Fall Wreath Redo: Up From the Basement

Not quite a door of Dublin, 

but I only paid for the ribbon!

I can't believe I actually have time this year to decorate for Halloween. 
Ah, the benefits of not working! 

But one of the downsides is learning to live with less (actually not such a downside really) and thinking creatively to achieve a desired result without just 
going to the store to buy something new as 
I did so often in the past. 

One of my projects is cleaning out my basement, garage and attic...tasks long overdue. I was lucky to have gotten the basement finished earlier this year but we (er, me) are still sorting 'stuff' that's accumulated in our 'nether world' for over 25 years. Over the last couple of weeks I've found things I bought, lost, re-bought and in some cases lost again! Old clothing, toys, dusty trophies, tools and ice skates have all been relocated and I'm only half done! You know the drill.

As autumn approached, I was hoping for an old fall door wreath to present itself...I was sure I had one maybe mixed in with the wooden doll house I bought in Frank's (remember Frank's?) and never put together? Or in some of the unlabeled storage bins that littered the basement? No luck! But I did find a nice spring themed wreath and decided to renovate it.

Before

First, it needed a little spring cleaning so I took the dusty door decoration out back and hosed it down. While it was drying I collected some old craft paints and brushes and selected the reds, yellow and oranges. For a palette, I took a piece of tin foil and put a couple of drops of each color in a circle. The wreath had some green apples in the center surrounded by lush greenery and pink and purple flowers.

That wreath was pretty large and I didn't want to paint the whole thing so I started with the apples painting them shades of yellow, orange and red. I tackled the flowers next, painting them mostly orange. I randomly selected leaves and painted them all of the colors, then mixed more shades and highlighted the painted leaves and others. 

After

Lastly, I bought (yes, there wasn't a fall-colored ribbon in the house!) two rolls of wired 2"ribbon and made a full bow with two streamers. Total cost of wreath: $5.00 for the ribbon. Hanging it on my front door was the final touch to the mums and pumpkin man that were already there. 

Goodbye summer, fall has arrived! 


Christmas anyone?

Tomorrow: Irish Brown Bread