December DIY: Feather Wreath

Here's my second instalment of December DIY:

Feather Wreath

I have wanted a feather wreath for some time now. They're just so expensive. And I'm so cheap.
It only occurred to me fairly recently that I should make one. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought of it earlier.

Note: You may need to be slightly crafty to accomplish this project.

Here's what you will need:

In hindsight, you may also need these:

Now if you'd like you can buy a wreath. But as I've said, I'm cheap and don't want to shell out $30+ for the size I'd like at a craft store.
So I decided to make my own. I got some free styrofoam from Urban Barn when I worked there and have been hoarding it in my basement until the time I was ready to make a wreath.
I glued three thin pieces together to make one thick piece.
If you're not blessed enough to work somewhere with spare styrofoam floating around you could always ask a store (they're just gonna throw it away anyway, so they'll give it to you for sure!), or if you've just bought something packed in styro, SAVE IT!

But, I digress...Let's get started.

Here's What You Do:

1. If, like me, you're making your own foam wreath you'll want to cut it into shape first. If you've bought a wreath, skip to step #7. Get yourself your pin and thread the string through it and tie it to the eyehole. Like so:

2. Stick the pin into the middle of the styrofoam. If you're anal retentive and love math you could measure where the centre of your foam is. I didn't. I like to eyeball things. I guessed and stuck the pin into what I figured was centre.

3. Measure (or eyeball like me!!) where you want the outside of your wreath to be and tie your marker or pen onto the string at that point.

4. You've made yourself a compass! Now pull the string taut and draw your circle around the styrofoam. Next you want to figure out how thick you want your wreath to be, shorten your string and draw a second circle inside the first one.
As you can see I have three rings. I drew the second circle, decided my wreath was too wide and drew another one closer to the outer circle. See? I eyeball everything. At this point it's pretty hard to mess things up.

5. This is where you cut out your wreath (now this is where you can mess things up!! Make sure you've drawn a wreath shape you're happy with). I used an old serrated bread knife. Cut around your lines. Easy peasy!

Side Note: Cutting out your wreath will be really messy!! You will have tiny pieces of styrofoam everywhere, stuck to everything!! If you have a partner who HATES messes like I do I suggest doing this while they are not home like I did. lol!

6. Ta Da! A wreath! Now, before you continue decorating your wreath you should clean up the mess before your significant other comes home sees it and has a brain aneurysm in your living room. I used my vacuum cleaner. Worked like a charm!

Anyway...this is what I ended up with: 

 It's not perfect, but I'll be covering it so I don't care. I'm not perfect either and people still love me! :)

7. Ok. This is where we cover the wreath with the feather boas. I used 3. I could've used 4, but 3 did the job. The number of boas will depend on how big your wreath is. I stapled the string ends to the wreath like so. That way, if I get bored of this wreath I can take it apart easily and not have damaged the form with glue.
Then, wrap your feather boas until the wreath is totally covered!

8. And here she is! Feathery goodness! If you've a minimalist you're done! Hang it up! I, on the other hand, am not a minimalist. I've just started decorating this wreath.

9. For us non-minimalists, this is where the fun starts! I wanted my wreath to "speak" to the rest of my Christmas decor, so I grabbed these peacock feathers from the Dollarstore to tie them in to the peacock ornaments on my tree. I had originally planned on tying a big bow a the bottom centre of the wreath, but it was too much with the fullness of the feathers. So I opted to simply wrap the ribbon over the peacock feathers.

10. All there is to do next is to hang your wreath! I've used a 3M Hook.

And there you have it! Feel free to decorate your wreath however you choose. Wouldn't it be pretty in marabou? Or maybe in another colour? What about adding twinkle lights?

I've got a one more DIY project planned for next week. So stay tuned!

Check out my first instalment of December DIY here!

Lisa.xo