Five Things Thursday: A Shiny Redneck Wreath

Good Morning! Today I’m linking up with Mandy of Biblical Homemaking who is hosting the “wreath” theme of our Christmas linky party:

(You can grab a button from my sidebar if you want to join in the fun or tell others about it too! I won’t object a bit! : ))

I warned told you on Tuesday, when I showed you how I made a Christmas card out of cardstock, duct tape, and other crafty odds and ends, that, if all went as planned, you’d be seeing more of the magical invention that is colored duct tape.

Well, I’m a woman of my word (or at least I try to be), and today, I am here to show you my:

Shiny Christmas Wreath

I received several comments on Facebook about the rather stereotypically East Texan nature of my choice of crafting materials for my Christmas card—i.e. duct tape—and I had to chuckle since the thought had never occurred to me. I’m embracing it, though, and I am going on record to claim that is this will be the purdiest redneck Christmas wreath you’ve ever clapped eyes on. Yes sirreeee, Bob!

Actually, I must credit the inspiration for the idea to my engineer brother.

When we were on the phone the other day, I said, “I need ideas for something totally unexpected to make a Christmas wreath out of.”

He said, “Barbed wire.”

I said, “Hmmm…yes, definitely unexpected, but I probably shouldn’t go with anything that conjures up images of death.”

He said, “Good point. How about electrical tape?”

I said, “DUCT TAPE!!!!”

And that was that.

Wanna see what I came up with?

Was that what you were expecting when you thought: “Duct tape wreath?”

Because it wasn’t what I was expecting.

But I’m pretty happy with how Emmy-Sue (what? I’m trying to keep with the theme) turned out.

Here she is all strung up on an impromptu Christmas vignette that I threw together on top of Collette, the fabric dresser (do you think they have support groups for people who compulsively name inanimate objects? Because I think I need an intervention).

And since this is 5 Things Thursday, let me show you five things I did to make good ol’ ES.

1. I made a wreath form. You may be thinking, “Okay, Abbie, I can see in the picture right below this sentence that you already have a wreath form. What do you mean, ‘Made one?’”

Well, I’d never made a duct tape wreath before, and I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good Styrofoam wreath form on something I might not like (those things are expensive, y’all!), so I traced around the Styrofoam form, did a little cutting and came up with this

Cardboard AND duct tape?? This really IS a wreath! : )

2. I made (lots and lots of) duct tape “scales” so that I could add textural interest to the wreath form itself.

Basically, I placed this piece in the middle of the cardboard circle wreath form, and then, working clockwise, made a pattern of two side-by-side pieces and then one middle piece over and over until the the cardboard was no longer visible.

You can see what I mean really well here:

While I did that, the boys did this with leftover painter’s tape and some scrap cardboard:

These pictures exemplify the boys’ personalities so well. Simon (who is dutifully grimacing, even though I said, “Smile!”) is carefully covering every inch of his cardboard circle in tape because he clearly has a “plan,” while Ez (who is dutifully smiling because firstborns obey to the letter) is haphazardly slapping pieces onto a dilapidated cardboard box and telling me that he’s getting it ready to send to Operation Christmas Child. I think I may have a future engineer and a future writer on my hands.

3. I made two kinds of duct tape flowers—

• The rosette:

• 
• 

Did you get that?

Cut a strip of duct tape in half, fold the strip by a third, leaving a good portion of the sticky part exposed, fold a corner down, and start rolling, making sure to add little “pinches” into the tape so you don’t end up with a tight little cylinder.

• Creased Petal Flower:

How about that one? Did you get it?

Fold a strip of duct tape in half, sticky sides together, and cut two sizes of heart-shaped petals (small and medium). Make a crease down the middle of each petal, secure it with a dab of hot glue, then cut a small circle to glue the petals to (bigger ones go on the bottom, smaller on the top).

This process is almost identical to the one I used to make my Emersonmade Starched Fabric Flower Clone, except that hot glue is substituted for needle and thread.

