Ok, I guess I’ve put this off long enough.  I’ve been dragging my feet, debating whether or not I wanted to share my last two projects.  I’ve kind of put myself on a spending freeze, mostly because I’ve been feeling guilty about spending too much on a couple purses (see here).  So I’ve been trying to be creative and use what I have around the house.  I’ve been really wanting to make a fall wreath but didn’t have a wreath form in my stash.  What’s a girl to do?  What can I use that’s round and mimics a wreath without really being a wreath?  The answer is cardboard. But ya already knew that from the title, didn’t you?

I (for whatever reason) have a ton, no literally, a ton of cardboard boxes.  Moving boxes that have been emptied, soda boxes, beer boxes, boxes, boxes, boxes…. I even have a big sturdy box that my carpet cleaner came in.  Which is exactly what I used for these two projects.  Mostly because it gave me a large area to cut out a circle and it was very sturdy (double thickness).

I started out by breaking open the box so I could lay it out flat.  Found a couple bowls from the kitchen to trace around.  Then spent 10 minutes searching high and low for the utility knife, to no avail.  Ever feel like your tools grow legs and run away to hide just exactly when you need them?  Mine do, I swear it.  Guess I’ll have to use an exacto knife.  Just a note…the utility knife would have been a LOT easier. Unfortunately I tried scissors and they didn’t work either, too thick.

ANYway…the first bowl I used was 12″ across.  The smaller bowl for the inside was 6.5″.  Use whatever works for you.  Once you’ve cut out the circle…

Now cut out the center.

At this point I was so frustrated I forgot to take pictures.  Basically I started with some yarn and wrapped about a third of the way around.  I liked it but was losing patience….FAST.

Then I switched to felt cut in about 2″ wide strips.  That went a lot faster.  At this point I started cutting leaves off a garland I got last year at Dollar Tree and fired up the glue gun.

I found it was easier to cut the stems pretty short so they wouldn’t stick out. Burnt myself a couple times with the glue gun. Said a couple (ok…more than two) bad words. And here is the final product.

Is it a fail?  I’m not sure but I wasn’t about to let it defeat me.

Moving right on to the piece I had cut out of the center.  Since I have plenty of brown felt left, I cut a piece the same size as the circle and one a little larger so I could wrap up and over to hide the edges.

I just folded it over and hot glued.  Once I had that done, I glued on the piece that was the same size as the circle.  This gave me a pretty good base and no one will ever see it.  I sat an orange candle (a leftover from Dollar Tree, again) in the center and pulled out a large jar of cinnamon sticks that had been in the cupboard longer than I care to admit. They were only $1 from Dollar General.

Sorry, every time I take a picture of something with writing it comes out blurry.  Hhhmmm.  Nothing says fall more than cinnamon, right?

I tried to glue the sticks to each other but ended up gluing them right to the candle instead.  Since I’m not going to burn the candle I didn’t worry about it.  If you want to burn yours, I would suggest gluing your sticks to a candle cup/holder.  Then I glued the remaining leaves around the bottom.  I finished it of with a bit of raffia tied around it.

I think this turned out much nicer than the wreath but maybe I’m just being critical.  It’s hard to tell.  I even tried sitting the candle ring on top of the wreath.  It looks nice but it’s way too big {in my opinion} and takes up too much table space.  So I think it will sit by itself…next to the sweater jack-o-lanterns.

I read two posts today that helped push me to get my post written.

First was Gina of The Shabby Creek Cottage and her book page wreath on a cardboard circle.

Second was Smallgood Hearth and her crafting manifesto “you don’t have to be perfect, and you don’t have to create perfect things.  You craft because you enjoy it and love the process.  Mistakes serve two purposes: to teach us and to show our loved ones we really did create it by hand.”

Thank you ladies.  I really needed your help today.

So….Do you ever make yourself try to use up what you already have?  Are you self-critical of the things you make?

Please take a minute to scroll down and leave a comment.  I would love to know what you think.  Did this inspire you?  Will you use this as a jumping off point for your own project? Or just to say Hi I was here.  Comments are the only way to let me know what you are thinking.  If you enjoyed, please share with your friends or followers.  Thanks =)