Getting Crafty - Burlap Wreath and Drop Cloth Curtains

My daughter, Leah, has inspired me to get back to DIY projects and crafts. She recently made a burlap wreath and gave me a one-on-one lesson as to how it's done. I also watched a few tutorials on Pinterest which were a big help. I ended up using twice as much burlap (2 full rolls - 20 yards!) as Leah did, but I wanted a thicker appearance. It is easy to do, requiring only a little time, burlap, accent ribbon, and a wire frame. It makes a large wreath which is perfect for a big front door, or you can scale it down if your door is smaller. 

Here is a simple tutorial you can look at to see how its done, and there are many others on Pinterest:

 burlap wreath 

I took a few pictures of mine as I worked on it one day at our cabin and believe me, it isn't something you can easily mess up. Just make your loops look pretty uniform, scrunching them together as you go, and before you know it, you are done! (I made a different bow after these pictures)

Here is another fun wreath I found on Pinterest that I might have to try next, along with some really pretty burlap flowers I would like to make.

And hey, since it's Fall, look at this great idea for embellishing plain pillar candles...anything with cinnamon smell is fabulous to me!

My other project was making drop cloth curtains for our new screened porch. The morning sun is pretty intense shining in, and curtains would filter that, and give us some privacy on both sides of our house. Again, my daughter, Leah had made some for her family room, so I followed her lead. I simply headed out to Lowes (or Home Depot), purchased my drop cloths, broke out my sewing machine (which I hadn't used in about 9 years), and got started. I pre-washed the cloths, laid each panel out on the family room floor to measure, cut and pin, then stitched the hem, ironed them, and hung them up. We found the perfect rods at Lowes that had the clips on rollers in a built-in groove, so they slide open and closed very easily.

There you go! Don't expect them to be perfect...after all they are drop cloths and the edges won't always be straight, but they are very natural, fairly inexpensive, washable and easy. Let me know if you have any questions or have made either of these projects yourself!