Image – Notefull Living

Picking a Puppy

notefull living Blog

It’s happened! We officially own a puppy. If you follow me on Instagram you will have seen her in my stories.

My husband and I have wanted a dog for many years. We thought about having one before we had kids and then decided against it. We had a cat before kids and she just attacked all our company. So once we got pregnant we had to re-home her.

Here’s our experience of Picking a Puppy.

1: Research

I can’t stress this enough. We spent close to a year spending time researching different breeds and watching lots of videos of dog trainers and their advice online about picking a puppy and what to expect.

I grew up with a dog, where my husband didn’t. So I have some experience with having a dog. Difference is, I grew up in the country. Living in town with a dog is a bit different.

We chatted with lots of friends who had dogs and chatted with lots of dog owners in our neighborhood or whenever it was possible in public. Most dog owners love chatting about their dogs.

Don’t buy a dog on a whim, take your time.

2: Preparing the Family

We have 3 kids, ages 7, 4 and 20 months. Something my husband and I do as parents when we are introducing something new to our kids is talk about it a lot. Give lots of info about whatever adventure we plan to go on and the expectations when we are there.

60BF3F2E-C36D-4EC8-BE11-84FC4B6BC1E1 We let our kids know a year ahead of time this was going to happen. My husband and I had agreed 2020 was the year to get a dog.

Our kids aren’t exactly used to pets as they aren’t around them a lot. Plus most of our friends over the years didn’t have any pets.

We got them around dogs a LOT. The more comfortable they got around them we started searching for a local breeder.

3: Finding a Breeder

This part was interesting. We were given lots of suggestions of places where people bought their dogs. Most them were out of town. These were dogs that we met and loved their temperament. The other thing we noticed…$$$ very expensive.

We did find a breeder in our neighborhood, again her price was more then we wanted to spend. My husband and I agreed we would feel more comfortable with getting a mixed breed and if possible from someone we knew.

We happened to go hiking with a friend and her dog was along. Remember I talked about introducing our kids to lots of dogs. With my friends dog our kids were super calm and not scared around. It just so happened her dog had a litter that next week.

The mom is a Shepherd/Lab.

4: Picking a Puppy

For us lots needed to happen before we even got to pick the puppy. Which means we are near the end of our journey of picking one and bringing one home.

We are an active family, we get out whenever we can. The yearly planning I talked about in my last blog post about scheduling plays into that. We knew we wanted a puppy that would be both calm and well mannered yet want to keep up with our busy family.

One of the best advice we got was to get out and meet the litter and just see them first. Plus, we got to meet each puppy one on one and that helped us narrow it down. Our boys each had a favorite which made the process a bit interesting. Thankful our boys are maturing and we were able to talk them through it.

We happened to find the runt of the litter, she was calm, listened super well and was well tempered. Plus her markings were super adorable, that made picking her extra helpful.

5: Picking a Name

Since we had talked about getting a puppy for so long we had a running list of boy and girls names going. One of our names was “techie”, picked out by the boys.

We ended up going off popular dog name websites and just running down the list of names.

The name we picked is “Kona”. This way the family she was with could start calling her by her name.

6: Taking her Home:

Kona has been with us for a few days now. It’s been a bit of an adjustment, mostly for the kids.

Night time has been challenging as most people warned us and we read up about that fact. Our oldest admitted putting his pillow over his head the first night.

It’s a learning curve for everyone. I’m liking watching our kids adjust to her and play with her.

A tired dog is a good dog. Here’s she’s chilling on the DIY Dog Bed I made for her. The boys sure have fun taking her outside and playing in the backyard with her. Right now we have snow, makes for it being extra fun.

We can’t wait for summer when we go camping and most of the “puppy” stage will be passed and she will be we will all be well adjusted to each other.

Hope sharing our experience was helpful. Do you have a dog?

Are you planning on getting one?

If you came just for the puppy spam, your welcome.

