Crud in My Craft Room Challenge: July 4th Wreath With Garden Faucet Handle

I haven’t had time to do a “Crud in My Craft Room Challenge” for awhile and I have missed the thrill. The desperate foraging through my scrap fabric, cursing my luck when I discover that I am just a few inches short of the ribbon I need, and trying to find alternatives to making a trip to the craft store. Call it crazy, call it sustainable crafting, but I love it.

I really wanted to do a July 4th wreath, so I pulled out everything in my craft room that was red, white, or blue. I used my Every Holiday Burlap Wreath as my base. That thing has saved me so much money. So far I have decorated it for Christmas, Valentines, Fall, and Halloween, and it hasn’t cost me a single penny!

My biggest challenge with the wreaths is that I need to scrounge up enough stuff to use for not just one wreath, but two. I also have to make sure they look good side by side because I have a double door.

On this wreath I actually went through a couple of iterations that I was just not happy with. Luckily I was able to use the bows I made to decorate other stuff in the house.

My first iteration was cute, but I didn’t love it. The wreaths also looked a little naked and the bow didn’t really go with burlap.

So I took the bows and stuck them elsewhere.

I also tried a raffia bow, but just wasn’t feeling it. Luckily it looks cute on a Mason jar!

That is when I remembered that I had a bunch of garden faucet handles that were blue. Perfect! I bought them off eBay years ago.

To get it to stay on, I wrapped some raffia around the inside and then used the loose ends to tie it to the bow.

I used my handy, dandy, Bowdabra to make the raffia bow. I always feel so 80’s when I use it (maybe it is the fabulous photos of swags they have in the directions). But I am lousy at making bows without it. Blame it on my crummy fine motor skills.

I bought the stars a couple of years ago at Cedar Depot Antiques in Cedar City, Utah. They are at 200 N Main in the old train depot. The stars have long nails on the other side that I was just able to stick into the straw wreath. Whenever I go to this store I always stock up on metal hardware. They have some of the best hooks and things I have ever seen at amazing prices. They also have some great antique furniture. I love this place!

Can you tell I just had my doors repainted? I love the red!

One of the things I like best about forcing myself to only use things I already have at home is that I come up with things I would have never thought of otherwise. And I am totally in love with the garden faucet handle bow I made. I love that they look like stars for July 4th, but that they also make me think of summer days spent in the backyard. And I ended up making enough other stuff, that I decorated the rest of my house!