Snow Days and a Homemade Wreath

Hi everyone!

Since my last post, the weather here in Leeds has been extreme! There has been a near constant fall of snow, bringing everything to a standstill - bus's and trains all stopped running, cars abandoned willy-nilly, shops closing/not opening, people were panic buying in Tesco, it was all a bit, well, manic!

Both Lucy and I love the snow, so on my half-day from work on wednesday, we went for a walk (I say walk, it was more like a work out, the snow was that deep!) Needless, to say, we had great fun! I decided to detour to the park and see if we could come across any pinecones in the woods, so i can make a festive/wintery wreath. ( I have fancied having a go at  a wreath for a while now, but never got around to it, but I finally decided there is no time like the present!)
 After plenty of foraging (in my case, digging, in Lucy's!) we managed to get quite a decent amount - plenty enough for several wreaths I would imagine!

Once we had dried off, and let the pinecones dry out a bit, I set about making my wreath. I started by drawing a circle on thick cardboard by drawing around a circular tray (for the outer) and a side plate (for the inner).
I then cut out the inside of the inner ring, and cut away the outside of the outer circle, and Hey Presto! a wreath shape!
The next step was loading up my brand new glue gun (purchased from Ebay) and picking up nicely shaped cones, and randomly glueing them down (you can arrange the cones anyway you want to, I just liked the random effect)
Continue like this until you have covered the entire ring. As I thought the wreath looked a little plain, I decided to add a few cinnimon sticks, for a bit of contrast, interest and a scent that smells just like Christmas!  (Not forgetting to add some looped string to hang the wreath up!)

You can add anything to your wreath - holly, berries, faux snow, baubles, mistletoe, whatever comes to mind!

I am quite pleased with how my first attempt at a wreath came out, so im even more determind to make a start on my patchwork quilt (my first pack of 50 assorted 4'' squares arrived today, hurrah!)

Here is a sneaky peak at some of the patches you will see in the finished quilt :) Cute, arnt they?

What is inspiring you this season? let me know your thoughts in the comments box below :)