Schedules, and staying Organized

how to schdeule (1) Living a scheduled life is something I’ve learned the hard way is something we can all improve on and be better at.

I’ve always considered myself an organized person. Along comes our 3 kids and technology explosion and I was pulling my hair out. I wasn’t as organized as I thought I was. I was missing IMPORTANT doctor appointments and missing key scheduled things in our kids life and so forth.

I looked back and had to ask myself where am I going wrong. Why am I messing up so bad, what was working and what wasn’t?

I’ve written some basic tips that helped me, bonus I added a DIY!

There’s a TON of organization gurus out there. They offer great advice. Yet, we are all made differently and have to figure out what works best for us.

I tried for over a year to keep up with switching to the free google calendar. It’s free right, boy was a wrong. I guess the writer in me needs to write it down. I had a bit of a meltdown last year realizing my loath for technology wasn’t helping trying to stay organized using something online.

1: Get a GOOD planner:

After posting a desperate outcry to friends on Facebook I was reminded of my other writing friends to use a teacher planner.

I got one and it’s made a big difference.

Having this cute spot in our kitchen with the writing desk makes it easy to layout. The planner fits so perfectly. As much as I love beautiful detailed planners and paper products, I got mine from staples and it’s made by Emily Ley

My Husbands work uses the Google Calender so I still sometimes add things or he adds them. It’s still kinda used, I’m still trying to adapt. But for my sanity I went back to a paper planner.

2: DIY a Picture frame for Days of the Week:

Ready for an upcycle and a DIY? I love a good repurpose project that’s fast and easy.

I originally made this for meal planning. The paper planner I bought already has a slot for meal planning. This DIY became a “week at a glance” for the whole family and it’s been hugely helpful.

What you need:

Paper (larger needed if you have a bigger frame)
Permanent Marker
Ruler
Picture Frame
Paint

Paint the frame with 2 coats. Let it fully dry. Measure out your day slots and an extra space to write the month on top. Use your marker to mark out your lines. Then put the frame back together. Hang and use dry erase markers and your done!

I use different color dry erase for different members of the family. Or different events we have going on. I update this every Saturday night.

I have it hanging in a central part of our home so we see it everyday.

3: Use a 12 month Calendar

I got this idea from Jordan Page at Fun Cheap or Free. She uses google calendar, however I’ve already established that doesn’t work for me. Since I’m a visual person, we opted to buy a bigger white erase 12 month calendar. We hung it up in our bedroom.

This huge visual aid has all our core things that need to be on here. All my husbands work schedule, on call and paydays. Our holidays are on this calendar and most importantly birthdays. Kids school breaks and so forth. I think you get the drift.

We seem to get caught off guard when birthdays come around or holidays sneak up and we didn’t budget. Sharing that to let you know we aren’t perfect.

Having a visual aid like this is already helping us budget and plan better. Now we can plan those “last minute” camping trips or what weekends are best to hammer out a much needed reno.

Here’s to a better planned, scheduled and organized 2020.

Hope these tips are helpful, they are for our family.

What are things you do to keep organized?

Christmas Time Preparations

Here’s our family Christmas Preparations.

Christmas Preperations It’s been a little quiet around here on my blog, at home not so much. I think we are finally passed all the big school concerts and church events. I had to keep my blog in hobby mode and take a brief pause with all the fullness since my last blog post.

If you follow me on Instagram I shared a few updates along the way.

December is pretty much 1/2 over now. For some reason the last couple of years since my son started school and a third little bundle of joy came into our family I’m actually not overly enjoying how overwhelming this time of the year is.

I’m becoming more into the idea to keep Christmas Decorations more simple.

Each year the tree goes up later and I try to make a conscious effort to get SOME decorations up sometime before December, as my kids are begging me too.

We LOVE a REAL Christmas Tree in our house.

We are blessed to live in the Fraser Valley and there’s lots of Christmas tree farms. We finally found a good local one.

