Let's Make a Thankful Pallet Wreath!

Hi all!

I’m sorry I haven’t had a new post in a few weeks. I’ve been very busy with my Maker Magic Take-it & Make-it program. Last week I put together 29 kits for the November program. And, with a short turn around, I’ve jumped right back in and am working on my December kits. With all due modesty, I can say that the program has been very popular and registration fills fast. So, for December I’ve increased attendance and am going to be putting together kits for 36 patrons. I’m super excited for what I have planned in December and it’s worth the extra work for me, to be able to share it with even more patrons. Hint, hint: it’s a total sewing project that involves felt! I can’t wait, and I promise to share it with you all when I can.

Our November Maker Magic project was something I like to call “Thankful Pallet Wreath,” and I’m going to tell you how to make one now. But first, a little backstory on how I landed on this project for November. I bought 10 x 10-inch pallet boards for a Maker Magic program I was planning for this past spring, but that didn’t happen when the library had to close down and in-person programs went on hiatus. This fall, wanting to use the pallets – and get them out of my house – I started searching Pinterest for a new way to use these boards, suitable for the current season, and came up with these Thankful Pallet Wreaths. I took a couple of similar projects and melded them together for my final craft idea.

The project morphed from what was going to be my spring project on the left, to the idea in the middle that caught my eye on Pinterest, to the Thankful Pallet Wreath on the right, that I now present to you. Below are the instructions I wrote for creating this project.

What You Need

• 10x10 Pallet Board (I ordered mine online from Michaels)

• Sandpaper

• Gloss Mod Podge

• Foam brush

• Thankful wood laser cutout (Note: I bought mine from the Etsy shop, Big Reds Craft Barn. This is the first time I’ve ordered from this shop, and I was impressed: great product and I received them within a week of ordering.) https://www.etsy.com/shop/BigRedsCraftBarn?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=874638550

• Felt, assorted colors (Note: I buy 100% Merino wool felt from a local Clarkston resident through her Etsy shop. https://www.etsy.com/shop/FeltOnTheFly?ref=usf_2020 It’s called Felt on the Fly, and as she likes to say, “THIS is the good stuff.” Janet is the owner, and she’s great to work with. This is the fourth project for the library that Janet has helped me with. 😊)

• Small buttons

• Thread and needle

• DecoArt Dazzling Metallics Champagne Gold paint

• Round craft paint brush

• Toothpick and straight pin

• Hot glue gun

What You Do

1.) Start by sanding your board down, trying to get it as smooth as possible. Make sure to work on the edges also, as some of them are kind of rough. When done sanding, wipe down your board with a damp paper towel. You want to be sure that your board is as clean as possible before the next step.

2.) Mod Podge your board using the foam brush. Cover the entire front of the board, being sure to get into the crevices on the front and the edges as well. I wanted my board to be very shiny, so I gave it three coats. Just be sure your board is thoroughly dry between coats if you add extra coats.

3.) Paint your “thankful” wood cutout with the gold paint.

a. If you’re wondering what the toothpick and pin are for, I used them to clean paint out of the little cut-out holes in “thankful.” The toothpick worked for some holes, the pin worked better on the tiny holes.

b. Give it two coats of paints to make it very sparkly. Allow it to drive in between coats.

c. Suggestion: if you don’t want to order a wood cutout, you could paint the word thankful yourself. Not being a good painter, this is something I wouldn’t attempt myself. But if you are more talented than I, give it a try. But don’t do it yet. I would wait till step 6 when you paint the wreath.

4.) Time to make your flowers. Make as many as you’d like; I chose to make nine. I made some with three circles and a button, and I made some smaller ones using just two circles and a button. Below is a link to a template for the three sizes of circles and the leaf that I used. I made the template out of boxboard, a Land O'Lakes butter box to be exact, as you'll soon see. 😊

Circle & leaf template.

