Heart Wreath

 

Hi Everyone!

It's my Wednesday Heartfelt Creations post!!  This is a project I've been wanting to try for awhile.  I made a very small, ornament-sized version of this wreath years ago (see this blog post 2009), and I've always wanted to make a larger version of it that would hang on a wall.

I knew almost immediately when I saw the branches and leafy dies from the Birds and Blooms Collection that was released last month, that I had the perfect tools for this project!  Combining the Birds and Blooms Collection and the new Butterfly Medley Collection, I had more than enough great material to work with!!

I started by creating the wreath's "bones" -- you know, the main branch base.  To do that, I basically just misted two light brown cardstock strips with water to make them pliable, then twisted up the strips, kind of tightly, into "ropes".  I set them into a round cardboard lid to get them to take on arch shapes, then heat set them with my heat gun while in the cardboard lid.  Cardstock stays very stiff and sturdy when you dampen it then heat set it for some reason -- works great for projects like this!  .

I glued the ends together and finished shaping them into a single, large circle
 


I added some dark brown ink to the wreath branch to give it a little more realistic look. 

I stamped and die cut tons of branches and leaves from dark brown cardstock and glued them all around the wreath branch with my hot glue gun.

I don't know why I waited to shape the wreath branch into a heart form, but it wasn't until after I had glued on the brown leafy branches that I decided to to go ahead and make it into the heart shape.  (I think part of me was not sure I would actually make this a heart shape.)  I pinched one end of the circle branch and sort of pulled it down, then used some hot glue to hold the "v" in place.  Then I pinched the opposite end and pushed it inward from the top to form the top "v" and used more hot glue to hold that part in place.  That made the heart shape.

Next I proceeded to stamp and die cut some small and large flowers and a few butterflies for the wreath. I glued Prills into the centers of all my flowers prior to gluing them to the wreath (red Prills in the pink blooms and yellow Prills in the purple blooms).  I love Prills - sigh...

At last it was time to glue all the flowers onto the wreath.  I just randomly filled in spaces that looked like they needed color.  I decided my wreath needed some greenery, so I pulled out another set of HC dies and diecut some smaller, green leafy branches with swirls and added those into the mix.

To finish it off, I wrapped some beaded trim around the wreath, inserted some pearl sprays and finally,  added a length of ribbon with a bow on top to hang it with.  

It really was a very basic process, although I admit it did take me about 4 hours!  But nothing required any pattern, or measuring or anything like that.  It just all burst forth -- just lots of fun with paper, stamp and ink - that's what it's all about, right??!! 

The HC products I used to make this wreath:

HCD 750 Cut Mat Create 1B Die
HCD1 756 Birds and Blooms Die
HCD1 757 Leafy Branch Die
HCPC 3645 Leafy Branch Cling Stamp set
HCPC 3644 Birds and Blooms Cling Stamp set
HCPC 3651 Botanical Rose Cling Stamp set
HCPC 3650 Butterfly Medley Cling Stamp Set
HCD 758 Botanical Wings
HCD 759 Butterfly Medley
HCDP1 251 Butterfly Medley Paper Collection

 
My very detailed step-by-step instructions and complete list of materials used to make this wreath are posted on the Heartfelt Creations Blog!

Definitely head over to the Heartfelt Creations Blog today if you want to see some more amazing stuff!!  You'll love the cards, layouts and 3-D projects done by some of the most talented ladies on the web!!  I am in awe and I would love for you to see the fantastic projects they're doing!!

Have a blessed day everyone!!