war eagle wreath made with mesh ribbon

I have been amazed at how many people have re-pinned my wreath on Pinterest. Everyone has asked me, "did you get your idea from Pinterest?"  No, I didn't.  I was in Fairhope, AL and I was walking around the shops (a couple of years ago) and this mesh ribbon was brand new. (quick note -- sorry for my jumping train of thought -- if you have never been to Fairhope, AL . . .you need to go.  There are all sorts of wonderful little shops and some good restaurants.)  When I was there,  all of the shops were decorated with the mesh ribbon and I fell in LOVE with it.  So I bought some brown and some gold (pretty much the only colors they had left - everything else was sold out!!) and I used it last year for Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations. (you can see my decorations here - http://lisa-musingsofamiddle-agedmom.blogspot.com/2012/01/christmas-decorations-2011.html)  I knew that I wanted to make a wreath with mesh ribbon so I started googling for directions.  I found several sites with directions and thought I would share my own.

I purchased my supplies at Hobby Lobby and the beauty was the fact that I had a GIFT CARD!!  My friends in the office all went together and bought a gift card for me for my birthday (back in JUNE!).  They know me well and they know how much I like to craft and sew.  I bought a roll each of orange and blue - War Eagle - Auburn colors.  I love working on my kitchen table - best place in the world to work!!

As you can see, I have $25 worth of supplies (not counting the wire used in wrapping the ribbon).  Each roll of Deco Mesh Ribbon was $9.99 and the large wreath was $4.99.  If you had a 40% off coupon, you could save some dollars.  If you are in Hobby Lobby and don't have a coupon, look up their website on your phone while you are waiting in line.  If there is a coupon available, they will scan it from your phone!!  While I was in Hobby Lobby, I also bought red and green and plan to make another wreath for Christmas.  I don't know if I will use it on the front door or on the mantel perhaps????

 

The directions are quite simple.  Simply take some craft wire and grab and handful of blue and orange together and wire it to the frame.  Then there are the little braces - see above - right above the price tag and right below the blue.  At every brace and also in the middle between the braces, bunch up some of the mesh ribbon into your hand and wire it to the form.  I thought that surely all the other folks were wrong.  Surely, I just needed to do it on the crossbar braces - not in between, too.  WRONG!!  All those other people were right!!  The wreath is not full enough if you try to skimp.

I love the way it turned out.  Our house is up on a hill and you can see the wreath really well from the street.  I've seen other wreaths where they wind other types of ribbon around and put big wooden letters in the middle.  Those are nice but for some reason, I wanted simple!!

This picture didn't load the first time - here is the wreath in progress.  Oh - one thing I forgot to tell you.  I twisted the mesh ribbon as I went along so that the orange and blue would be dispersed throughout -- otherwise, it would be all orange on the top and all blue on the bottom.  Make sense?

 

It took me a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon to make the wreath and it was a great way to spend my time.  I'm very happy with my creation!!  Our football team is not playing very well this year but I can still say,

"Waaaaaar Eagle!!!"