DIY Burlap Wreath & a Fall Mantle

Last year I made a fall wreath for my front door with supplies I got from the dollar tree. I bought some see through super thin fall leaves (that I thought, when layered, would look super cute and well, not so THIN) and I hung it proudly on my door all season.

Really, it stayed up from September to November. Apparently I am was crazy fall. And that wreath.

When I took out some of my fall decor this year I looked at my wreath and couldn't help but laugh. It was the first wreath I ever made and well, to be brutally honest with myself, it looks prrreetttty measly...

I mean, it's cute. But too NOT cutely poofy. Know what I mean?

Who knows. Maybe I'll hang it up again this year if I don't get around to making a new one for the front door.

Moral of the story: This year I made a hugemungo wreath. And I love it too. So here's to hoping you guys feel the same way!

This is the first home I've had that I've had a mantle to decorate and I'm so excited!! I've got a million ideas floating around in this strange head of mine and the scary part is that I think that I'm starting to mesh all of them and the seasons and my crafts into one season because I'm SO PUMPED to actually decorate a mantle for each season.

(Is it just me or was that paragraph redundant? I felt like I said "season" a lot. Oh well, it's late... forgive me!)

So here is my fall mantle. EEEKK!

I just love saying that.

My. Mantle.

It has a nice ring to it!

LOVE.

LOVE. LOVE.

LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

That's truly how I feel about my mantle. Pathetic? Possibly. But I won't admit it!!

Here's the tutorial for the big-o-burlap wreath:

Supplies You'll Need

•  Embroidery Hoop (I bought the biggest one HobLob had..I'd guess it's probably got a 3ft diameter, but math as never my strong subject, so don't hold me to it)
• One package of THICK (2in) batting.
• One set of 3 (1in) make your own button thingmajigs (sorry, the formal word slipped my mind)
• One set of 3 (3/4 in) make your own button thingmajigs
• 3 different patterned fabric pieces (I bought mine at HobLob, so I had to buy an 1/8th of a yard since it's the smallest they'll sell you)
• 3 different colors of burlap (1/8 th of a yard, I got tan, dark brown, and orange)
• 3 yards of burlap (I did have about 1/2 a yard left over, but I'd rather have too much than have to go back. And I bought the lightest shade of tanish/white they had since my walls are tan)
• Hot glue gun and one hundred and twelve a lot of glue sticks

I separated the inner embroidery hoop from the outer one and cut the batting into approximately 3 inch wide strips. Then I began wrapping it around the hoop. I put some hot glue on the end of the batting when I started wrapping it and did a couple of loops around then glued some more then wrapped a few times then looped, like this:

I ended up doing three layers of batting all the way around (which was the whole bag of it) the hoop because I wanted it to be pretty thick. It was easy to shape the the batting once I started wrapping it with burlap too, so that was a plus since obviously you want a wreath to be pretty evenly shaped.

Then I cut my light burlap into approximately 2 in. strips began the wrapping process all over again.

I decided to do two layers of burlap around the hoop, the first to cover it, the second I did it tighter to shape it better.

Then, using a piece of cardboard I made two templates for the flowers. One small, one large-ish. (I'm sorry, I didn't photograph any of this..I needed two hands once I got started and it didn't cross my mind to pause, I was too excited!)

Once I cut out all of the pieces for the flowers I just hot glued and layered each piece..

..maybe you can tell what I'm talking about by that picture? I hope so..

Then I used my fabric and made the buttons and glued them to the center. Once all the flowers were glued onto the wreath I stuck in two loopy twirly sparkly twig things that I picked up at HobLob. I think it added just the right cuteness.

I hung it from a nail above my mantle using some ribbon I had laying around the house. The rest of my mantle decor is from HobLob, Dollar Tree, and Wally World.

I purchased the candles and candle sticks at Wal-Mart. The giant sparkly acorn, harvest tin, and some of the fillers in the vase came from HobLob. The books are just books that I wrapped in burlap and tied orange and brown sparkly ribbon around (also from HobLob). The vase I already had, and most of the fillers (the wheat, cattails, grassy stuff, and moss are all from the Dollar Tree.

Here's one more look at the complete MANTLE (I think that's my new favorite word! Ha. Ha.)

Have you started decorating for fall yet? Or made a wreath? If so, let me know, I'd love to see it!!

This post is linked to:

• I Heart Naptime
• Serenity Now - A Mommy's Solution to Staying Sane
• Sassy Sites
• Sugar & Dots
• Thrifty Decor Chick
• Just a Girl
• House of Hepworths
• Remodelaholic
• The Gunny Sack
• Ask Anna
• Home Savvy A to Z