3 Inexpensive Holiday wreaths + an Embellishment tutorial {Part 1}

 

Last week I was invited to teach a Women's class at my church. I taught about how to make decorations for your home on a dime. I shared 4 ideas, a faux boxwood (go HERE for that post), a two toned burlap wreath, a Halloween tulle wreath and a paper book page wreath.

 

I love all of these because there can easily be variations for all of them if you want to change the look a little, OR you can simply switch up the embellishment for each Holiday season to change the theme.

 

Here is the list of items you will need to buy for these wreaths.

I bought all of my items either at the dollar store or Walmart.

 

Tulle wreath:

• 4 yards (for small wreath) 8-9 yards (for large wreath) Black Tulle. Its about 1.25/yard at Walmart.
• A foam wreath from Walmart or the Dollar store.
• Embellishments for your wreath. These can be anything found at the dollar store or Walmart! Examples are: a which, cat, candy, pumpkins, witches boots, dried or false leaves, cupcake papers in seasonal colors or raffia. 
•  Felt for rosettes.
• Hot glue gun

Book Page wreath:

• 1-2 old books from your basement or a thrift store.
• A large or mini foam wreath from Walmart or the Dollar store.
• Elmer's glue or a hot glue gun with extra glue sticks
• Ribbon of your choice to hang the wreath. Red looks so pretty on this wreath... Just sayin!

 

Now for the fun part!

 

 

I will first start with my book paper wreath. I love this little wreath because my home is decorated in the vintage style. The pretty "antiqued" book pages match almost anywhere, and you can change the color of the ribbon for each season. I think red looks beaut-y-mus against the colors of the pages.

 

You will first want to take your old book and start ripping out some pages.... yep I know, it feels almost like your 4th grade librarian is going to pay you a visit and give you a major spanking! Just go ahead and do it, after all, we are giving an old book a second life!

 

 

Now cut some of those pages into long strips. You will need to glue paper around the whole wreath so that you don't see the foam through any bald spots.

Note: If you hot glue directly on your Styrofoam wreath, it will melt the Styrofoam and not stick. You must glue paper to paper around the wreath.

 

 

For this mini, I used a foam wreath from the dollar store. It had a hard edge instead of being totally rounded. This made it a little harder to wrap with paper, so for this one I would suggest purchasing a rounded "no edges" wreath form.

 

 

Now take some of your pages, and cut some paper hearts. Try to only cut out the part of the page with words. You can layer 3 or 4 pages so that you don't spend all afternoon doing this. DO NOT BE WORRIED ABOUT CUTTING THE HEARTS PERFECT. They don't need to be exact, just so long as they are pretty even and uniform in size.

 

Hot glue the hearts in all directions around the wreath. I made the hearts bigger on this wreath, but I think the smaller hearts in the picture shown below are very cute. I think they have a light and beautiful look to them almost like butterflies. Cover the entire wreath with the hearts so it looks full and thick.

 

I love to use older books that have "yellowed" pages for a more antiqued look.

 

 

 

 

Variation: This wreath can also be made larger by rolling the book pages and gluing them into funnels. You will need lots and lots of layers of small and large funnels. See photo below for inspiration.

 

source
 

 

 

Next up the Tulle wreath

 

 

I cut my yards of tulle into a gazillion strips of 6"x17" before I realized that I should have purchased a spool of tulle instead. That would have made my job a lot faster and easier. NOW YOU KNOW at least! :)

 

For my class, I made 1 mini wreath and one full sized.

They were both very cute! I just loved the darling look of the mini, so that is the one I am showcasing here.

 

 

First thing first, wrap the entire wreath with tulle.

 

 

Take your strips (they can range anywhere between 15-18 inches in length depending on how long you want the fluffy part of your wreath) and wrap them around the foam. I used two strips at a time. Tie a square knot and just continue doing this around the whole ring. I like to push my tulle together so there are no see through spots on the wreath, and it looks nice and thick.

 

 

Keep tying tulle around the entire wreath, it should look full and fluffy when you are done.

Add any embellishments you want for Halloween, such as, a which, cat, candy, pumpkins, witches boots, dried or false leaves or raffia.

 

For this tutorial, I used a couple of cupcake papers, turned them inside out and added a fall flower in the center with hot glue. Then I made a little bow out of raffia and glued it underneath the embellishment.

 



 

Poke a small hole in the center so you can add the stem of your flower.

 

 

 

This can be hung on your door, set on a shelf, or hung on a chalkboard with a Halloween quote around it. Use some bright orange or purple ribbon to hang it!

