DIY Pom Pom Winter Wreath

                                             

What's the first thing you do when your weatherman predicts a polar vertex (I learned that term last night by actually watching the news and not just learning things from Facebook, go me!)? What the crap is a polar vertex you ask?  Well, it's when over night the temperature drops from 40 degrees to ZERO.  That's right, it is currently one degree outside with a wind chill of negative eightybillion.  So what was the first thing I did? Go get provisions, a space heater? Nope, I went to the craft store and loaded up on more projects that I probably won't finish.

First up on my list of what I wanted to do before Christmas was my Pom Pom wreath.  I saw that one at Anthropologie and fell. in. love.  Then cried silently to myself when I saw the price tag and like a million others, decided I could DIY this.

Seriously, I spent $7 on yarn, but if you have a bunch in your craft hoard closet, then you could essentially make this for free.  I didn't even buy a round wire wreath maker (that is not their technical term, I totally made it up), I just used some wire that the hubs brought in from the freezing garage (that's what husbands are for you know) and formed it into a circle.  If you make it yourself, definitely make two circles and then add bits of wire between them to stabilize the wreath.

All the supplies you need are:

*yarn (I used two packs (?) of white)
*wire wreath
*scissors
*a piece of cardboard
*a good movie (or the Best of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon)

Cut your piece of cardboard into about a three inch long rectangle.  Or whatever size you want to make your pom poms.  I wanted fairly big because I've made pom poms before.  They can be a pain in your rear end and your hand goes numb from cutting.  Back to the wreath....

Wrap your yarn around the cardboard about 40-60 times.  The more you wrap, the fuller the pom-pom.

Wrap your hand around the middle of one side and slide the cardboard out, keeping ahold of the middle of the yarn.  Wrap a single strand of yarn around the entire middle of the pom pom and tie it into a double knot.  Make sure your string is long enough that you will be able to use it to tie to the wreath.  This will leave you with loops on each side.  Cut through the loops carefully without pulling the yarn (or it will just slide out).  This will leave you with a straggly looking pom pom.  Here's where your thumb gets a huge blister like mine.  Trim your yarn ball into a ball shape.  I suggest making a practice one before you begin.  It took me a little bit to get the hang of making it look like a ball shaped pom pom.

You will get completely covered in yarn trimmings if you do this anywhere other than a table, but Jimmy Fallon is a pretty funny guy so I just plan on vacuuming and washing the blanket I put on my lap so I thought it was worth it to sit my butt on the couch and make this.

Tie your pom poms onto your wreath and pat yourself on the back, you just outsmarted Anthropologie (which really isn't hard, who actually buys that stuff??).  Hang on your door and ta-da, a wreath that is perfect for winter time.  It reminds me of snow balls.  And don't worry, I did buy milk and bread like the rest of the area, so we are fully prepared to not leave the house until this polar vertex is gone.

What do you do when you can't leave the house lest you want to get frost bite and your nose fall off?

xo and stay warm!
Stacie

A Console table even yo' momma would be proud of

Our living room is super odd shape, like there are some stairs just chilling, in the living room, sometimes they watch cartoons with us.  Decorating, and more importantly, furniture arrangement has been tough.  So much so, that we just didn't do it.  Don't get me wrong, we had some style in that room, but nothing like you see in a magazine (you know the ones, you sit there and drool over them and pin them and then pretend you can afford them).  Slowly, veeeerrrryyy slowly, we are upgrading the living room to be more of a family room.  

One new addition that we've put in is a new console table.  Most of these console tables will go behind your average couch, ours? Nope, it is chilling in front of those stairs that enjoy episodes of New Girl with me.  We needed something that would hold our DVD player and cable box and router and what not.  However, we couldn't have your average tv stand/media center due to the big hulking stairs and little ones whose goal in life is to scare the crap out of their parents.  Plus, nice tall tv stands were over $150 and well, that darn poor thing just keeps getting in our way.  

So finally, finally, I convinced the hubby to build me a tall table.  Ok, truthfully, I really wanted an old dresser there but the hubs doesn't care for that kind of style and this is what we compromised on (alright, I caved once he said, I'll build it myself, nothing is sexier than a man building you something).  

I just want to warn you, this sucker is built entirely out of 2x4's!! That's right, 2x4s!!! say whhaaaa?? 

Folks, this table is NICE.  I was playing researching on Craigslist and a very similar table was for sale for almost $200! This one cost us maybe $40 to make but we also had all the wood already.   We followed Ana White's tutorial a little but kudos to the hubs because he pretty much just looked at her design and went to town.  But then, again he is a carpenter for a living so he's got an eye for this stuff (but it also means he doesn't really want to come home and build things either, sad face for me).  Expect a tutorial on how he did this easy peasy in the coming days.  

You can see some of our Halloween decorations have already made the table.  I still need to find baskets to put on that shelf but can't decide on the look I want yet.  I am so excited to start decorating this for holidays (and don't you worry, Target is already getting rid of Halloween and putting out Christmas) and hang our stockings from it and love on it and give it a name and...... you get the point.  I love our new table, and the fact that the hubs hand built it, just means it's loved that much more.

the whole family got in on this thing! Sanding machine she was!

Hope you all have a great fall weekend! Go pick some apples or pumpkins! We are headed up north for that wedding I was telling you about here, and we are mighty excited for some family time!

What are your favorite baskets to decorate with, and where do you find them?

Enjoy~
xo Stacie