My paper bag wreath

Finally, the big reveal! Remember how I was drooling over the wreath from Mary Janes and Galoshes? I actually finished it a few days after this post because I really did feel like a slacker, but forgot to show it to you! How silly of me!  I didn't have a cool paper punch like MJ&G does, so I had to cut all my circles out with my handy-dandy circle cutter. Here are my supplies:  Circle cutter, straight pins, paper bags, crazy edge scissors, styrofoam wreath and Matilda, my glue gun, who was feeling a bit shy and didn't want to be photographed.  She always says I photograph her bad side and was being quite insistent that I not take her photo.  She can be such a drama queen.

So, I started by cutting 3 inch circles.  Several of them had words on them, but I figured I'd work something out with them later.

When I first started cutting, I was only getting 6 per bag, but this felt somehow wasteful.  See?

So, I thought about it and examined the bags. How to get more per bag? Of COURSE! Open the bag and lay it flat! Genius!

Now I could get 12 circles per bag. I've just doubled my productivity!  I should be running a Fortune 500 company.  They'd be lucky to have me!

After I cut out approximately 90 gazillion circles, I folded them in half (I could cut 3 at a time) and used my crazy scissors to make the edges funky.  Really, if I were truly smart, I would have gone to the store and bought a nifty crinkle edge circle cutter, but clearly I am insane and chose to do this all by hand.  Maybe I should NOT be running a Fortune 500 company after all.  Then I took the end of pen and folded my little circle around it to make it all cook looking.

Then I started placing them on the wreath.  I did some using straight pins before I glued so I could see how full I wanted the wreath and how close together I wanted the circles.  I wanted a full wreath and packed them quite closely, which naturally meant that I had to go back and cut about 20 gazillion more circles.

Close up!  Clever me,  you can't even see the words on some of the circles can you?  With proper placement, you don't even know they're there.

It's pretty already isn't it???? Squeeeeeeeeel!!!!!!  I then took them all off and glued them back on.  Really, this took forever and any traces of  fingerprints I had left from my last project with Matilda were completely obliterated. And thus begins my life of crime.

When I was at the flea market a few weeks ago, I purchased an old (not old old, just a few years old) book of music for the recorder that had some interesting aging to is and cut out some butterflies in varying sizes.  I did the same with some pretty scrap book paper and glued them on.

Cute, huh?  Want to see the whole thing?  Really?  I haven't bored you yet?  Of course I haven't!  Here she is:

Do you love it?????   Cause I do!  Everyone comments on it when they come to my door.  When I tell them I totally copied it made it myself, they tell me how absolutely talented and amazing I am.  All true, of course.

Here it is dressed up for Easter with a few simple ribbons and some eggs.

And since we're looking at them, here's a close up of my other Easter decor:

Isn't that little bunny the sweetest thing?

I hope you enjoyed finally seeing my wreath.  It is makes my door happy.