Not Wanting to Throw Away Roses + My First Wreath!

Soooo, me being the sentimental sap that I am I did not want to just throw away the first bouquet of roses that my boyfriend gave me. I know, I know...you can gag over my cuteness. I could tell right away that this was something special though and that I could completely throw myself into the relationship and that it will last.

Have you ever had to tear apart scrapbook pages/ other projects that you've done because it had pics or memories of an ex tied to them? I have. Not this time though, I know it's the real deal.

Plus it's been a few months now and I feel that I can confidently share that I didn't just throw away the first flowers that he ever gave me.

(I also saved a rose from the night that he "officially" asked me out---but that's another story/ project to share.)

What can I do with roses? I thought for a couple of days and finally decided on a wreath! My first thought was of course a scrapbook page, but they would be too thick for that.

So I dried them in the oven on a low temp for an hour or so and then gathered the rest of the materials that I would need.

Being the thrifty crafter that I am there was no way I was going to spend $20+ on a blank wreath to decorate. Have you ever priced those? WHY are they so expensive? Anyways, I cut a circle shape out of a cardboard box that I had around the house. Free! Then, I took the packaging paper that was in the box (also free!) and ripped it into long strips. I took those strips and then dipped them in a glue & water mixture and decoupage style wrapped them around the cardboard base until it was all covered.

At this point I had to let it dry over night. The next day I painted the whole thing black, two coats to make sure it was all covered. While that dried I looked around for anything else around the house that fit my color scheme (black, red, & silver) that would look good on the wreath.

I came up with other flowers, sequins, paint, glittered heart embellishments, feathers, paper doilys, and even some rhinestones that I had pulled off of a pair of flip flops that fell apart. After messing around with where I wanted things to go for a couple days I finally glued everything down and this is the final project I came up with:

Thanks for looking!

Peace & love.
xoxxo