Download • 221KB

a. Print and then cut out your circle and leaf template.

b. You’ll want contrast between the different layers, so keep that in mind as you choose which color felt to use where.

c. When you have your circles cut for a flower, choose a button to top your flower with.

d. Thread your needle, bring the two ends of your thread together and tie them together in a knot.

e. Layer your two or three circles together – starting with the biggest on the bottom and ending with the button on top.

f. Insert the needle into the middle at the bottom of the circles, and come up through one of the button holes. This part can be a little tricky, so don’t get too frustrated.

g. Sew back down through the other hole if it’s a two-hole button; if it’s a four-hole button repeat these steps through the other two holes.

h. I sewed each of my buttons two times so they’d be securely fastened.

5.) Trace and cut out your leaves. Again, make as many as you wish.

6.) I was a bit challenged when painting on the “wreath” lines. As, I mentioned, painting is not a strong suit of mine, and so my wreath looks nothing like the original inspiration for this project, shown again here to illustrate how I wanted mine to look. But that’s OK, I like how mine turned out anyway. And you’ll like yours as well, however it turns out.

a. Paint your first circle using the round brush. You might want to find a plate or some other circular object of the right size to serve as your guide. Start and stop painting, breaking the circle up a bit. Paint thin, paint thick, whatever works for you. I tried to make mine thin, but that’s not what I ended up with. Thickness will kind of depend on what size round brush you use.

b. When that first circle is done, remove the plate or whatever you used as your guide. Now continue painting rings on your wreath, just free-handing it.

c. You can paint layers both inside that first circle and on the outside. I suggest laying down the dried “thankful” cut-out in the middle of your circle to get an idea as to how far in the middle of the circle you want to paint. Don’t glue it down yet though.

d. When finished painting the circle, allow it to dry completely and then paint a second coat over the wreath. Or third. Your call.

e. If your are painting the word “thankful” onto your board, I would do it now, once the wreath is completely dry.

7.) When your painted wreath is completely dry, it’s time to lay-out where you want your flowers to go. Also, if you did not paint the word "thankful" on, go ahead and place the thankful cut-out where you want it. Each board comes with an attached jute loop for hanging. Make sure this jute loop is at the top of your board before gluing your flowers down.

a. When you get everything arranged how you want them, begin to glue them down with the hot glue gun.

b. I glued a leaf onto the back of the flowers I was using them on before I glued the flower to the wreath.

c. When everything is glued down and the glue dries, pull off any excess glue strings you might have.

8.) And that's it. You are all done! What do you think? The most important thing is that you had a good time while you were crafting.

If you decide to give this project a go, I’d love it if you would send me a picture of your finished project so I can share if with all my readers. Email me at: graib@cidlibrary.org

In my October 2 blogpost on the autumnal banner DIY, I was able to offer readers the supplies to make the banner and reader, Amy, took me up on that offer. She sent me this picture of her final product. Isn’t this a lovely fall mantle? Great job, Amy, and thanks for sharing.

I’m also going to share some pictures I received from patrons who crafted with me using Maker Magic take-home kits. Here are three from the summer “grown” embroidery project. Thanks Rachel, Raela, and Stacey. 😊

Look at what Jessica did with her autumnal banner! She changed the word "fall" to her daughter’s name. Love it!

And, I’ve already received these pictures back from my November “thankful” kits. Thank you, Adrian, Kristina, and Jessica. As you can see, folks like to tweak my projects a bit, and they get fantastic results. Over the years that I’ve been crafting with patrons at the library, I’ve learned to just sit back and watch, as patrons take my craft and really run with it and make it their own. They always turn out better than mine!

On a personal note, things have come full circle for me at the library. When I started this blog back in March, we were all staying home due to the pandemic. Slowly things started getting back to normal, and I was able to get back to work at the library, at least a couple of days a week. But now, as we enter another intense phase of Covid cases, I am back working strictly from home again. We are balancing the number of staff in the library at any one time so we can properly social distance. And, we will be going back to phase 3 in our reopening plan on Wednesday, November 18, where we will be open only for curbside pick-up; tentatively for the next three weeks.

But I will keep writing and posting to my blog. I’ll be here as often as I'm able. And I hope you can drop in from time-to-time and read along and have fun with me. Take care and, as always, stay safe!