However with my husbands work schedule we stood in the dark field with 3 other families holding our cellphones up with the flashlight to cut one down this year.

We actually had to “schedule” the tree cutting or it would never have made it up this year. _A real Christmas tree is worth all the love and attention it needs_

I absolutely LOVE this tree base that was passed along to us from my husbands parents. It’s so festive and crazy heavy (FYI). We went to the “Olde Farmhouse Market” recently and I was reminded of the old metal tree stands, now they are plastic. I don’t think this cast iron one is going anywhere anytime soon.

Never too late to DIY some Christmas Decor.

Remember the DIY Christmas book wreath?

I’ve been waiting to make one, just never have the time.

My son is helping me make this one. I really doesn’t bother me if this isn’t the pinterest craze anymore. This is my 4th one to make, the other ones I gifted them away.

I’m looking forward to having something music related this time. I was singing the hymns as I recognized them and shared with my son how much things have changed with church music. Yes, I’m old enough to say I sung from the hymnals as a kid.

What about the Presents? Can’t forget about those right?

Just like the decor we have learned to keep that simple too. There once was a baby a long time ago that got 3 gifts, seems like enough for us too. Our kids know the story and so far don’t seem too upset if they didn’t got more.

We are still making time for Homemade Christmas Gifts!

I’m excited to see this rocking horse completed that my husband is making.

When our oldest was 3, we were super tight for gifts and money in general. My husband scraped together a wooden airplane. It’s been probably the MOST played with airplane in the house that’s had many repairs and is now resting with the other “need to be repaired” toys.

Homemade gifts once was all we could give.

Now, it’s something we know will be loved and appreciated.

We are on the home stretch for 2019. Also only 4 more car rides for school drop off and pick up (not that I’m counting). Best of all time with family just around the corner. I’m ready to have everyone home for a while.

We usually break out a puzzle, lots of game and family movie nights. I have Christmas baking I’m supposed to do and the kids will decorate the cookies. These are the years we can’t get back and spending time now while they are small and soaking it all up is worth all the effort that goes into December.

I know this time of the year isn’t easy for everyone and just like us there’s someone missing. Love it if this little ones big sister was in this picture with her. She’s in our hearts. I’ve learned it’s better to choose joy then let the heartbreak weigh me down. We’ve learned to know who our community is and find ways to make new memories.

How about you?

What are things you do for Christmas?

Comment Below, Love to hear from you!

Reflections of 2018

Reflections of 2018 Is it here? The end of a year? 2018!

Next post will be in 2019!!

Many good things and difficult things have happened in 2018.

Life Storms

What a way to end 2018 in the Fraser Valley/Vancouver here in Canada we had a massive wind storm. The Pier that my husband proposed at got trashed by boats, someone had to get rescued by helicopter.

Some life storms we faced this year to do with a job change, 5 weeks early preemie baby and loss of a family member to name a few things.

Despite life storms I’ve worked more consistently at blogging. Switching to a better platform has made a big difference. I’m enjoying the journey, which it definitely is.

If I could speak openly, I’ve never thought much about venturing online and being more public and vulnerable with writing a blog. I’ll share more about that in the new year.

Best of 2018 for Notefull Living?

A big THANK YOU to everyone who is following, reading, commenting and subscribing.

If your new hear I would love to have you Subscribe!

You can also follow me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Blessings to you in 2019!

Christmas at my house

Christmas of 2018 is here!

It actually just arrived a week ago. 2018 in general has been a full year for us. December was quite a ride, full of fun, but a ride and I was trying to keep up. Still am, truthfully.

Tomorrow I get to do a “Christmas at my house” presentation with my son in his classroom. So, keeping in step with that same idea I’m just going to share on here the same thing.

Here’s the deal, I have a huge appreciation for Home Decorating and by no means am I an interior decorator. Do I binge watch on YouTube and Instagram at the beautifully decorated homes, yup.

