less surface area to cover which make it a bit less volumous. (2) It’s far more attractive and almost the exact same color as the paper so if part of the base does show through it’s no big deal. (3) It costs about 12 beans less than a foam one of the same size.

:: Before I hot glued each page on, I stapled it at its base. This made the gluing much easier and I didn’t have to worry about a page popping apart mid way through.

:: I didn’t use as many layers of papers to glue on as was suggested in the tutorial. I did start with the outside edge, but by layer 4 I was through (which I can also attribute to using a thinner wreath base).

{darkened the edges using brown acrylic before I tore out the pages}

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And here is what we do when we have 39 beans to spill! I found this beaut on an impromptu shopping trip with my crafting friend. We were actually looking for supplies for wreath making when we wandered past an isle and found this guy sitting all by his lonesome. The price on the shelf read $39. At 3’x 4’ and weighing nearly as much as me and I thought surely he had been misplaced. Sure enough, the lady at the checkout confirmed that this was in fact the price. I’ll take it! And you won’t believe where I found him... wait for it... Walmart.

And that, my friend, is a fact.

{LOVE the detailing and color... not black, not gray, but a really cool brown shade}

I’m actually a died-in-the-wool Target girl myself, but this little find is enough to make me rethink my anti-Walmart attitude.