Lots of wreath progress, with one big issue

Once the frame was cut the wreath has come together pretty quickly, with one major issue I haven't addressed yet.

I hinged the two pieces together, which should give me some flexibility in storing it after the holidays. It kept things together but has also made it a little more difficult to move around, especially if I need to flip it over. Whoops.

I like that it folds, I don't like that I still need to put stuff on the back side.

But things look good; the lights still work, everything was where I left it, and now I just have to figure out how I'm going to attach something capable of hanging it for the rest of the month. You know, the little details.

Return of the wreath

As much as I hate to start another project with the last one still taking up space in the shop, it's time to Christmas decorate so the remaining twin is just going to have to get worked around while I wait for the in-laws to pick it up.

A 60-degree day over the weekend means we've got all our lights all up already, so all I have left on my decorating list is re-doing my wreath and getting it hung on the garage. This year's wreath is getting a much stronger base than last year's, and I hope that means this year's wreath becomes next year's, and the year after that, and so on.

So no drywall. While we were out picking up more lights I picked up an extra 2x4 sheet of 1/2 inch plywood to go with the one I already had on hand, and used them to cut my circle with the same technique I used last time. Unfortunately cutting each one out was as far as I got with all the other things we had going on, but that's enough for now.

I was drilling some guide holes but lost interest pretty quickly. Jig saw did fine w/o them.

A sturdier build means I also have to figure out how to store it, but with some extra hinges sitting around I think I might have that one handled. Once I figure out how to hang it and keep it looking like a wreath I think we're in good shape. The rest is just stapling and time management, something that seems to be in short supply right now.   

So where does everything go now?

I was surprisingly hesitant to take all of our holiday decorations down this year. Usually everything is back to boxes in time for New Years, but for whatever reason no one was in any kind of rush to put things away. Part of it for me was probably not really wanting to admit it was time to go back to work but a bigger part was probably just everyone enjoying the season and not wanting it to be boring old January.

But you have to move on eventually, so I spent my last day off boxing up the extra tree, taking our outdoor lights down, and trying to figure out where everything is going to go. It didn’t help that I couldn’t stop buying extra decorations now that things are down to 90% off everywhere but that’s not important…

An extra tree meant a new tree box, and that was my first stop. Our old tree is still getting boxed up in the cardboard it came with, but this one got dropped off w/o a box in several pieces. I got the biggest, cheapest one I could find at wally-mart. Not really DIY but probably cheaper that way. Even then, it was barely big enough. But the tree has a new home under the stairs, and I did get to move some closet organization tools around to make it happen.

Already buried under halloween decorations

And what are these?

That took care of the tree, but there are still boxes and rubbermaids sitting around wondering where they’re going to go, not to mention all the other second-hand stuff that don’t even have containers to go into yet. This is usually when I introduce the fantastic project I’ve put together to address the issue that’s been raised but so far I’ve got nothing…hopefully that changes in the near future but for now the only DIY I’m doing is trying to fit these into spaces that are too small.

oh no!

Wreath down, wreath down!

Actually, it was good timing b/c it was time to take everything down anyway, but it was still upsetting to come home from a late-night shopping run and see my gorgeous wreath blinking on the ground.

ho ho...

oh no! That's what I get for going out late at night.

Looks like the hook just came off the wall, and the drywall broke both where it hit the ground, and at the top from the shock of the impact. Boo. Guess the drywall wasn't quite up to making it through the season after all.

Looking at the bright side, at least this way I don't have to store it, unlike everything else we ended up with this year. And hey, next year I guess I can make a plywood one, and anchor a hook better.

Still needs a little something

When we got our first big snow of the season I realized the wreath still needed a little something. It looked okay when I tested the 3M hook, and it looks good when we leave for the day in the morning while the sun is still out, but looking at in the dark while I was shoveling this weekend it obviously needed lights to go with everything else we have up. 

And how do you add lights to a wreath with no outlets in sight and keep costs manageable? I had no idea, but thankfully Meijer delivered with some battery-powered lights on sale when we finally made it on the road to go grocery shopping. So for another $10 I picked up 2 50 light strands for the big wreath, along with another $5 for a smaller strand for the door wreath.

Sometimes it feels like the work never ends.

Even better, they’re battery powered but both have timers, so once you turn them on you can leave them alone and they turn off, then come back on 14 hours later. The 50-light strands use 3 C batteries, which makes for a chunky control unit but they did have a loop to attach it to something with. Easy to attach a screw to the wreath backing and leave these on all night now. And with that, I think this is finally finished.  

Better

So it looked much better when I was back out there later that day shoveling yet another dump of that fluffy white bullshit. Two big snows already this holiday season and I’m ready to skip to March. Woof. 

Ugh.

Need decorating ideas? Just add another tree.

