Shamrock Grapevine Wreath- making custom shaped wreaths.

I've been wanting to make a shamrock shaped wreath for a little while now. I could have made the shape using foam but the more I thought about it, I wanted a look that was more natural. Grapevine and moss would be perfect. But there are no grapevine shamrock shaped wreaths in the craft stores.

I've made some vine wreaths before and have also done a little basket weaving. For both of those you soak the wood in water to make it pliable. I'd been wondering if soaking a grapevine wreath would have the same effect... then a sign from the universe perhaps... I saw someone on the Martha Stewart Show soak grapevine wreaths to shape them into ovals. Aha, my hunch had been right!

So I bought three 6"grapevine wreaths. They were only about .49 cents each which made me really happy since a St.Patrick's Day wreath is only up for about a month (at most) and I didn't want to spend a lot on it.

I set the wreaths soaking in some tepid water. Weighing them down with a few rocks helped to keep them from floating.

After a 2 hours of soaking they were ready to be shaped.

First I bent the wreath into a general heart shape with my hands. Then used rubber bands to hold the shape while it dried overnight.

The next morning I was rewarded with 3 little heart shaped wreaths.

To or the shape I wired each wreath together with some green floral wire and added added two sticks for the stem.

Ideally I would have used only one stick that was thicker... but with all the snow on the ground I took what I could get and made due. Since I was covering this with moss using two sticks didn't matter, but if I was going to leave this as just a pretty shaped grapevine wreath I would have used one thicker stick and some brown floral wire instead of green.

Voila- my new shamrock shaped wreath, ready for moss!

Using a hot glue gun I covered it with two kinds of moss.

It turned out simple and green- just what I wanted.

It's the right size for the spot that I placed it but you could do this with any size wreaths. I think it could also be really nice to spray the grapevine white or green instead of covering it with the moss.

Crutch Convenience

Truth is they still really aren't convenient...but they are way better. Soon after I gave the

se babies a cute makeover I realized they also needed to be more functional.

Basically I just wanted a way to hold my cell phone while I was tottering around the house because what kept happening (over and over again) was that the mister would run out to do errands and would call to make sure I was doing ok while he was out. But since my knee was swollen and hurting I'd be wearing yoga pants or pajama pants (both of which have no pockets) and would miss the calls. By the time I'd get back to the phone he'd be starting to worry and I had twice as much unessesary crutching around.

Long story short- I needed a crutch pocket!

I don't know why I only feel like sewing while I'm sick or injured but it's definitely a theme with me. This time thought I decided to forgo using the machine and opted to sew my handy dandy pocket by hand.

I'm actually really happy with how it came out. It holds a few essentials and seriously makes the crutches about a thousand times better.

My knee is getting better- in fact I only need the crutches some of the time now. If I've iced and rested my knee I can do a bit of limping around without them. And tomorrow I have my first PT appointment so soon I think I'll be back to my regularly planned March crafting.

Thanks for all the nice comments on my first crafty crutch post wishing me well! : )