DIY Faux Cotton Stem Wreath

Let's talk about cotton. I love it. I wear it. But I hate seeing it piling up in my yard during the spring. Like seriously, it gets about 2 inches deep over here thanks to our neighbors ginormous cotton tree. I do love seeing all the dried cotton stems in home decor lately though. For some reason, the cotton stems on this tree look nowhere near as appealing. I've been on a look out to by some stems, but have yet to see any in any store. I've been wanting to make a wreath out of them...or I guess I could have bought a wreath but either way, this next project I'm going to share with you is probably a ton cheaper anyway. Like cents to dollars cheaper. So, if you are like me and can't find any stems, here's a simple little 'hack' :)

What you'll need is a grapevine wreath, some cotton and a couple of pine cones (the older the better).

 First step is to get your cotton ball, stretch it out a little long ways first, then sideways, then roll it into a ball. Grab some hot glue and put it on the wreath. Work your way around the wreath, inside and outside. Make some bigger, some smaller.

 Next get your pine cones and start taking off the little pieces. Twisting and pulling help a lot. If you can get some scissors in there, this will save you some headache :) The older ones seem to have a little more give than the newer ones.

 Now with the pine cone pieces, you want to glue them in between the cotton. Real cotton stems have their seeds coming up over the cotton on all sides. So, I tried to make mine look organically as possible, securing anywhere from one to three pieces onto any given cotton ball. There was really no rhyme or reason. Once I was done, I then did a look over and added more where it looked too empty. I let some of the grapevine stems peak out a bit too.

 I was saving this as a Christmas wreath, but then decided it can really be an all year wreath since cotton really comes about in the Spring. So, it's a great transitional wreath :)

For me, the cost of this wreath was about a buck. Just the cost of the cotton balls I had to buy. I bought a 400 count bag of cotton balls and probably used half. I used about 2 and half pine cones I had from several Christmases ago and an old wreath. See, a lot cheaper than buying real stems :) I'm sure I'll still buy some stems anyways to put in a vase. So, if you have a great place to get them, let me know!