I will admit I never saw myself putting up more than one Christmas tree in the same house. But I never really saw myself getting so much enjoyment out of building my own gigantic wreath either, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when stuff like this happens anymore. With the basement and fireplace basically done and relatives asking if we want their old trees, why the hell not? The fireplace is in good shape for stockings at least, and incredibly we had enough ornaments to basically do a second tree. So I guess Christmas morning is going to be in the basement from now on. At least I can still watch “A Christmas Story.”

Actually nicer looking than the one upstairs.

Of course we didn’t get just a tree, we also got a lighted mini tree that the boy instantly claimed as his, and a host of other lights, garlands, and old outdoor decorations. I could have used some of that two weeks ago but whatever. A co-worker randomly gave me an advent tree too, with ornaments for each day. The boy claimed that one too. Things are looking very festive around the house these days.

Although I am a little worried that this signals a trend for our house to become the dumping ground for stuff no one wants anymore. I’m okay throwing stuff out as necessary but I don’t want piles of everyone else’s crap taking up space in our garage in the meantime. The wife would say this is just my inner bah humbug coming out but as good as all this stuff looks right now, come Dec 26^th I’m going to have to start figuring out where to put it all.

Not quite a wreath reveal

I love going to Menards’ Christmas village. Well, I loved going by myself when I was younger and it reminded me of first seeing their commercials in college. It still has its moments now going with kids, but a lot of those moments involve trying to stop them from running around like crazy people, and convincing them to put very fragile things back very carefully. Our most recent trip was no different but it was still fun. 

I came home with five pieces of garland, among many, many other things. One 18” for $4 and four 9” for $4.50 each. Not bad. I was on the fence about getting that fifth piece, but the wife convinced me that extra would be better than having to make another trip. And still, even with a bow and a heavy duty outdoor 3M hook to put everything up we were still under 30 bucks for wreath materials. Not bad.

The cheap stuff was good for a bottom layer, stapled directly to the drywall. With two of the fuller garlands on this started to look pretty good, and I needed to switch to longer staples. I put the third on to round everything out, and although I could have crammed the fourth one on I think we can make better use of it somewhere else. But I was pretty pleased with how things filled out. 

Full enough, if a little asymmetrical.

The "red white and blue" theme was accidental.

With the bow on top and the extra ornaments I had around, this is actually pretty close to what I had in my head. A natural wreath of this size would be fuller but I don’t really want have to buy one each year, I’d rather make something artificial that can come back year after year. Part of the issue with a wreath of this size is keeping it wide enough to not look like a hula hoop, but thin enough that it’s still light enough to hang and keep its shape. I think I walked that line just about as closely as I could here. Now I just have to see if the 3M hook is up holding this, and I have a feeling I might have to put a longer wire on to hang it from. But for $30 I’ll take that.

A year later, a DIY wreath

Moving so close to last Christmas made for pretty hectic holidays. I kept staring at the listing photos of our soon-to-be house and wishing it would just hurry up and be ours already. At one point, going a little crazy, I started doodling on one of the outside photos, putting some Christmas decorations up. My favorite part was the idea of putting a huge wreath on the third garage door. But I hadn’t realized exactly how expensive something like that can run, and didn’t really have a plan for how to put one together myself. We moved in 6 days before Christmas and did what we could with decorating, but didn’t go all out. But I have spent a year wondering how I could put together a 4-foot wreath for this Christmas… 

So let’s put together a wreath, and do it without spending the money it looks like it would take to get a good 4-footer capable of matching up to the idea that’s in my head. That means at least starting with materials already on hand, and seeing how things work.

I'm good, but I'm not "free hand a perfect circle" good.

But my improvised compass worked beautifully.

I still have a pile of drywall around, and even better it’s already kind of green, so that seemed like as good a starting material as any. Taping a screw and a marker on a two-foot piece of scrap made for a halfway decent circle, which I managed to cut out pretty cleanly. It’s 4” wide, I hope that looks thick enough when everything is done. I attached some scrap 2x4 at points to either support places that looked like they were about to fold, or give it a backing to stick off the wall a bit. Ran some picture wire across two of those pieces and just like that, we have a starting point for our wreath. Plus, it continues my scrap materials streak since I’m still using stuff I had around.   

Cut out and supported.

That might help, a little.

It strikes me that drywall probably isn’t up to holding up to the elements over a Chicago winter, so we’ll see how things go. I taped the edges shut, at least, and I’m hoping the overhang above the garage door will give it some protection. A wire frame is probably better suited to a project like this, but only if you can find one in the size you want to work in. I could not, so I went with what I had.  

A test-hang overnight on the garage shelves worked fine, so I think we’re good to move on. If we can find the time, a quick trip to check out the Christmas village at Menards will hopefully yield some cheap options to cover this thing. Then I just have to figure out how to actually hang it over the door. Figuring things out as I go, just the way I like it.