The "Man-Torial" Man Friendly Wreath

So last month I shared this tutorial over at Houtz-House Party... and thought I'd post it again so that ya'll get the chance to read about this fun, easy project.

Anywhoo--- today I am sharing a "Man-Torial"... which is a man friendly tutorial... see, the deal is that I currently live with my dad and doing all of my crafts at his house has proven frustrating (he did not find my pink cactus nearly as cute as I did) - so I decided to make a craft that he would not mind as much - the Man Wreath!

Supplies:

• Wreath form (Styrofoam is the cheapest) 
• **You can also use a pool noodle that you duct-tape into a circle - this seems to be the cheapest option out there.
• Man friendly fabric - I used burlap (You'll need about 1/2 yard if using a medium sized wreath)
• Wreath additions - I used feathers and blue poly-satin flowers
• Hot glue and glue gun
• Scissors

1. Cut fabric strips (about 1-2 inches wide)... plug in your gun - you won't really know how much fabric you need until you start gluing...

Next glue/wrap the fabric around the wreath form... you now have the blank canvas on which to work... so now what? You have to figure out what you want it to look like.

1. Do you want a family initial? (I picked up a cheap 1.00 wooden "E" and painted it with some left over paint... it's tied into the center of the wreath)

2. What kind of manly-man do you live with? For example, my dad hunts birds and thus I chose pheasant feathers... if you had a golfer you could use tees and balls, a fisherman - bobbins and old flies?

See, there's my letter... my feathers, I also added some flowers because I needed to jazz up the feathers... I'm thinking my next version will be a blue/green wreath with some flies and bobbins - since dad is also a fisherman and how cute does that sound? I'm pretty excited for that one! Who knows, before then I might go  with a girly option ;)

Hope this was a fun little insight into the male psyche... also, my dad walked by the wreath (on the front door) for several hours before I finally pointed it out... to which he chuckled, said it was nice, and continued to eat his dinner ;) Best of luck with the man-torial!

DUVET! DUVET! DUVET!

Sorry, I felt that the post called for repetition, and exclamation points!!! Because I am just that stoked about it! Also I still use the word stoked...

     Okay first off, this post is about a re-vamp of my old "spring" duvet, back when I was going for the whole neutral look for the boy at the time - yeah well needless to say that is not an issue anymore as can be seen with my "winter" duvet... which I love! Yep, that did take FOREVER to cut, organize, lay out, sew... sew... sew!

     Now, this is my old duvet - boring right? But for 35.00 from overstock for a King, can't beat it... but you can dye it! And dye it I did... 3 times actually because the first was way too light grey, the second wasn't dark enough and I stopped when try 3 took me from grey to purple. 

     But alas, the recipe for Charcoal Grey should be 1 cup salt, washer of hot water, 1 tablespoon of royal blue RIT liquid dye and 1 tablespoon of black for every 2 lbs of fabric.

     I also bought some white lace to dye and sew over the blue outlines on the duvet... how cute is that lace pattern? Tell you what for 27.00 it had better be cute! (Note, please add tan to this, or it will be way too bright yellow).

     Now once everything is dry, ironed and ready to go... sewing time - which was sooo frustrating when I got up onto the top row, because the whole duvet was crammed up into my sewing machine - not conducive to sanity...

Now... after much patience it is time to put it, wait for it, wait for it... all together on your bed! 

Then you add pillows and a West Elm duvet [that you snagged for, FREE due to a gift card perk thing from Apartmentfinder] (for the other comforter you keep at the foot of your bed, because you are ridiculous like that)...

Hope you enjoy my new covers as much as I do!!!