Spoon RIver

I keep humming "Moon River" when thinking about writing this post about this wreath.

Spoon, moon--that's how my mind works.

Yep, it is made out of plastic spoons. I love using things around the house for crafts. 

One day I will show you all the wreaths I have made from things found in my pantry. 

[The teenage girl that lives next door thinks I have a problem. Like a Strange Addiction level of a problem. ]

I saw a few spoon wreaths done a few different ways online, but mostly I did my own thing.

Here is what I used to make this:

•Cheap white plastic spoons (2 boxes of 48 and then a few extras)

•Cardboard cut into a circle (to glue spoons to)

•Hot glue gun

•Yellow and black paint

•Ribbon

I started out with the cheapest white plastic spoons I could find at Kroger. They came in a box of 48. I used 2 boxes and then a few other spoons I found loose in my pantry. I had to seek them out because I broke a few spoons. 

You see, you have to remove the handle from the spoon. At first, I tried cutting it with scissors. It worked. 

For a little while. 

Then it shattered a few and I decided to just snap the handles off by hand. 

And snap it did. So much so that my family complained they couldn't hear the TV. 

Much better.

I started gluing the spoons on the outer edge of the cardboard circle leaving a spoon's width between each spoon. That is so a Chrysanthemum-like petal effect could happen. 

Don't you just love that children's book, "Chrysanthemum" by Kevin Henkes?

 I love the way her name was always said three times. 

"Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum, Chrysanthemum!" 

Which makes me say it three times whenever that word ever comes up. 

Whew! Do you know how hard it is to correctly type/spell Chrysanthemum as many times as I just did just now?!

Moving on.

Keep gluing the spoons row by row until they form a center.

I really liked the flower white. It was pretty. Regal even. Especially if I added a bedazzled jewel of some sort in the center. 

But it is summer and I am ready for COLOR! 

Maybe for another season I will make another one and keep it white.

So, as you can guess, I decided to paint the flower. I decided to go with yellow. I really think spray paint would've been WAY easier for this project IF I didn't want a separate color for the middle (imagine all the taping off I'd have to do!)

So I painted each spoon using a little paint brush and my iPod for entertainment. 

I soon realized that it was easier to paint once I elevated the wreath on a glass. 

The paint didn't want to adhere to the plastic with one coat. Grrrr.

Something isn't right.

Still not.

Better. (But it is hard to know when to stop painting.)

After a second coat of paint, I hot glued a little piece of ribbon to the back of the cardboard and hung it on a suction cup hanger on my favorite mirror. It was my grandmother's.

But I like it on my side door better. 

More sunflower than Chrysanthemum now but I still like it.

**UPDATE**

I decided to paint the sunflower red. I wanted it to look like a gerber daisy but now that it is the Christmas season, it is looking quite Poinsettia-like.

I used the spray paint that is made for plastic. It went on like a DREAM compared to hand painting each spoon.

My friend's daughter found this big diamond-like jewel on the floor of church one Sunday this summer and thought to give it to me.

It was perfect for the center of this new red spoon flower wreath.

Makes me wonder what that big jewel's original purpose was.