Baseball Wreath

Baseball Wreath

Finished wreath--more ribbon
in team colors could be added.
We are a baseball family............
and we have baseballs in buckets, stuffed in cabinet drawers and falling off shelves.  Some are souvenirs of favorite moments and some are simply water logged, beaten up or starting to lose their covers. This project uses those discarded baseballs that found mud puddles, were collected from creek beds, or left out for the winter--it is amazing how many baseballs you find when you trim bushes in the spring!  This project could be adapted by using softballs or a mixture of baseballs and softballs.

 Materials I Gathered Before Starting:
  • Baseballs:  Used baseballs that are at the end of their life (you will need 12-16 depending on the size of wreath frame you select.
  • Wire Wreath Frame:  Hobby Lobby and Michaels have a wider size variety of wreath frames but I was at Walmart and they had two sizes (12" & 18").  I opted for the 18" frame for $3.49.
  • Metal or Wood Screws: I used two per baseball
  • Wire:  I used covered floral wire I had on hand but any kind of heavy wire would work.
  • Home Plate:  I cut my home plate from scrap wood using clip art I downloaded from this site.  I have also ordered a blank wood home plate from Amazon.  I used vinyl lettering to paint the selected quote on the wooden home plate.  (Another favorite quote for a baseball wreath is "There's no place like home."  Here is a video on YouTube on how to paint over vinyl lettering to transfer the quote.
  • Ribbon:  I used natural burlap ribbon and navy blue burlap ribbon.
  • Drill:  You will drill screws into each baseball.
  • Needle nosed pliers:  Pliers are helpful in securing the ends of wires to the frame.


Add two screws to each baseball.
Getting Started:

 Step #1:  Gather your materials and begin by drilling two screws in each baseball about 1" apart.  You will use these screws to secure the baseballs to the wreath frame.  Do not push the screws all the way in--you will want a gap to wrap the wire around.  Repeat this step for all of the baseballs.


 Step #2:  Wrap wire around the screws in each baseball and tighten the screws down as far as they will go into the baseballs.  Repeat this step for all the baseballs.

Wrap wire around screws& tighten.
Step #3:  Now you are ready for your wreath frame.  You will want to use the "back side' of the wreath frame so that the baseballs fit into the "concave/curved" part of the wire frame.  Use the wires to twist and secure the baseballs to the frame.  Use pliers to twist the wire ends so that they are not sticking out.

Secure the baseballs to the wreath.
Step #4:  Once you have all of the baseballs secured to the wire frame, drill a hole into the top left and right corners of your wooden home plate and use wire to fasten the home plate to the frame.

Step #5:  Use burlap ribbon to make a bow and then tie pieces of burlap ribbon between each baseball knotting the ribbon as you go.  Use team colors or contrasting ribbon to fill the wreath.  At the top of the post you will see the finished wreath as it would appear on your wreath hanger or door.  (I like this wreath hanger I purchased on Amazon a few years back)


This is the back of the wreath with all of the ribbons
attached and the wooden home plate & bow attached.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Wooden Quilt Blocks AKA "Barn Quilts" I am a born and raised Nebraskan--a state where you are never more than a 15-20 minute drive from a barn or a field of corn.  I grew up in a small town half-way between Omaha and Lincoln and my sister married a farmer who works sun up until way past sun down during the spring planting season and the fall harvest.  I currently live in Omaha where I can see a field and a Target store from my window.  I first saw barn quilts about 12 years ago when a l ocal FBLA group   created 12' x 12' designs for area farms as a fundraiser.  I have always wanted to create a scaled down version that would fit in a garden or front porch.   As it turns out, I have made several in the last year and have one displayed in my garden (see at right), another for a neighbor's porch and a couple of small ones that I hang seasonally above the cabinets in my kitchen. You will find excellent web sites that share patterns, examples and tips and tr
Read more

Sound Wave Wood Art

Image
  Using What You Have I must confess that I had never seen “Sound Wave Art” until a Facebook friend saw some of my wood craft projects and suggested I try making wood art of sound waves.  The links she sent were printed paper art and sound waves cut from metal but in digging deeper and consulting Etsy I found some examples using wood.   Materials:   Bamboo Chop Sticks Square Dowels for framing Birch panel cut to size.  Examples pictured are either 11 x 16 OR 12 x 12 Minwax Puritan Pine, dark walnut, special walnut American oak and gray stains from Minwax White Folk Art paint to white wash the panels Gorilla Wood Glue Brad nailer Printed sound file—I use the voice memo app on my iPhone to record the phrase from a song on YouTube Brown Kraft paper and double sided scotch tape for frame backing Process: .   Using the voice memo app (free download), I record the sound file (usually a word or short phrase).  I then do a screen capture (on/off button and home button) of the displayed sound f
Read more

Who Let the Dogs Out?

Image
Using Up Those Scraps There are times when you need to use up the wood scraps that have accumulated in the “too good to trash”  tub in your work area.  The past few weeks have been one of those times.  After sorting the wood  (by size/width/length/color) and taking a quick assessment, I sketched out a few possibilities for projects.  With an abundance of scrap square dowels and odds and ends from framing projects it was time to get started.   Materials:   Square dowels Birch panel and bead board paneling pieces Minwax Puritan Pine, dark walnut, special walnut and American oak and gray stains from Minwax White Folk Art paint to white wash the panels Gorilla Wood Glue Brad nailer Printed clip art outlines of dogs, leaves and  states ( I used Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Texas along with a few dog breeds) Process:  I began by attaching the wood strips together with Gorilla wood glue in a size that would cover the outline pattern.  On some of the projects I lined the wood grain up vertica
Read more