Twig wreath

I have finally finished my twig wreath!!!  I started more than a year ago when I designed the wreath and had DH create the substrate - a donut cut from thin wood.  I collected the willow twigs after the trimming of the willows in the early spring and cut them all to size - small, medium and large. They had been sitting in the back garage drying for more than a year so this summer I took the time to glue them all to the substrate with hot glue.  I was very happy with how that went and trimmed all the hot glue strings in preparation for painting.  I had wanted to paint it light gray but others liked the very earthy colour of it in its natural state so it sat yet for a another while.  About a month ago I decided that I would paint it light gray as I had originally planned so went looking for paint.  I had thought mat finish but could not find anything besides primer that was matt finish and it was too dark a gray for what I wanted.  So bought light gray enamel paint in a spray can with the plan to spray it with clear matt finish.  I sprayed the wreath 4 times over the course of one day - one coat on the back and three on the front.  I used a produce crate to support it while drying which worked really well.  I am very happy with how it turned out as it still has lots of texture and depth which may have disappeared if I had continued to add layers of paint.  While I was out buying paint I found this burlap poinsettia discounted in the Christmas aisle of Peavy Mart.  I bought one red - all they had - and one beige.  I dismantled the beige one and applied a colour wash of green acrylic paint to the largest petals and then dismantled the red one, removed the spacer and added the green one to the back!!!  Perfect!!  I wired them together and then added them to the wreath with the wire once I had positioned the flower where I wanted it.  It was ready in time to put up for Christmas!!  I have felted wool roses in three sizes (Thanks, Suzanne) which I will do up to add to the wreath for the rest of the year.  It looks exactly as I had hoped it would!!!

Therese