Enough of that. Here’s our home. I usually decorate more in my home. Christmas is just sticking to the living room.

IMG_9881 (2)

I’m excited for the 6 stockings. We are a family of 5, now with our little girl. A student staying with us for Christmas makes 6. Each stocking is marked by a special ornament to represent a member of the family. No – I didn’t make the stockings. I’ve been asked several times. I would like to make them in the future, once these give up.

Our mantel normally has a garland on it. With our kitchen shelf not up, the boys wanted the train out, so the mantel is full of extra fun Christmas trinkets.

IMG_9882 (2)

OK, there is a touch of homemade on here. I made my ornament one year, with the intention to finish the other ones for the family. I think I’m missing letters for everyone else. Isn’t the stocking cute? I was happy to find these for my husband and I to hang.

IMG_9880 (2)

On the side of our fireplace sits the favorite spot for everyone in the house. Our big black leather chair. We moved our wooden box for the tree to fit. I won this table runner at a market several years ago and love pulling it out every year. Yes, Style at Home magazine tends to reside here and I flip through it often.

IMG_9887 (2)

On the other side of the room I switched up by pillow covers for my DIY pillow cover made from a sweater. Above that our kids make big glittery snowflakes with their Oma this year to hang in the opening.

IMG_9892 (2)

Had to add the piano in here of course. This was the first to get decorated. I’m thankful my flute isn’t used as a weapon anymore and actually fits there with the music books so I can still play Christmas chorals (when I can).

IMG_9891 (2)

A sneak peak at the Christmas Tree. Had to share this lovely little country girl. The only ornament from my childhood tree as a kid. My initials are penned on the bottom of her shoe. Along with my new favorite Music garland.

IMG_9898 (2)

Here’s another snapshot of the ornaments on the tree. It’s real, every year we have a real tree. Yes, needles are everywhere, It’s hard to get the garland to fit just right and ornaments are hard to hang. BUT, we LOVE having a real tree. It’s great fun taking the kids to a local tree farm and cut one down.

IMG_9893 (2).jpg

There it is. Our real family inspired Christmas tree. Can you tell where the kids decorated? I keep finding ornaments all over our house from our 3 year old. Or find them moved all to one branch. Either way they are loving having Christmas set up.

December 2018

Is 2018 really almost done? I’m ready for 2019. How about you? I’m looking forward to sharing more with you in the new year.

If you haven’t already done so, Subscribe.

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Stay at Home Mom

This has been a childhood dream of mine. I wasn’t always a stay at home mom. If your thinking about making the change to do be one, I hope reading my story helps with that decision.

Here’s how I became a stay at home mom.

A dream is a dream, it’s healthy to dream. Dreams do come true, for me it came in the least way I expected.

I actually went back to work after my maternity leave for a complete year (in Canada). My job before my maternity leave was only contract, so I had no job to go back too. I ended maternity leave on a job hunt and thankfully got one. I worked for full year with having our son in childcare.

Here’s what happened next:

Sometimes life circumstances pushes you in a different direction, in the least way you expect.

I kept hearing over and over from family and friends, “you need to work to get that second mat leave”. Peer pressure, lots of it.

Long story short: We wanted to grow our family, we did get pregnant AND then we lost the baby at 17 weeks.

After many long months of grieving and attempting going back to work. We made the decision for me to stay home. Since growing a family was important to us, I obviously needed to stay home. My first pregnancy ended with a difficulty in regards to my health.

Life as a Stay at Home Mom, meant a BIG lifestyle change.

It’s a massive adjustment. We did learn I wasn’t really making any money with working and having a child in daycare. We would actually be losing money with 2 in daycare. Good thing on maternity leave I already was doing whatever I could to learn a more frugal lifestyle.

My miscarriage left me in a dark place and it wasn’t how I imagined being a stay at home mom.

