A colourful wreath hand-sewn from sweater remnants gives an eco-friendly twist to a traditional holiday decoration, in one of the more imaginative recycling ideas of the season.

It reminds me a bit of those wreaths made with tied strips of plastic bags that I’ve mentioned before, but only in the sense of an unconventional material used to fill out the basic wire wreath armature — the sweater fabric makes these wreaths so much more warm and friendly!


And while we’re keeping old sweaters out of the landfill and turning them to a festive purpose, why not go for sweater-sewn Christmas stockings, too?

These stockings each have a tiny outside pocket to hold an extra-special small gift.

Round out the woolly winter decor with ball-shaped ornaments bound with colourful yarn — somewhere between a homemade toy for a very pampered cat, and the layer-wrapped gift balls that the Victorians so enjoyed.

All three style of decorations are found in the Eco Accents section at Viva Terra.

Okay, now here’s exactly why it so ticks me off that lavender plants are just barely hardy in my zone 4 (windy) garden — a pretty wreath of lavender blossoms, accented with one tiny perfect rosebud in a bow of raffia.

This is one of the bountiful variety of lavender wreath styles at Hood River Lavender, Oregon — certified organic, too!

If you can make an evergreen wreath, and a grapevine wreath, and a wreath of dried autumn leaves… this would be totally do-able! The trick, of course, is to have an ample supply of lavender to make enough bunches for an entire wreath…

So I offer up this floral inspiration for you lucky crafting gardeners in a milder climate, who can grow beautiful thick lush lavender plants ’til the flowers come out of your ears… or who live within an easy jaunt of Hood River’s lavender U-Pick!

I just came across this cute idea for a craft for kids, to make a Wreath of Leaves with all the beautiful red and yellow leaves we can’t resist picking up on a walk through the autumn woods. And I was thinking that a more sophisticated decoration — one that might last just a bit longer than a wreath with a cardboard base — could be made of pressed leaves with a bit of wire glued on in the stem area, tied to a wreath form or circle of heavy-duty wire, similar to the way you’d make a more traditional wreath out of overlapping evergreen tips. Another thing for the “must try” list!

As kids, we used to collect fall leaves and press them carefully between pieces of waxed paper with Mom’s old iron, trimming the extra paper away from the edges when they had cooled. Of course, that was long before wehad the option to preserve fall leaves in the microwave oven. Half the fun was going for the family outing to collect the leaves in the first place, of course.