The highs in the next ten days call for anything from the mid 60's to 80 with lows from the mid 40's to 62 and RAIN! The garden foliage is looking pretty sad. If I have time, I plan on doing some pruning and pulling vegetable plants that are done for the year like the tomato plants.
Today is also the day the house becomes 'the season of orange'. I really do not have that many fall things to put out, mostly artificial flowers/fall leaves.
Today is craft day...if you have been paying attention, poke art seems to be very popular. The basics for this craft are fabric cut into about 2 inch squares, a base (styrofoam), and a poke tool.
A foam base for a small wreath (the type with a white smooth finish) is between $7 and $8 dollars so I was wondering if I could use a base out of cardboard and the answer was yes but you need some glue. Cut out two rings of cardboard and glue them together for a solid base. The rings do not need to be perfect...
Next you need fabric. I had several fat quarters of fabric in fall colors, but you can use any fabric you want. Even clean used sheets which you can dye to a beige color with tea or coffee will work. Think thrift stores and curtains, table clothes, etc.
The easiest way to make the squares is to rip the fabric into 2 inch strips and then cut them into approximate two inch squares...
First cover the back with the squares using glue and leaving a small amount of fabric to cover the edges and glue to the front...
For the poke tool, I used a pencil not too sharp which eventually broke. I then switched to a ball point pen with the ball point out and that worked very well. First apply a bit of glue to the area you are poking fabric in...
Next, place the piece of fabric down with the poke tool in the center and push until you go through the first layer of cardboard. Do not try to poke through on areas where the fabric was glued down to cover the edges...
Once you have poked one piece of fabric, pick up the edges and poke another piece close to it continuing until the wreath is covered...
Here's my finished wreath with strips of fabric glued to the back...
Using the glue helps the poked fabric stay in place enough so you can fluff it up easily. One nice thing about using cardboard is that the wreath is thin so it can easily fit between a storm door and a wooden door. A bit of cardboard, some fabric, glue and a pencil/pen makes a very nice decoration. And it can easily be adapted to any season...just change the fabric!
That's all for today...on to making the house into the 'season of orange'. Hope you enjoy making this inexpensive wreath...
Talk with you tomorrow...