Western General Store

  It's hard to get into the Fall spirit in Texas when the weather is hot and dry and the leaves on the trees are turning brown and falling off instead of turning beautiful colors. I wanted to make a Fall lariat wreath and add a bright red boot, and about the time I was creating it, I think I ushered in the season, because the nights stared turning cooler! I chose a lime green used lariat for this project. I wrapped the lariat on one side with green wire so I would have a place to stick foliage. I stuck in Fall foliage. Don't go any further and you have a nice simple Fall wreath. I experimented by attaching a Halloween bow, but decided to leave it off. I cut out a boot shape from plywood and spray painted it red. I drilled a hole in the middle and attached a 2 3/8" concho I had on hand. I attached the boot to the lariat with a hot glue gun. It's easy to make a wreath with a lariat. Let your imagination and creativity propel you to success!

This is a tutorial on how to make a Christmas Lariat Wreath. First step: Find a used lariat. That's easy for me since I live in the middle of cowboy country! A zip tie at the top secures the rope. Tuck the tail into the rope strands. The ribbon was for a hanger, but in the end, I used wire. Some may want to use this idea. This is an old swag from my mother's decorations. I decided not to go this route. Wrap about 3 foot of garland  at the top. This provides fullness and a place to stick greenery. Stick in greenery. Add a bow. There are lots of videos on the internet on how to construct a bow. I used a pipe cleaner to attach. I attached red ball ornaments with wire. This would be complete unless you wanted to add a horseshoe. One idea is to use a glue gun to wrap ribbon and include a horseshoe. I chose to attach a horseshoe with a pipe cleaner. I tied on a bow, or you could glue it. The size of this wreath is 21 inches across. Have fun making your wreath! Merry Christmas!  

Here are a few things I put together for Western Fall Décor Ideas! These Wood slices were cut from a downed tree on our property. They were in the shed drying out for a couple of years. You can sand and seal and use them for a variety of things. I didn't sand these since I will be using them for another project. Wood Slice Centerpiece - I made a center piece with fall foliage in a horse pitcher, a ceramic Halloween pumpkin and fall leaves and gourds all placed on the wood slices. Lariat Wreath - Take a lariat and zip tie it at the top, wire on a bow and insert fall foliage. Easy! Horseshoe Wreath - I took a 16" grapevine wreath and cut the top off with a saw to make a horseshoe shape. I tied the ends at the top with brown wire just to keep it from coming apart, but it held its shape very well without it. I stuck in foliage and wired on a bow. I drew and cut out the plywood galloping horse on a scroll saw. I painted it and used a paint pen to write the...

I've always wanted to make western style mirrors. I bought a couple of mirrors from the craft store, one 12"x 12" and the other 10" round. I used the weathered wood frame from the Clocks blog. Since I used epoxy to 'glue' in the tile, it took a while to get it out and clean it up. I had to rout out a little wider for the mirror since it was larger. I cut strips of leather 1" wide and attached with Star Tacks . My husband's industrial strength glue gun worked nicely for mounting the mirror in the frame. A different idea would be to attach hair on cowhide pieces to the corners with upholstery nails and add barbed wire on the sides. Now for a lariat mirror. I took a lariat and wound it tight to fit around the 10" mirror. I first taped it together  so I could wrap leather lace on each side. Then I attached leather laced conchos. I cut a piece of plywood on the scroll saw a little smaller than the lariat and glued the mirror onto it....

Make a Spring Lariat Wreath for Mother's Day, Valentine's Day or just to celebrate the Spring! I had a pink lariat rope in which I zip tied together at the top. I zip tied a burlap bow to the rope and added raffia to cover the zip tie. I drew and cut a heart out of plywood with the scroll saw and painted it white. I applied crackle medium, let dry and added pink paint. I painted jute twine white and hot glued it around the heart. For the letters I used acrylic paint markers and tied the heart to the top with white thread. Silk flowers were inserted into the rope at the top. This should give you some ideas to create your own Springtime wreath.