Wreath of the month: January

Here's my first wreath of the year in keeping with my "a wreath a month" goal. One down, eleven to go!

January's wreath was inspired by bleubirdvintage's pom pom wreath. I love the colors she used--so bright and fun. Her step by step directions are great too for a beginner.

Her version:


I remember making these pom poms back in the day and thought they looked warm and fuzzy and perfect for a winter wreath. I wanted to go with a neutral color and decided to reuse the yarn from my Christmas wreath project since that meant I didn't have to go back to the craft store. Hey my laziness and fear of the craft store = reusing resources = saving the world. One pom pom at a time.

So a side note about these little pom poms. My fingers still hurt from making these little suckers. The first few are fun, even rewarding, but then you break your first pair of scissors cutting these little pieces of yarn and then you get a bruise on your thumb and you start sneezing from the yarn dust and it all goes downhill from there. I was so relieved when I ran out of yarn.

To begin, I used a foam wreath form (again) and wrapped it with some scrap linen I had lying around (really I did--I'm shocked too). I then proceeded to tie all the pom poms on, arranging as I went. Finally, I had them all tied on and paused to admire my work. I tilted my head to look at it, and then tilted it the other way. And no matter which way I looked at it, it sorta looked like sea urchins on a wreath. So I then did what I could to remedy the situation, a familiar and effective strategy I turn to whenever I need a little "flair". I put another bird on it. This one was found at the Citywide Garage sale (good golly I mention them a lot, you'd think they pay me for this or something).

The breakdown:
Wreath form: $3.99
Yarn: free
Little bird: $1
Total cost: $4.99
Total time: 4-5 hours (mostly making the pom poms while we caught up on season 5 of Lost)

The final product:





It's grown on me since we've put it up. The little bird helps of course.

Oh and I was able to use the leftover pom poms I had to make a little decoration for my table. I just glued them to some sticks and set them in my favorite vase we bought from Bison Home in Melbourne. Perfect for days when I don't have fresh flowers to adorn my kitchen table.