Merry Moss: A DIY Christmas Decoration

Guest blogger Samantha has come up with an easy project for your home! I love this idea, it will add "rustic elegance" to your home. At the end of the post, I will have an announcement...

Happy December!
While I am sad to leave Fall behind, I am looking forward to the Christmas season.  It's my first Christmas as a married person (!!!!) so it's extra special for me this year.  To get myself into the spirit, I've been listening to Christmas music, doing lots of baking, and of course, making decorations!
My first decoration is actually something I've been wanting to make for a while as a permanent "non-holiday" decor item.  But once I had the Christmas music on, I was like, "Aw yeah, Christmas. Here we go."
Want to make your own? It's surprisingly simple and endlessly customizable!

Here's what you'll need:
wire, about 18 gauge (it needs to be easily bendable, but hold its shape when you add the moss)
fake moss (available in floral department of craft store)
clear fishing line
needle nose pliers

1. Form the wire into whatever word you would like it to say.  If you get it perfect, it might help to take a picture for yourself to refer back to, since you'll be bending the wire a little bit to attach the moss.
2. Cut a piece of fishing line about 18" long and tie it to the end of the word wire with a square knot. Take your first, small piece of moss and hold it against the wire. Carefully begin wrapping the wire around the moss in a spiral motion to hold it to the wire.  It should look like this:

3. Continue adding on more pieces of moss to be wrapped to the wire until your fishing line runs out.  Give yourself a little bit of extra line so that you can tie it off.  Once you have tied and clipped the fishing line, tie on another piece and continue wrapping the moss to the wire until the whole word is covered.

As I said, you could make this moss word say anything; "Christmas," "joy," "welcome," or even the name of your family.

I hope this project has gotten your holiday gears in motion, and that this rustic and whimsical decoration brings warmth into your home!

Happy weekend!
Samantha

So here is my (Jacquelynne's) announcement- in case you haven't heard yet, I will be on Pat Sloan's American Patchwork & Quilting radio show this coming Monday, December 10! Please join me- I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun! (Can you from all of my !!!!! that I'm excited???!!!) Please tune in and tell all of your quilt-y, craft-y, sew-y friends about it.....

This weekend we are going Christmas caroling, and I'm going to try to finish putting all of my decorations up. And then, maybe some much needed down time and relaxation on Sunday afternoon. What's going on with you this weekend? Holiday decorating? Baking Christmas cookies? Maybe just catching up on laundry and other domestic necessities?? Remember to take time to do something fun....