Here she is, looking pretty good but definitely lacking something.

And now with a vintage button glued to the center. Aaaaah…muuuuch BETTER!

4. I added a pretty glitter ornament from the dollar store.

…and a few decorative green “table sprinkles” (plastic diamond-shaped sparkly bits).

5. Finally, I added a wisp of white tulle as the hanger.

How about one more look?

So, have I convinced you yet? Colored duct, right?. Who knew? (Apparently lots of folks, actually, since they were practically sold out when I tried to find the colors I wanted at Michael’s).

Don’t forget to check out our big wreath linky over at Mandy’s place!

Places I like to link up:

_{Christmas – My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia ~ Southern Hospitality ~ Ten June ~ A Thoughtful Place}

_{Monday ~ The DIY Showoff Project Parade ~ Made by You Mondays ~ Embellishing Life Everyday ~ Just Something I whipped up Monday ~ The CSI project ~ Menu Plan Monday ~ C.R.A.F.T. ~ The Southern Institute ~ Making the World Cuter ~ Thrify Décor Chick ~ Metamorphosis Monday ~ Sumo Sweet Stuff ~ Gunny Sack ~ Singing Three Little Birds ~DIY Homes Sweet Home ~ Dittle Dattle ~ 1929 Charmer ~ Everything Under the Moon ~ ModMix Monday ~ Sew Stylish ~ Coastal Charm ~ Under the Table and Dreaming}

_{Tuesday ~} Sew Crafty Tuesday _{Get Your Craft ~ Tip Junkie ~ Blackberry Vine ~ Crafty Confessions ~ Me & my Boys ~ A Bowl Full of Lemons ~ Home Stories A-Z ~ My Uncommon Slice of Suberbia ~ Carolyn’s Homework ~ Sugar Bee Crafts ~ House of Grace ~ Passionately Artisitc ~ My World Made by Hand ~ Uncommon Designs ~ Trendy Treehouse}

_{Wednesday ~ Blue Cricket Design ~ Somedays Crafts ~ Sew Much Ado ~ Sew Woodsy ~ Handy Man, Crafty Woman ~ Savvy Southern Style ~ {Primp} ~ Midweek Fiesta ~ Rae Gun Ramblings ~ Polkadots On Parade ~ Lollipop Cards ~ JAQS Studio ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ Let Birdz Fly ~ My Girlish Whims}

_{Thursday ~ Transformation Thursdays ~ Somewhat simple ~ Show off your stuff ~ House of Hepworths ~ Delightful Order ~ My Simple Home Life ~ The Frugal Girls ~ Thrifty Thursday ~ DIY Diva Thursday ~ Tablescape Thursday ~ No Minimalists Here ~ Crafty, Scrappy, Happy ~ Thrifty Decorating ~ Between U and Me ~ 36th Avenue}

_{Friday ~ The Shabby nest ~ Show and Tell Friday ~ Finding Fabulous ~ I’m Loving it ~ Simply Sweet Home ~ Whipper Berry ~ Chic on a Shoestring decorating ~ Spunky Junky ~ Delicate Construction ~ Homemaker in Heels ~ Family Ever After~ French Country Cottage ~ Common Ground ~ Young And Crafty ~ At the Picket Fence ~ Fingerprints on the Fridge ~ Miss Mustard Seed ~ Addicted to Decorating ~Bacon Time with The Hungry Hypo ~ Making Lemonade ~ I Can’t Stop Crafting ~ Over the Big Moon ~ Shabby Art ~ Answer is Chocolate}

_{Saturday ~ I heart nap time- Sundae Scoop ~ Tatertots and Jello ~ Be different Act Normal ~ Funky Junk ~ 2805 ~ Making Lemonade Blog ~I am Along for the Ride ~ Lolly Jane}

_{Sundays ~ Homemaker on a Dime ~ Sunday’s Best}