I'm a crazy ....

.... scavenging lady!!  At the side of most motorways and suburban roads here, there are bushes growing more or less wild that, in summer, have either red or greenish/yellow leaves, and in winter, the bare branches are also red or greenish/yellow.   I think they're called dogwood, but I am open to correction on that!!  I've been eyeballing them for years as I drive past, thinking "I bet I could make a wreath out of those".  Well this was the year. I decided to make it for my son's teacher, and here's the story!!

Last weekend, my daughter and I made a bunch of pom-poms in a few different sizes.

On Monday, I walked up to the bypass near our house, armed with a pair of secateurs and a sack.  The kids refused to come with me, wonder why!!  With the traffic whizzing past, I scrambled around in the bushes, cut a pile of suitably shaped branches and then carried them home.

Tuesday, I washed the roadside grime off them, and began twisting them into shape.  At this point, the cat joined in - those branches were whippy - and she thought this was the.best.game.ever - there were twigs, cat and claws flying through the air!!!

Last night, with today's last-day-of-school deadline imminent, I grabbed my new hot glue gun and stuck down the pom-poms, some jingle bells and a ribbon and bow.  Wow, how did I ever craft so long without hot glue - it's such a doddle to use - instant drying, super stickiness - fantastic.

And this morning, before school, I hung the finished wreath on my front door and took photos - still not fully daylight and it was a "red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning" kind of sky so the light was a bit wonky, but here it is:

A closer look:

And even closer:

I'm really chuffed with how it turned out and even my daughter (my harshest critic!!!) said "It doesn't look homemade, it looks professional" - not bad for a virtually cost-free project!!

I'm going to enter the following challenges: City Crafter ("Jingle Bells"), Craft Your Passion ("Christmas Anything but a card"), Brown Sugar ("Anything Goes") and Make it Monday.

I'm so happy, we're now on holidays - two full weeks off - hallelujah!

Thanks for looking!