Color Blitz!

Hope everyone is enjoying a beautiful fall weekend!  We are watching the Iowa/Iowa State football game today and hoping the Cy-Hawk Trophy spends the next year in Ames!  It's been four years since it's been there, so it's time for sure!  If you are from Iowa, went to either school, or just spent any time in the state during the legendary game day weekend, you know how big of a deal this game is.  But you didn't stop over here to read about football, did you?  On to my latest project!

So ever since I domesticated and bought a house, I have been pining for seasonal wreaths.  But man, are they expensive!  Especially since I am turning to Pottery Barn and the like for my dream accessories.  My Mom always told me to wait till they go on clearance at the end of the season, but that never worked out for one reason or another.  They were either picked over, still too pricey, or I simply forgot to look.  I had thought about making my own wreath but it always seemed too expensive.

But then I found a solid grapevine wreath at my favorite thrift store for $2, and I figured, why not?

But yeah, those 80's flowers had to go.  They were easy to take out.  Get a load of the grime that was on them.  Yuck!  I might have sneezed a bit while pulling these off.

So once everything was off, I gave the entire wreath a coat of chocolate brown spray paint.  I wanted to make sure to have a dark, rich base for the fall.  At this point, I was undecided about what I wanted to decorate the wreath with.  I liked the idea of leaves, but I was also liking the idea of some brightly colored flowers.  I looked at Hobby Lobby but didn't see anything I was too crazy about.  I had heard that the Dollar Store can be a DIY'ers paradise, so I gave it a shot.  $12 later, I came home with this pile.  

Sorry for the HORRIBLE picture quality, but I bought these last night and I wanted to work on it right then and there.  So, no natural light for good pictures.  First thing I did was wrap the wreath in some thick, fall ribbon.  I did this so that I'd have a little bit of sparkle, to fill in any holes, and to help hold the stems in.

Please disregard the stuff sitting on the floor in the corner.  Everybody's house has some of that, right?

Then I cut the stems of the flowers so they were all separate.  I took regular scissors and clipped the outside and then bent the wire part till it snapped.  I just slid the flowers under the grapevine and the ribbon in a somewhat random order.  There's no real rhyme or reason to this...it's all about your taste and what you like.

And here's my finished result!  At first, I wasn't sure.  But the more I looked at it, the more it grew on me.  I really like how bright it is, but still within the fall color theme.

I put it together in a little over an hour (not counting shopping or painting) while we watched the season finale of Burn Notice.  I couldn't tell you what all the kinds of flowers I used, but I can identify Dahlias and Gerberas.  I also used some twig like things as fillers.  I went with orange, red, yellow, green, and purple for the flowers and the ribbon is a sheer burnt orange with some gold on the outside.  I didn't glue anything in for a couple reasons.  They flowers stay in place pretty well on their own, and next year, I might want to change it up!  Maybe with leaves.  

So what have you been doing to get ready for fall?  Anyone had their air turned off for a while?  Or how about that season finale of Burn Notice?  Anyone else a little surprised??  And by the way, State is in the lead with 2 minutes left in the 3Q.  Whoot whoot!