Pastel Gingerbread Village Welcome Wreath

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to a brand new week! I'm coming to you today to share a wreath I started working on several weeks ago. I got distracted by other things and had to put it aside until recently, but I finally finished it!

Turns out this project is timely anyway, because it gives me an opportunity to remind you that the Homespun Holiday: Gingerbread Village Kit retires at the end of this month. Once they're gone they won't be back, so be sure to get your kit soon if you're interested.

It's amazing how different the gingerbread house can look with an alternate palette. This Sunlight, Tundra, and Taffy scheme gives it a sweet cottage look that works perfectly for this welcome wreath. I also added flowers and leaves to the windows using the Botanical Butterfly Details Die.

I paired the house with leaves using the Falling Leaves Die in Soft Jade and Pistachio. I also added flowers using the Gathered Garden Die in Taffy, Petal, Sunlight, and Seaspray. Speaking of those flowers, I've had several requests for a Gathered Garden photo tutorial, so I have a few steps to share for anyone that might find them helpful.

To start with these flowers, you'll simply sew around the flower once using a basic running stitch. You'll want long ends because you're going to pull on them and tie them together, so be sure to use enough thread that you can get a good hold.

Next, you're just going to pull the ends tight and tie them together on the back. It's just like a tiny drawstring. Knot them tightly (I usually use a double knot). The flowers usually need a little fussing to make them look nice. I just do any adjustments after it's knotted.

You can use just one flower by itself, but I also like to create these double blooms by sewing the two sizes together. I simply leave the tails on the small flower long and then pull them through the center of the large flower.

Then, I tie the two sets of tails together (you can also skip tying them together if you're going to sew your flower to another object; in that case, I just use the tails to sew directly into the other item. I did that on this tag HERE).

The process is very much the same for the other style of flower. Just sew once around...

...tie off...

...and zhuzh.

To add a flower center, I just sew up through the center, slip on my sequin and bead, and then come right back down through the center. If I am sewing my flowers to something else (like the tag I linked to above), I will wait to do this until my flower is attached to my project.

In this case though, I knew I was going to be gluing my flowers into place, so I just knotted the threads in the back (I knotted them around the tails from the flowers so the centers would be secure).

I hope those photos are helpful to those of you who have been asking for a tutorial!

I also created a banner for my wreath. There's not a die for the banner itself (I just freehanded a paper template), but I did use the Inline Monogram and Monogram Alphabets for the lettering.

I'm really tickled about how the banner came out. To hide the threads on the back, I just made a second layer for that center piece (only the area behind the letters) and glued it in place after the stitching was complete.

I attached everything to a 14" grapevine wreath using hot glue. I also used hot glue on the back of each flower to sort of cement the threads into place before trimming the tails nice and short. Once they had cooled, I went ahead and added more glue and placed them onto the wreath. The flowers on the banner itself also had a few little leaves (also from Gathered Garden) tucked in here and there.

I hope you've enjoyed today's project! I had so much fun putting it together and I am so glad to have it finished and hanging in my home. Have a wonderful week!