Winter Wood Slice Wreath

As I revealed in this post, I decided to tackle a wood slice wreath for our back door this season.  After an unexpected complication, here is the final product.

I pretty much followed this tutorial.  Our local craft stores did not carry wooden wreath forms so Seth made one for me.  

And that's how you get things done without a jigsaw.  Seth also used our miter saw to slice up a log into 1/4" pieces.  

TIP:  Learn from my mistake - let your wood slices fully dry out before assembling your wreath.  (See below for the scoop on what happens if you don't.)

Since the back of the wreath was going to be visible from inside our kitchen, I decided to cover our less than perfect wreath form.  I used spray adhesive and some felt-like material that I had laying around.

I tied on a piece of white muslin so that I could loop ribbon through it for hanging the wreath later on.  This way, I can change it up in the future.

I then used my hot glue gun to attach my wood slices in two overlapping layers.  

I then used ribbon and sprigs of faux greenery for my base layer.

I added a pinecone pick, a few ornaments, and a pick with white and gold decorative balls that I found at Lowe's.

I tied on a piece of gold ribbon for hanging and voila.

And here are some detail shots for you… (notice my reflection in the ornaments?)

As for the complication…after a couple of days the wood slices began to fully dry out.  As they dried out, they started to curve and a few popped off the wreath.

I found some small pieces of wood in my craft cart to fill the gaps and was able to reattach the curved pieces.

When you look at the wreath from the front, it's not as noticeable how angled that one wood slice piece is.  

I also took a few pics of her on the front door for fun.

The wood slices are just so organic and beautiful.  I love decorating with natural (and free!) materials.  

Is anyone else getting crafty with their Christmas decor?  I've fallen a bit behind but I'm hoping to finish our tree and front porch by the end of the week.  I can't believe Christmas is only a little over 2 weeks away!