Flower friday | Lavender part 2

  It's flower friday!!  Since I think I can DIY everything with ease, I went in head first making a lavender wreath.  Let's just say, a lot of floral wire later, the third time was the charm.  The first two I was not happy with the results.  It was past 10:00, but knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so I sent Mike to bed while I mastered the wreath making process and came out with a result I was proud of.  I don't have a tutorial here, but more of some things to keep in mind when making a lavender wreath.

  You need a wreath base, floral wire and clippers.  You could use any base and even cover the base in something to add some extra color and texture.  I wish I had other flowers or leaves that dry well, but I didn't and this lavender needed to be used asap!  I saw some tutorials that said you could use dried, but the lady at the farm mentioned using it fresh.  I liked using it fresh because it didn't fall off as easy while I worked with it.  Not to mention, the fragrance.  Oh, the wonderful fragrance.

   Wrap the lavender in even size bundles.  Thanks to Hannah for her help!

   Then you put the lavender bundle on the base and start wrapping with floral wire.  The problem here is that the stems are too long and as I wrapped the bottom of the stems, they would cause the flowers to separate from the previous bunch leaving big gaps.  I tried to fill them in later, but that doesn't work so well.

 I don't have pictures of my process for the final one here (I wanted to get it done and go to sleep!), but basically you need shorter bundles, stem length about 4".  Compared to the one above which are at least 8".

    I had enough leftover to make a mini wreath.  I used a canning jar lid and hung this one in the bathroom.  Anything to help freshen that room up is necessary!!!!!

My wreath in our entry way.  A very nice welcome to our home!

    Yesterday, as I cleaned up from my lavender extravaganza, I was telling Hannah how much I loved doing projects like this.  Homemade, homegrown, DIY, creating is me.  Fulfilling in the truest sense.  Why buy it when you can make it? is definitely my motto.  Possibly to a fault at times, but it truly gives me great joy to pick the local lavender from the field, get to know the farmer, form it into something beautiful and use it as decor to enjoy in our home.  I think I really appreciate the process, knowing the history and the work that goes into growing, and most often the end result is so much more quality.  I am the same with food.  Picking the fruit from our backyard or a local farm to make preserves, jams, jellies, pies.  Using our herbs and veggies not an hour after harvesting to make dinner.  This is amazing and so fun to me!!  What would you call someone like this?  And if you let me dream for a second, the cherry on top for me would be creating stamps/designs for labels or tea towels or prints or other accessories based off the beautiful bounty or homemade creation.  Saving that for my second life.  Because time and energy are the limiting factor here.  :)

  Back to reality, we have a busy day tomorrow and Mike is leaving on another business trip.  The good news is that it is half the length of the last one (phew!!).  Haven't thought about it as much this time around since it isn't as daunting, but would covet your prayers nonetheless.  This time around all four are around all the day LONG.  You know what I am saying.

Have a great weekend!