Not to get all “listen to my sob story”. But this is a part of my story. It took moving out of our townhouse to a new home to really give a new and fresh perspective for our family, lifestyle and me being home. IMG_4269 - Copy

Being a “Homemaker” isn’t all, home baking and made from scratch, all the time. You can give yourself some grace when something is store bought. Or if you need a day to just REST, it’s OK.

When I mentioned it’s a big lifestyle change. I truly meant it. A big reason you resort to learning how to make things on your own, well it’s a whole lot stinking cheaper. Learning how to make a lot of my own stuff, lead me to reading blogs and watching lots of YouTube videos. I’ve been reading blogs for so long, I feel more confident than ever to be able to share my tips and experiences on here.

I’ve never learned to be more frugal. I thought my childhood growing up was frugal living.

What does my typical day look like?

39973006_425586547964896_1666949040337584128_n We now have 3 kids. Thankfully our oldest son is mostly independent, I love watching him learn. Still teaching our second son to potty train (its rough) and our little girl, just loves to give lots of smiles and is super easy going.

Some days I can make the yummy drop cheese biscuits (pictured above) to go with Sunday soup. Other days I grab a bag of cheese buns when I go grocery shopping.

If there was one thing I recommend if you are home like I am. Invest in a Kitchen Aid. I would NOT bake as much as I do if I didn’t have this on my counter. When I’m in a good mood, and want to bake, I run this thing a few times a week.

**Here’s my affiliate link for a Kitchen Aid.

Can I Bake, Cook, Clean, Sew, Mend Clothes, Cloth Diaper, Cut Hair and Have time for myself. Yes, but not all at the same time. I definitely do my best to do all those things but in the end give myself space to take some time “off”.

Being a mom there is no “Part Time or Full Time”, your a Mom “ALL the time”, in a good way.

Allow yourself a break. Even if that means when your husband walks in the door and you hand him the kid that’s been crying all day and walk out. You need to get away from the kids after a long day. I’ve done it, it happened one time that I had to GET AWAY. I’ve learned now how to decompress during the day. Remember when I said it being a big lifestyle change?

It does help that our oldest is starting to shift into helping more around the house. Yes, my husband is a HUGE help too.

Life is sure changing though since I first became a mom. Life with 2 boys is busy. Now there’s a lovely little girl in my life.

I’m not a perfect parent. I have friends and family that are parents that I look up to, they think I’m crazy when I tell them that. I’m always learning how to do things to make home life easier or flow better. There is lots of great advice and NOT great advice out there, be mindful of that. You just gotta figure out what works for you and your family as a mom.

What’s it been like for you? I grew up with a stay at home mom and it’s such a different world we live in today compared to what my mom grew up with and what my parents had when they raised me. We can always learn something from sharing our stories.

Now I’m making the transition to being a “work at home mom”.

Let me know if there is a topic you want me to cover?

If you made it to the end, Thanks for reading!

If you enjoyed reading this, love to have you SUBSCRIBE.

Follow me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter

** I’ll be adding products to recommend from Amazon. This helps with everyday living. What could you do with a little extra money?

I’ll also be adding pictures with Arbonne in use in my home. Pictured above is the Shea Butter Duo by my Kitchen Aid.

I have a public Arbonne Facebook page that your welcome to join to find everyday living tips and product offers there, send me a message if your interested.

You can also find my direct website link here.

10 Wedding Tips

I promise the nursery blog post is coming. I’m learning September and “getting back into routine” is a bigger task then I thought.

Until then I’ll share a family post with why September is more special around our home. Wedding Sept 12 359

It’s been 10 years since my husband and I got married. September 2018 has been a wedding month for us, this month is almost over. We have been talking about our dreams and goals that we are currently living.

YES, Dreams do come true.

We even watched our reception video (lots of fast forwarding), made a favorite meal, read our wedding bible verse and discussed our next dreams and goals for what’s ahead.

But, If you have been reading my blog then you know some of those future goals already and I don’t want to repeat myself.

