Let me preface this post by saying that I can’t remember ever having made homemade Christmas gifts before. I may be thrifty, but I don’t think of myself as very crafty. The word “craft” makes me think of popsicle sticks and paint and the fabric-covered cardboard that I turned into a journal in elementary school. But this year was different… mostly because of Pinterest. This year I had inspiration! (And lots of wasted hours. I have yet to start a “failed pins” board on Pinterest – but I have a lot of pins to add to it when I do).
Anyway, back to my inspiration. Here are a couple of monogram wreaths that caught my eye:
Lovely, right? I thought they would make cute gifts for my sister and my four sisters-in-law, and they looked pretty simple. So I decided to go browse Hobby Lobby and see what kind of materials I could find. That was a mistake. There is no material that Hobby Lobby doesn’t have. I debated between making monogram frames or wreaths… using big letters or small ones… buying fabric or fake greenery to decorate the wreaths… as my patient husband and children wandered around behind me.
Lesson #1: Decide exactly what you want to make before you go shopping.
Anyway, I ended up (after more than one trip to the store!) with five bare wreaths, three letter As, two letter Js, a couple cans of spray paint, ribbon, and lots of sprigs of very cute fake flowers.
I didn’t realize what a slow process it would be to paint all of the letters. After I had spray-painted them, I started experimenting with dry-brushing them to give them an antiqued look. Some of my experiments worked… and others didn’t, so then I had to sand and paint them again. And a couple of them I did AGAIN. It was definitely an evolutionary process, since I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted them to look like when I was done.
The wreaths just hung out and waited in my family room while their letters were being painted and re-painted. When they were ready, I used my glue gun to attach the letters to the wreaths.
Miraculously, they were all ready in time for Christmas, each with their own personality!
I don’t know if I’ll attempt homemade Christmas gifts again any time soon, but it was definitely fun! I actually miss having them all lying around my house. But I think my family is happy to have me back in “mom” mode and out of “mad-wreath-scientist” mode!
The Reclaimed Life 