 

For my large wreath, I made a quick and easy felt embellishment.... isn't it pretty? I'll show you how I did it....

 

 

Take a square of felt and cut a long strip about 2 inches wide.

Fold the strip in half, and then cut 3/4 of the way up (on the uncut edge) little slits. 

Now, roll up your strip like a sleeping bag, and as you roll it you will create the cutest little "flower" looking embellishment.

 

 

Glue the end. Then cut a small piece of felt in a circle, and hot glue it on the bottom.

As for the rosettes, take another long strip of felt. Make this one about an inch wide. Fold it in half and roll it up as well. You can twist the strip as you roll it to make more of a rose looking embellishment.

I like to hot glue the ends together instead of hand stitching them. Then I cut a small circle and glue on the bottom so it won't come unraveled.

 

VARIATION:  an idea for a variation of this wreath would be to use different colors of tulle such as yellow brown and red for a fall wreath, red and green for a Christmas wreath with pretty sparkly bulbs or a poinsettia for an embellishment, or purple tulle instead of black for the Halloween wreath. You could also make a sweet little Easter wreath out of turquoise white and pink and glue on some pretty speckled plastic eggs. Endless possibilities!

 

GO HERE for Part 2 of this wreath making tutorial, to learn how to make a two toned burlap wreath!

 

P.S. If you want to get an email each time I have a new post, subscribe to my newsletter! Also, I would love to see any projects you have made from my tutorials! Feel free to post them to my Facebook page HERE

 

xoxoxo

Homemade Pretzel Rolls

 

 

 Last nigh I visited my Mom's house to drop off a few things. She had just made a trip to Costco, and on the counter was a big bag full of pretzel rolls. I had never tried them before, and out of curiosity I grabbed one from the bag and tasted it. I was pleasantly surprised at the soft, sweet and salty "pretzel like" flavor they had. I couldn't eat just one, lets leave it at that.

 

I returned home later and told my hubby how tasty they were. Just to prove it to him, I felt inspired to make my own at home. Why not try? I had all the ingredients here, and it would save me a few $ and a painful trip to Costco with two toddlers.

 

I saw this recipe over at Une Bonnie Vie, and decided to try it with a few moderations of my own. I halved the recipe because I didn't need a large amount of rolls, and I read that these are best eaten the same day as they are baked.  I also changed the flour to bread flour instead of all purpose. Bread flour has a higher content of gluten, making for more chewy and softer bread.

Roll Ingredients
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/4 cups warm milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups bread flour (some places have higher humidity, so you will use more flour. I live in a pretty dry place so I used about 4 cups)

Bath ingredients
8 cups of water
1 tablespoon salt
4 tablespoons baking powder

Remember you can double this if you want a larger quantity!

 

 Add your liquids, and salt, sugar, oil and yeast into your mixer. (DO NOT PANIC IF YOU DONT HAVE A MIXER! THIS CAN BE DONE BY HAND JUST AS WELL :)

Now give the ingredients a quick 2 second mix, and cover with a towel and let it sit for 5-7 minutes.
 

Before 

 

After

 

 Now your yeast has had a chance to activate, you can see that it is foamy and bubbly. That means you are doing it right!

 

While mixer is on low, mix in 2 cups of bread flour.

 When the flour is incorporated, change your whisk to your dough hook.

 Now add in 1-2 cups of bread flour, or until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and looses most of its "stickiness". IT IS MUCH BETTER TO ADD LESS DOUGH AND SLOWLY ADD MORE, THAN ADD TOO MUCH AND HAVE DENSE DRY ROLLS.

 

 

 Once dough is mixed, remove your dough hook and cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until double.

 

 

Now you will want to grease your counter top with Crisco. Pour the dough on to the greased counter and with a sharp greased knife, slice it in half.

 

Slice the halves in half, and once again. When I was done, I had 16 little dough nuggets of love :)

 

 

Now you want to take the dough, and form it into  tight ball by working the sides of the dough underneath to the bottom. Don't overwork it to the point where the dough tears on top, just keep tucking the sides underneath and softly form a ball.

Cover them with plastic wrap loosely and let them rest for 15 minutes.

 

 

Meanwhile, head over and preheat your oven to 400 degrees. You also need to prepare the water bath. Grab a large pot and fill it with 8 cups of water. Add 4 tablespoons of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring water to a boil.

 

Slowly uncover your rolls, they should be nice and puffy.