This list I’m going to share are often the things we let our friends or family know when they are getting married. Everyone gives advice, but we’ve learned couples want to hear from those who have gotten married in the last 5 to 10 years.

So, here’s a list of 10 Wedding Tips:

1: It’s a celebration of you and your future spouse, it’s YOUR day. Wedding planning can get dramatic. I was one of three brides living under one roof to know how “dramatic” it can get. I’m just going to leave it at that.

Wedding Sept 12 305

From experience here’s a few….

“Do’s and Don’ts”

2: Do your research for a wedding photographer. The one we wanted would have costed a good chunk of our entire wedding budget. Wedding photography isn’t cheap, do your research.

3: Don’t make your own veil. I thought it was crazy what they charged and what you got for the veil itself. 1/2 way through making mine I knew WHY. I love a good DIY , however no matter how much I did my best to secure the beads my veil was coming apart most of the day.

4: Do find a good rental company. We rented our table centerpieces. The rest was made by family or gifted. Our wedding arch is a part of my garden currently. I love decor and decorating but having the same of 20 plus table centerpieces can add up and you have to do something with it after. No, Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of what ours was.

True fact: Pinterest didn’t exist when we got married

Yes, I’m technically a “millennial”, pinterest would have been a great help particularly in this area. However, I do like that we got to use a lot of our own creativity for the decor. Their wasn’t much online back then for “ideas”.

Attention BRIDES: Someone I know locally has a business just for this and I wish her business was running 10 years ago.

If you live in the Fraser Valley, check her website Elegant Decor Rentals

5: Don’t make your own invitations or thank you cards. Just like the wedding veil that was time I could have spent doing other things. We had a “card making” party with family which was fun, but in the end was a big job. There’s lots of great options now that can still give that crafty vibe I was going for.

6: Wedding Car: I’m grateful for the car we got to use. Here’s the thing, it was a MESS. If your ever planning to lend your vehicle for a wedding. PLEASE, clean your car out. We unexpectedly got to borrow someone’s summer convertible before it went into storage.

Wedding Sept 12 349 I got a sunburn on our day, it was HOT out.

A convertible car was fun, but not when your feet can’t reach the floor boards from all the garbage.

7: Remember to write a proper “Thank You” speech for the reception. We didn’t pay attention to this detail and were fully caught of guard when we got called up.

Going to other wedding since our wedding we always joke and look at each other at what a good job the couple does when they list and name everyone, that helped make their day happen.

8: Wedding Cake:

Wedding cakes don’t always have to be wedding cakes.

This was one of my favorite of breaking the “wedding cake” tradition. We had homemade cream puffs done by my mother in law. Every time I see this picture I just want to eat some.

Wedding Sept 12 419

9: Destination? No our wedding wasn’t, I’m not talking Mexico or Hawaii either. I can’t take credit for this.

One of our friends did this recently. Our wedding guest list hit 200, a lot of that is family. Our friends list easily was 300. So they chose to go to a resort a couples hours drive from where they lived. The capacity of the resort was much less and helped refine the guest list.

Dreams do come true. I’ve said this before. This wedding was BEAUTIFUL. The ceremony was on a frozen lake and it was SNOWING, during the ceremony. The name “Narnia” kept coming up. Just to give you an idea of how to picture this incredible day.

10: This tip isn’t actually wedding related but worth sharing. This was told to us before we got married, we did this and deeply appreciate the tip.

Go on a DATE just before the wedding.

One rule: No wedding talk allowed.

As I shared before, wedding planning can be dramatic, and obviously busy. This date just brings you back to the one person that you want to be with.

Marriage to my husband and I is a big deal. It’s a day that you start being a family. Your life isn’t all about you anymore it’s the loved one that you get to share it with.

Wedding Sept 12 374

If your reading this and getting married, congrats!

Relax and Enjoy your day when it comes.

Have fun, be yourself.

I hope some of these tips are helpful.

This last picture, is one of our favorites from our wedding day. It’s “US”.

