Grass Wreath

Over on Pinterest, I saw a fun wreath made

primarily of a foam wreath form and fur yarn.

When I first published this post, I credited the incorrect

originator of this idea. Was the post that I saw on

Pinterest trying to steal someone else's work and idea?

Anyway, this seems to be the original blog post:

Patty Schaffer's Spring Baby Grass Wreath.

You need a green foam wreath form...

...and lime green fun fur (or eyelash)  yarn.

My wreath form is 16" across. It took one 55 yard skein 

of the eyelash yarn to cover it. 

             At first I could not find this color and tried to dye some white and other colors fun fur/eyelash yarn. Do not attempt.  The yarn is polyester and did not take up any dye.

I finally did find some locally but if you can't, you might need to order online.

Get the larger skein (55 yards I think).  It will be about $7 - $10. 

                  I lost the photos that I took of the construction process

          Did I accidentally copy them to an obscure file?

       Did I forget to have to memory card in the camera?

Anchor the end of the yarn and start wraping and

wraping and wraping the yard around the form

keeping the strands of yarn close together.

This is a re-creation of how to wrap the wreath with some of the non-dyeable fun fur yarn.

All the lime green yarn got used on the original wreath.

 When you get to the end of the yarn, secure it by tying off to an already wrapped piece of yarn.  This is what you end up with:

It is so darn cute and fluffy...you just want to "pet" it. 

I added the foam eggs on wires by sticking them into the foam

to make it Easter-y.  The wreath could be use for different

occasions just by changing out the decorations.

Since all these materials are weather-resistant, this wreath

can be used outside.  If it gets wet, you may need to "fluff"

the fur yarn with your fingers to perk it up.

The wreath form was $8, the yarn was $7, and the eggs were $7 if all are regular price.

If you look for sales or use coupons at the craft stores, it would be less.

Update:

I was underwhelmed by my cute, fuzzy wreath every time I pulled

   in my driveway. It just looked kind of "meh" from the street.

So I added a bow and clustered the eggs near the bow

instead of having them march "single file" around the wreath.

I wasn't happy with any single ribbon that I found.

The blue was not interesting enough and the pattern ribbon

was not wide enough so I combined the two ribbon in the bow.

I got a few more pre-made sparkle-y eggs while

I was shopping for the ribbon.

Ooops!The bow's tails are different lengths...

should I even them up?

The cute, fuzzy yarn wreath now looks better up

close AND at a distance. 

This is my 100th blog post.  It seems like everything that could go wrong,

 has gone wrong with it (including posting the above photo that is crooked).

I'm glad all blog posts are not this difficult or I would have given up already.

Thanks for coming by to see this fuzzy-wuzzy wreath...

I hope you will make one too! 

Fun Party and Vignette Ideas

Kathy G. is a caterer (and so much more)

in Birmingham, Alabama.  When my stepson got

married a four years ago in Birmingham, we used Kathy G.

for the after-rehearsal party and also for a kind of

"meet and greet the bride" luncheon the day before the wedding.

Since then, I have been receiving emails that her company

sends out once a month that are packed with pictures of

events that she has recently done and even recipes.

The email I got today featured an event that she hosted

herself to reveal the renovations that had been made to

one of the event venues that she owns.

The appetizer reception was full of good ideas for

decorating not only for a party but for composing

fun and interesting vignettes in your home.

The photos were taken by Moesia Davis in the Garden Cafe on the grounds of

The Botanical Garden in Birmingham. Kathy G.' has also formed branch of her

company called KG Designs that provides display and decor for parties and

weddings.  The lead designer for KG Designs is Andy Hopper.

Here are some of my favorite ideas:

This mantle display is also interesting.

You can follow Kathy G. and her talented staff via

 her Facebook page, her website, or her blog which all

have fabulous recipes and pictures.

 

A Grecian Garden Blooms In Dixie

A little corner of Greece sits  on the southern most

outcroppings of the Appalachian Mountains in

The Jasmine Hill Gardens in Alabama.

The gardens are at their most beautiful in Spring when

the huge azaleas and the delicate dogwood trees are blooming.

Jasmine Hill Gardens began in the 1930's when a couple

who loved Greek culture built their home on the rolling

property. They also constructed a huge garden area

grounded with Alabama plantings and embellished

with reproduction Greek statues and other beautiful

garden decor.

The couple made over twenty trips to Greece to

purchase the art objects for their gardens.

Statuette of Athena

The Combatant

The Marathon Boy

Girl Playing Knuckle Bones

One of my favorite settings for the statuary was a

reproduction of the statue "Winged Victory".

Doesn't this look like she is leaving a trail of azaleas as she is walking?

Not all statuary in the garden is Grecian.  The couple

collected European objects also.

A bronze statue in a fountain and pool area

These terra cotta dogs are antiques from a garden in Italy.

Large olive and wine jars from Italy and Greece

More Italian pieces are the the lions made in Venice of vicenza stone.

The lions flank a walkway leading up to a marble bench that was carved in Florence, Italy.

The lions decrease in size as they approach the bench, giving the illusion of greater distance.

The original Temple of Hera was destroyed by an earthquake

in Greece.  In 1874 it was partially rebuilt.  Jasmine Hills

has an reproduction of the temple as it looks now (except 

for the addition of the pool).

When the world-wide Olympics are held, the original flame used in the torch is ignited in Greece

  at the original site of the Temple of Hera. In 1996 when the Summer Olympic Games were held in nearby Atlanta, the path of the Olympic torch came to this replica.  There was a big ceremony for it here.

A pretty display the gardens had when we visited recently

was a collection of assorted amaryllis in bloom in pots

along a stone bench area.

I'm so used to seeing amaryllis being forced bloomed at Christmas that I forget this is the

actual time of year they bloom naturally.

Now the gardens are only open select times of the year.

We had out of town company that we were wanting to

take to a place with local flavor. We read that the gardens

were open during their stay and decided to take them there.

   I forget about going to visit Jasmine Hills even though it is

only about a 20-minute drive from my house.  There's

nothing like company to get you out to see your local sights.

One of our guests in front of the huge azalea bushes.  The bees were plentiful and in a feeding

frenzy in the azaleas but nobody got stung.  I think the bees were too busy to notice us.

Some of the azalea blooms were big and showy...

...and some were smaller and more delicate.

More azalea buds waiting for their time to bloom

There were even a few bushes of Alabama's

state flower, the camelia, still in bloom.

The efforts of the original couple to establish the gardens has

been continued by another family wanting to preserve

Jasmine Hill for future generations to enjoy. They established

a foundation to maintain the works brought over from

Greece and Europe and also to expand on the vision.

I'm sharing this post over at

The Tablescaper's "Oh The Places I've Been!" party