The Mom I Want to Be

The idea behind the wreath is for visitors to my home to add what they are thankful for to the wreath.  Each visitor writes his name on the tip of the clothespin and what he is thankful for on the handle of the clothespin.  When the season is over, I will have a fantastic collection of things my friends, my family and even the UPS man are thankful for!  Here’s how to make your own.

 

First, I bought a wire wreath frame Then, I purchased a bag of clothespins.  Turns out that you will need exactly 53 of them to fill this 12 inch frame.  Next, I assembled my child labor to paint the clothespins. I gave them yellow, brown and orange acrylic paints and some sponge brushes and told them to paint them however they liked.  Little Jo and her friend had a great time painting all the clothespins, some paper and their fingers. I love how their mottled paint jobs look when all of the pins are on the wreath.

 

Once the clothespins are completely dry, you will attach them to the ring.  Simply clip them onto the inner-most ring.  The length of the clothespin will cover up the rest of the wire rings, forming the nice wreath shape.

 

I wanted to add a little something in the middle to help explain the point behind the wreath.  I purchased a 4 inch wooden heart shape and suspended it in the middle of the wreath with the same ribbon I used to make a loop to hang it on the door.  I used a woodburner to inscribe “I am thankful for…” on the heart. If you don’t have a woodburner, you could easily use rubber stamps, a marker, or paint to write your message.

 

 

 

The final touch was to tie a permanent marker to some ribbon tied to the bottom of the frame.  I used a fine-point retractable Sharpie marker so I wouldn’t have to worry about losing the cap.  Each visitor can leave her own reason for thankfulness.  Everyone who has visited so far has loved my wreath.  One visitor, a teacher, went out the next day and bought the supplies so she could make one to hang on her classroom door for the students.  What a great idea!