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White Christmas Feathered Square Wreath
http://www.maddylane.com/project12.html

A white Christmas, Pure and simple with feathers

Hands-on time: Under an hour.
Total time: Under an hour.
Skill: Easy.
Project cost: Under $30.00, depending on the type of feathers you purchase.
Materials & tools:


A square Styrofoam base, 30 cm in length, by 22 cm wide, by 5 cm thick ( if you can't find one cut out a square center opening inside a square Styrofoam base using a craft knife).
White feathers of your choice such as ostrich, turkey, chicken, eyelash feathers, goose, or chandelle feathered boa's, strung or individuals.
A ruler
Scissors or clippers
Glue gun, with clear sticks (use a low temperature glue gun)
One meter of satin ribbon, 5cm wide (I used brown)
(Materials for this project are available at craft, fabric, notions and florists' shops.)

The simplest holiday decorations are often the most charming. For a sleek contemporary holiday look, create your own feathered wreath, table-top tree and decorations.

Feather wreaths are a huge trend in home decor, and they make stunning accessories for any season. They are absolutely spectacular poised on a fireplace mantel, centered over a large mirror, on a door or hooked casually over a chair.

Festive feather wreaths are graceful yet quite easy to make. Trim any excess fuzz or unwanted tips off of the feathers. Sort them by size and length.

Start by gluing similar feathered lengths horizontally along the four exterior sides of the Styrofoam square base. Using a glue gun with low-temperature glue sticks, glue the feathers on flat on their lengths, side by side in two rows. Do the same thing to cover the square opening of the wreath's base.

To cover the front surface area of the wreath base, apply a row of feathers along the centre, gluing them one at a time side-by-side, but just the tip part. Start at one end and work your way around the whole base. Add a second layer of feathers to overlap the first row in the same manner, but this time along and around the centre opening border of the base.

Once completed, check the wreath, you might need to secure some feathers with a bit more glue. If you wish, you can secure a wire loop in the back of the wreath for hanging.

For the finishing, I added a plain, deep-chocolate-brown satin ribbon with a bow.

A feathered wreath will last for years. Each holiday, you can give it a fresh new look by just decorating it with a variety of different accessories. Leave the wreath plain or include assorted embellishments such as colourful miniature balls, fresh ivy, a feathered bird, berry clusters, bows and creative wire ornaments.

If you use feather wreaths outdoors, be sure to place them under a covered porch area to avoid direct sunlight or snow. You will want a feather wreath for every season, to hang over a door, on a wall or over a mirror. They make wonderful gifts, too.

Tabletop tree: To make a small cone tree covered with feathers, start by applying a row of feathers with a glue gun at the bottom of the cone base, and keep adding overlapping rows of feathers until the cone base is completely covered all the way to the top. To minimize cost, you can buy an inexpensive feather boa, secure one end to the base with florist's pins or glue, wrap it around the cone shape and tuck in the end to secure it onto the base.

I applied family photographs of past Christmases onto self-hardening clay circle and square shapes to create an advent calendar tree and attached them onto a white feathered tabletop tree using decorative pins.

Variations: Festive feather wreaths can also be quite dramatic in other colours such as plume, burgundy, red, pink, purple, brown, green, you get the picture. Or mix and blend colours to achieve a two tone or multicoloured presentation.

Feathered wreaths can stylishly adorn a decorative ladder, be used as a base for a large pillar candle which is inside a hurricane or a plain glass base vase. Use feathered wreath to d'cor your home all year round, a super cute touch on young children's bedroom doors, such as baby pink or purple.

Use feathers as accents to trim napkin rings, or to grace each table setting, garnish the top of Christmas stockings and gifts.

Assorted feathers types can also be found in party supply or customs stores.

Copyright MaddyLane Designs © 2006
maddy@maddylane.com
http://www.maddylane.com