I remember thinking the photographer was crazy to ask me to pose like this, but I couldn’t stop laughing. First picture we framed and was on our wall right away.

If you liked this post you can subscribe or follow my blog.

You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram.

I’m hoping to now that a routine is starting to take shape at home to keep up with posting new content.

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day

from our

Family home to you!

It’s here, the long weekend. I’m so happy my husband is home and we get to be together as a family.

Our Canada Flag (pictured below) has been hanging in the front of our house since spring. The flag post holder and flag was his father’s day gift last year.

My husband is very proud to be able to hang the Canada flag all spring, summer and a bit of fall, until I tell him, it needs to come down.

It just so happens to a cold and rainy weekend, typical BC, Fraser Valley weather. Last year was HOT and we got to join friends for the Canada Parade.

This year we are keeping it pretty low key. Plus, I can’t fit my Canada Clothes I bought last year. Shopping this morning I spotted a Canadian onesie for our new little one. I didn’t buy it – because she JUST grew out of preemie clothes, there’s always next year.

Tonight we are having BBQ’d burgers for dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast will include bacon.

Our Canada Day won’t include the parade this year as we will be in Church. We intend to see family tomorrow and get to be together as a family. Hopefully get to see some extended family from my side when they arrive.

I can only imagine next year will include the Parade, More BBQ and family time.

Thankful to have been born here in Canada, it’s a great place to have grown up and now have a family to raise.

Enjoy your weekend!

Homemade Grapevine Wreath

Homemade GV Pic 2

I’m excited to start sharing some of the things I’ve been making and re-purposing in my home. I shared this in my DIY – Sneak Peak this grapevine wreath. I already knew I was going to start with this DIY when I ask;

‘Which one do you want me to share first?’

Since moving into our current home I was happy to find out that our new neighbors love gardening like I do. They have a very healthy grapevine growing alongside the fence that goes between our properties.

How Healthy was this grapevine?

With help from my mom, (how taught me canning), we made 26, 1 cup jars worth of grape jelly.

We couldn’t eat it all so we gave lots of it out as gifts to family and friends.

Canned Grape Jelly Pic

Back to the wreath…..

I noticed there was vines growing most of our backyard length, Like 20 – 30 feet long.

I cut 2 of these 20 – 30 foot lengths and attempted to wrap it into itself.

I love that it’s not “perfectly round” like craft wreaths from the store.

Current cost at this point: FREE

I was super happy how it turned out. I had already purchased the leaves from the dollar store for another decor project.

I used wire to attach the leaves. Then used some twine to hang it up and my mantel was ready for fall.

I was so happy with how it turned out. If you haven’t caught on, I like to make things with little cost possible.

Here’s other versions of the wreath

I have been using floral from the dollar store and more wire to continue to make these.

18119324_10158646611035008_6766343352852020711_n

Here’s the final result: Spring Wreath

I loved how it went above my old keyboard.

When I remade my spring wreath it went on my front door.

It’s the same picture from my other post and my “welcome home” one. Here it is again.

Close up you can see it’s not perfectly round. From a distance you can’t tell.

I’m actually taking this one down as summer is here. You will see in the near future what I plan to do with the flowers in another DIY soon.

If you can’t make one I would recommend this one from Amazon:

Additional Tips:

If you want to make one? Find a friend or family member of someone in your community who has a grapevine.
Please ask permission once the grapevine is done producing.
- I cut it once the leaves fell off.
Cut off 20 -30 foot lengths (if possible).
- Shorter lengths will make the wreath smaller.
The grapevine will still be green on the inside so it’ll be easier to bend it.
If the skin splits – don’t worry.
- The green part will dry out and become brown.
It will dry out and seem brittle, but it dried this way so I don’t see it breaking.
- I’ve had mine for 3 years and it hasn’t broken.

Another Fall Version

-YGGUM~1

Let me know if you made one?

I would love to know how it turned out.