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Welcome to the 4th edition of the Thrift Store Swap! If you missed my first Thrift Store Swap transformation, you can see it here. This is my second Thrift Store Swap and the fourth in a series started by Lyn at MidMichigan Mom. If you are unfamiliar with this swap, here are the basics. 14 crafty bloggers commit to buying and repurposing 2 thrift store items. For this edition, one item must be a wreath and both items must cost under $10.
Sounds easy right? There’s a catch…they are not buying for themselves! Each blogger is surprised with what they must repurpose. So what happens when the unknown challenges 14 crafty ladies?
You get some out of the box tutorials (scroll to the bottom to see all the transformations)!
Patriotic Star Wreath
My swap partner was Kim at Made In A Day, who sent me a red felted wreath and wooden thing-a-ma-jig. I knew right away what I wanted to do with the wooden thin (another transformation post coming soon), but had no idea what to do with the wreath. The wreath was still in nice shape, it just had some faded areas from being exposed to the sun. I stared at the wreath for two weeks when I got the idea to transform the red felted balls into felted apples. I was thinking I could use the apples to create an entirely new wreath, but I couldn’t find the supplies needed to create felted apples. Ugh, I was stumped, so the wreath sat untouched for another three weeks.
Then, on May 2, Lyn needed us to send her an image of our finished project by the end of the night. Oh, c^%p! It was crunch time, I hadn’t even touched the wreath! I had to put my thinking cap on, get creative, and use items already in my craft stash. So what did I do?
I transformed the red felted wreath into a new Patriotic Star Wreath! Okay, technically a wreath is a ‘ring’ of flowers or leaves, but with July 4th around the corner, I thought a star shape would make a perfect door hanging.
Patriotic Wreath
Supplies:
- Red felted ball wreath
- Scissors
- Glue gun/glue sticks
- 10 Jumbo popsicle sticks
- Twine
- Scrap woven fabric (I used painter’s cloth)
- Old jeans/denim
- Danish oil in dark walnut
Directions:
The first thing I did was to cut all of the felt balls off the wreath form and sort them by size. I ended up with 4 different sized felt balls. You can see where the balls were turning orange from sun fade, but I tried to pick out the best ones or hide the orange when arranging the balls on my new wreath.
Take 10 jumbo popsicle sticks and create a star shape. Glue the sticks together and stain.
At this point, the frame wasn’t as sturdy as I like, so I added twine to each tip and corner. Glue one end of the twine to the back of a star tip. Wrap the twine around 3x vertically and then switch to wrapping it around horizontally. Add dabs of glue and continue to wrap until the tip is reached. Add the final dab of glue to the tip and trim off the excess twine. Repeat this step to all 5 of the star tips.
Glue one end of the twine to the back of a star corner. Wrap the twine around 3x vertically and then switch to alternating the twine to each side of the corner to create a ‘v’ or pie shape. Add dabs of glue and continue to wrap until the corner is completely covered with twine. Add the final dab of glue to the back and trim off the excess twine. Repeat this step to all 5 of the star corners.
Add glue to the back of star, except for the bottom portion, and place it on fabric to create a backing for the felt balls. Trim off the excess fabric.
Cut or tear 1/2″ strips of fabric and denim. I prefer to tear strips of fabric to create a twisted and ragged edge. Cut twine and glue these pieces to the back of the star where the fabric is not glued to the frame. I did a pattern of fabric, denim, three pieces of twine in varying lengths, denim, and ended in the middle with fabric. Once all the strips are added, glue the fabric backing down onto the strips.
Do a dry fit and arrange the felt balls into a pattern you like. Once you get a pattern you like, start to glue the balls onto the fabric backing.
To create the hanging loop, I cut the red loop off the original wreath. Next, I tied strips of denim and fabric onto the center of the loop with twine. To secure the fabric together, I wrapped the denim around the bottom of the loop and glued it in place. This created a multi-colored loop that I glued to the backside of the top star tip. 
Ta-da! I love the new patriotic star wreath! It has a whole new vibe and I hope you enjoyed this thrift store transformation. Be sure to check back next week for the wooden thing-a-ma-jig transformation reveal!
Ready for more thrift store wreath makeovers? Head over to my fellow swap bloggers and see what they’ve created too!
Kreativ K
MidMichiganMom
Erlene, your star wreath looks great! It’s a wonderful use of the old felt ball wreath. Thanks for sharing! Pinning.
This is so cute! I love how you’ve taken something so simple and turned it into something fantastic! Thanks for sharing at Inspiration Thursday!
I love how you completely took the original wreath apart… that’s so genius! The new wreath looks even better… and it’s just in time for July! Love it!
I am such a fan of popsicle sticks!! This turned out fabulously! So creative and perfect for the fourth of July. Love love love it!
OMG I would have NEVER thought to do that! Looks amazing and I love that you’ve already got an awesome 4th of July decoration!
Your creativity is impressive. I am in awe right now..seriously popsicle sticks?! If it weren’t for your tutorial I would not have believed it. You are the craft Macgyver! =) We were lucky to have you join us again this Thrift Store Swap. I hope that you’ll continue to join us for Summer swap and beyond!
Wow, this is so unique! Love it and how you used the felt balls for the star is super pretty!