More ‘yard debris’ wreaths

Yep, I’ve been out gathering up yard debris to craft with again!

It all started out innocently enough last fall when I gathered up a few bits of moss that had fallen off the tree in my front yard to ’embellish’ the blue pumpkins I had painted and displayed on my front porch.

Initially I had only replaced the ugly plastic stems with cut up branches.

Then I was out picking up pine cones from my yard (because for whatever reason, the lawn maintenance people hired by the property owners just mow right over them and leave them on the lawn!?!?) and there was a LOT of big pieces of moss that had fallen off the tree.  That is when it occurred to me that adding some moss around the stems of the pumpkins might look good.

Mission accomplished!

Even the pumpkins with just a ‘stub’ of a stem, looked better with the moss added.

I continued gathering up  the moss from under the tree once a week or so; intending to use it to add to little bird nests in the spring.

Every once in a while I’d pick up a hunk of moss, only to discover that it had grown onto a piece of tree bark; and it fell apart if I tried to remove it.  So, I was tossing those pieces back.

Then we had some very stormy days and a lot of bark bits had fallen from the tree and I had another ‘light bulb’ moment!  Gather up the bark and use it to make a wreath!

It took a couple of months to accumulate enough bark to make a wreath.  I just got in the habit of going out and gathering moss and bark once a week.

First I covered one of the bulky straw wreaths with strips of brown paper using tacky glue.

I just started gluing bark to the paper covered wreath form.  The tacky glue worked great for this project, as it’s ‘tackier’ than regular white glue and sets very quickly.  I’d lay out several pieces of bark, apply the glue to the back; then put the bark on the wreath.  In just those few extra moments, the glue will begin to ‘tack up’.  Occasionally I’d have to hold a piece of the bark in place for a minute or so for it to adhere properly.  I’d much rather do that then deal with a hot glue gun.  Plus, hot glue doesn’t hold up ‘in the weather’, and I envisioned these as ‘outdoor’ wreaths.

That first photo of the ‘first step’ is really the only one that I took.  Beyond that, it was just ‘filling the space’ with bark bits.  After drying over night, I filled any bare spots with moss.

Here’s what the back looks like.  I glued a strip of muslin to the back to hang it from.  You can see that loop at the top of the previous picture.

Be sure it’s covered about 2/3 of the way around, so that none of the backing shows from the side view.

A few ‘glue spots’ are visible in this pic, but they will eventually dry clear.

Simple and organic looking.

I actually had enough ‘supplies’ to make two of them.  As an after thought, I added some feather birds and a nest.

Little bird on top of the smaller wreath.

Little nest with eggs and a bird added to the inside of the bigger wreath.

~::~

Do you think they look better ‘plain’ or with the birds/nests added?