Spring Placemat Wreath

 Not sure about you, but this year has been a year filled with BIG projects. 

Big projects that we did ourselves (tiling, painting, re-arranging, etc) and big projects that we hired out (BIG painting, redoing the kitchen, installing new carpet) and all my little projects got put up for a bit.

I decided that during our Spring Break, I needed a minute to get back to my 'little' projects. The ones that pretty much this blog started with :) 

I honestly didn't have anything in mind- I did know that I had been brainstorming a few things for the front door as I basically hung a white monogram on there as a placeholder after Christmas and had grown bored of it. I wanted a little color but really didn't know what I wanted.

So I browsed Hobby Lobby until inspiration hit. 

It started with a tea towel with a cute quote and pretty florals on it. I carried it around for a bit thinking of various ways I could cut it, turn it into a little pennant banner... but it wasn't really filling what I wanted. Then I stumbled upon a couple round placemats. Better. 

Then I found the woven placement. Bingo. 

It's funny how things can start taking shape out of nowhere. I still carried that little towel around for a bit but it didn't really lead my anywhere and eventually, all the pieces fell into place for what I wanted.

Here's what I walked out of the store with: 

I snagged: 

*A woven placemat (found in the Spring section) 

*Unfinished wood bead circle wreath

*Unfinished wood laser wording

*A set of yarn in various colors

I fell in love with the woven texture against the wooden beads and knew they'd be perfect together. And when I started thinking about adding color, I wandered to the yarn section and found a set of already put together spring-y hues that were perfect. 

First things first, 

I painted the wooden quote. I used a mix of oranges and pinks to create a pretty coral color and then painted the whole thing in an ombre effect- darker color at the top and then mixed with white as I went towards the bottom. Subtle and springy :) 

Attaching the wooden beads to the placement just required a little trimming of the placement. I loved the pattern I bought because it already had a natural line to cut on without sacrificing the integrity of the whole thing. I cut along the woven line until it was the same size as the wooden ring and then just hot glued the ring and wooden quote to the placemat itself. 

I used the different colored yarns to make varying sized tassels to hang from the top. I wanted random sizes so it didn't look too cluttered! 

I used the extra piece of woven material that I cut off the placement to make the hanging piece. I simply slid it through two points on the wooden ring, hot glued the woven piece together like a little sandwich and then added twine tied around each point for extra texture and security. 

The tassels I just tied directly to one of those sides of the hanger. 

How pretty is the unfinished wood against the woven texture of the placemat?? 

For extra color, you could easily (well, it would take some time) paint the wooden beads various colors or spraypaint the whole thing. 

You can see the woven hanger I made out of the extra piece that I trimmed off in this last photo. Extra bonus considering I hadn't really thought about how I was going to hang it. 

All in all, total cost was around $15. 

And it added the perfect punch of Spring that my front porch needed!!