Take 3-4 at a time, and drop them into the boiling water for 1 minute. I flipped mine once during boiling, and then with a slatted spoon, remove them and shake of water quickly. Then place them onto a HEAVILY greased cookie sheet.

 

Quickly sprinkle with kosher salt (not course just regular), and make a quarter inch deep cross slice on the top. This will make the pretty little "x" on the roll as it bakes. You could also do three lines across instead if you want. Both are pretty.

 

 

 
 Place the rolls in the hot oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the pretzels are deep brown and smell delicious!
I think you will be surprised at how much they taste like real pretzels!

 

 This is a really fun recipe to do with your kids, you can have them sprinkle the salt or help you plop them in the hot water bath. They are so yummy and fun for a change up in snack time. Also, they can be made larger so you can use them as a sandwich bun. You can add dried onions, sesame seeds, cheese or even do sweet and add cinnamon and sugar on top. Have fun trying new things!

Death by Chocolate- A beautiful and delicious chocolaty treat

 

 

As promised, here is recipe #3 from my Grandma's party. If you missed recipe #1, sparkle and spiced cider go here,

and #2 salted caramel apple pie go here!.

 

I am excited about this recipe because I made it as Gluten Free option. My mom has celiac disease and I wanted to have a dessert that she could enjoy with the rest of the group.

This can easily be made with regular chocolate cake mix as well.

 

This dessert is super easy, delicious to eat, and beautiful to look at. I am going to teach you a really fun trick so you can fake the "fanciness" of it :)

 

First of all, you will need some milk chocolate chips, and some white chocolate chips.

 

 

Start by adding the milk chocolate into a bowl. I didn't need much for this, just a small handful.

Now let them melt in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Pull them out and stir. It will look like this.

 

 

 

Now pop them back in for another 15 seconds. Stir again. It will look like this.

 

 

Heat them again for another 10 seconds and add about 15 new chocolate chips.

 

 

 Heat again for about 7-10 seconds. Remove and stir and the chocolate should be silky smooth. The key here is that we are doing a quick temper on the chocolate. The lower temp you keep it, the faster it will set up and harden for you and keep its hardened shape. All microwaves are different so sure and not overheat it!

 

 

 You want to be really careful to stir in between heating sessons, or you will seize the chocolate and it will become dry and curtled and unworkable.

 

Next, spread out a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet.

 Take your bowl of chocolate and dip a fork into it. Pull the fork out of the chocolate and with a quick flick of your wrist in a "tic tac toe" shape, create a pretty little messy design on the wax paper.

Be quick going back and forth so the chocolate doesn't come down in clumps. You want it to be in tiny little lines.

 

 

 After you fill the tray, go back to the microwave and do the same thing with the white chocolate. I only had to heat mine (a small handful) for 70 seconds. It melted quicker than the milk chocolate.

 

-

Take it over to your pan and drizzle white chocolate over the dark chocolate you already did. Isnt it so pretty?

 

 

Now pop the pan into the fridge or freezer to help it harden.

 

Next ingredient is the strawberries. I used 1 small carton and sliced them up into small slices.

Whip some heavy whipping cream, and add a little  powdered sugar to sweeten it.

 

Make a large box of chocolate Jell-O pudding. Let it cool and set in the fridge.

 

 The above ingredients are "naturally" gluten free, but this next step is the most important in making this recipe Gluten Free.

The cake. I love Betty Crocker's Gluten Free version of chocolate cake. It is really good and it is one of the only GF items I have found that you seriously cannot tell that it isn't regular cake mix.

  

 I don't worry about serving it to my other guests because they wont even notice a change in taste or texture.

Make the cake mix and bake it in an 8x8 pan.

Once the cake is cooled completely, cut into small cubes and add to a large bowl. I like to make a little assembly line for the next part. Cake cubes first, then pudding, then strawberries, whipped cream and last but not least, your pretty chocolate garnish. You can pre make these ingredients and keep them in the fridge, or you can let your guests assemble them.

 

 

 

 

 

I like to sprinkle a little coco powder on the whipped cream... it looks so pretty :)

 

Now that your garnish has cooled and hardened, it will easily remove from the wax paper and you can set it on the top or side of your whipped cream. I like to do this step at the last minute so that chocolate doesn't soften over time as it sits.

 

Isn't it stunning?

 

This is a GLUTEN FREE recipe but again, can be made with regular chocolate cake. Make sure that whatever recipe or box mix you use, that it is a more dense cake so that the cubes will hold up with the toppings on them.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did! :)

Happy experimenting

xoxox