The other day I was standing in line at the craft store with my goody filled basket and I noticed the lady in line in front of me had nearly the same items in her basket. Casually I asked her what she was going to make and then I was in for a big surprise. She proudly said she was going to attempt her first Christmas wreath, but confessed she had followed me through the store. Creativity was not her strong suit and since I looked like I knew what I was doing she figured she would try her hand at it.
The lady told me how nervous she was about creating a wreath for her front door because this was the first year family and friends would be coming to her home for the holidays. She mentioned that every year Christmas took place at her relatives home and that every year she felt she was walking into a designer home with professional decor. Since everyone had yet to see her new home, she felt obligated to make a good showing.
She didn't have the money to hire a professional and didn't want her Christmas decorations looking like a child had pieced them together. I gave her some words of encouragement. Whatever happens I said she should always remember when it comes to art there are no mistakes. Besides, if it does come out looking childish you can always say that it was kind of the neighbor's kid to make you a wreath this year. We both had a good laugh and I headed out with my purchases.
So what did I do that first caught her interest? Maybe it was the way I was whistling "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" or maybe it was the combination of things I was selecting. I must confess my selections were based on a web video I saw that inspired me to shop in the first place. Thank goodness this shopping spree was wreath-specific. I don't know about you but when I go shopping, especially at the craft store, I start to question my choices and sometimes do the whole shopping experience two or three times. Can you imagine if that lady caught me on one of those days?
So what did I see that first caught my interest? Maybe it was the way the lady in the web video made wreath making look so effortless. This Christmas wreath had something I never seen before. It was full of tropical ferns. The wreath was a balanced mix of different shades of greenery. I thought of the color choices in the web video, and adapted my color choice based on the overall color of the home I was decorating. The home is a pale green so I incorporated a bright red because red is complimentary to green on the color wheel. For contrast I accompanied it with a muted gold. The muted gold was the only accent color since I didn't want it to compete with the "Santa Claus" red I had chosen.
The project was budgeted to be under $75. Hobby Lobby had been advertising weekly in-store specials on Christmas crafts at half price. So instead of worrying about the budget, I just shopped and figured with the money I would save I would clearly meet or beat my target budget.
The store had a good stock of undecorated wreaths. The wreath I picked was not too impressive, but for $7.99 with 50% off I was not going to pass that up. Besides, with the expert advice on the web video this wreath would look like a million bucks. Next to the wreaths were the red bows. I choose to go with the biggest one they had. The next aisle over was Christmas stems and bushes. While scanning through this aisle I found gold berries and a piece of iced fruit with a small pine cone covered in gold glitter. I thought a small pop of glittery gold might be a good accent. The wreath needed a variety of different shades of greenery so I picked a few and went ahead to the floral department. Most of the florals for Christmas were spiked with so much glitter I decided against them, but did decide on a stem with glittered icicles and went with the recommended tropical fern mentioned in the web video. As I was walking down an aisle I noticed the cutest pair of small cardinals. Even though there was no mention of birds I just had to have them. My last stop was the ornament department. There were many to pick from but I found a set of shatterproof gold ones with the words in gold glitter, "Christmas 2010." Perfect! At the checkout I picked up some spray snow thinking it would be the "icing" on the wreath.
I reached my destination and laid out the decorations. Rather than watch the web video again before starting I just went with the flow and put it together and guess what happened? It was perfect, and only $45!
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