Flower and twig door wreath tutorial

Another tutorial treat today - again from my boy's knights and dragons party but easily adaptable for any occasion.  Here's how to make a wreath in a relatively short space of time that will be a great welcome and talking point for your guests.

To start you will need a twig wreath frame. You cna often pick these up in home and gift shops or you can make one like I did.

To make a wreath base: use a pre bought metal hoop (or you can make one from a coat hanger) as a base. Using fresh birch twigs (fresh so they bend) wind them round the hoop. Keep adding twigs until you are happy with the result.

If you want to add a welcome notice now is the time to print your message on paper or card. I chose an old english font to welcome our brave knight guests and warn them of the dragons they might find inside!

I then wiped a cold used tea bag over the paper to age it. Using a lit candle (in a secure candleholder) I held the paper over the flame to create scorch marks. You don't need to hold the paper very close to the flame, about 20cm up should be fine. I then dipped the edges of the paper in and out of the flame to create a jagged effect.  Please be very careful doing this. You don't need to hold the paper in the flame very long - a couple of seconds should be fine. Then blow out the flame each time.

Next you'll need some testubes - easily picked up of ebay. Using thin reel wire twist a long stretch of wire round the top of the tube (just under the rim) until it holds the tube tight.

  

Now put some reel wire through your welcome notice and suspend it across the wreath.

Then wire your testubes into the wreath. You can wedge some of the tubes into the frame to give them extra support but as long as the wire is secure they are lightweight so shouldn't come off.

Attach you wreath to the door. I used a ribbon to tie the wreath to the door knocker.

To add extra interest and a bit of drama I fill my testubes with coloured water. I used a syringe to do this so it didn't go everywhere.

Next add your flowers.  A single bloom or a couple in each test tube should be fine. I went for bright orange and yellow roses along with some red tulips to give a fiery look.

And here is the result!

Tuesday Treat Update

You may remember that at the beginning of March I ran a promotion to help choose the colours for a new range of rose cards. Well I promised you pictures of the winning choices and so here they are.

Each design is cut by hand into a square white card:

A coloured paper insert then adds the pop of colour to each card. Pink was definitely the most popular choice including raspberry and cerise shades. 

One giveaway winner was quite partial to a blue rose:

Here is the trio of runner's up colour choices together:

And the gift wrapped set for the winner Amy:

Don't despair if you didn't win this time - these cards will be arriving in my Etsy and Folksy shops by the end of the week.

Tasty treat

Today's post is about taking the time to treat yourself.

Yesterday we popped to the neighbouring village to visit the post office and get some take away tea for some tree surgeons (more about that in a future post!).  My eldest seems to have come to the conclusion that a visit to this village - which has a bakery - means that he will get a gingerbread man. He seemed so sure of this fact that when I listed the jobs I was going to do in the village he added "and get a gingerman".

Reader - I succumbed and both my boys did indeed get a "gingerman". Mainly because I absolutely love the joy on my son's face when he receives his biscuit treat.

So in the firm belief that everyone deserves a treat I thought that this lovely tea towel from Etsy designer Madillustration might inspire you to bake yourself a tasty treat:

Image - Madillustration

And if that's not enough inspiration check out this luscious blog post from Emma-Kate Photography.

Image - Emma-Kate Photography

Enjoy - and if you have been inspired to bake some gingerbread why not send me a picture?

An American treat

A while ago I did a swap with a fellow Etsy seller Emily who runs Love and Laughter. We swapped two of my cards for a fabric stationery wrap made by Emily. Here is one of my cards in its new home with Emily's treasures.

Somewhere along the line the postal service intervened and I've had to wait quite a while for my swap to arrive. But it has finally arrived - hooray! And it is certainly a treat! A very big thank you to Emily. And if you'd like one of your very own then check out Emily's shop here

I absolutely love the fabric. It is so bright and cheery and something that I will enjoy looking at as well as using.

The stationery wrap looks absolutely beautiful when tied together and I think it will be secure enough to wrap my knives in (with guards on!)

There are three handy pocket so plenty of room for everything.

A truly scrummy Tuesday treat!

Tuesday Treat - New Product!

So today's treat involves a little bit of work on your part.....let me explain...

I'm in the process of designing some rose papercut cards, which I think will be great for a whole range of occasions. Definitely one for the "Ultimate Card Drawer". Yesterday I cut out one of the rose styles in plain paper and then tried it against various backgrounds. The design will be cut directly into a white square card with a coloured insert. Initially I had planned to use icecream pastels but stronger colours seemed to work best.

This is where you lovely people come in! Here's the deal:

• I'd love you to take a look at the various colour ways below and vote for your favourite(s) or even suggest a different colour!
• You can vote by leaving a comment here on the blog or by tweeting - make sure you include @rosieandtheboys in your tweet so that I spot it. 
• I'll put the names of everyone who posts a comment or tweets into a hat and my mum will pick one at random at 3pm on Thursday 15th March.
• The lucky winner will receive a box of 6 of these cards, all gift wrapped and gorgeous.

The winner will be announced on Friday morning. Please make sure you include contact information so I can get in touch to let you know if you've won. Remember the treat closes at 3pm on Thursday which gives you only 48 hours to take part.

The options:

Now it's time to get voting - good luck!