Primitive Carrot Wreath

I combined two of my tutorials to make this wreath. One was for my Spring Primitive Wreath, and the other was my Primitive Carrot tutorial. I think this wreath would look great with a bunny in the middle, or maybe a primitive tag that says, "Welcome Spring" or just plain and simple the way it is.

Thanks for taking a peek!

Primitive Carrots

Hello again!  I wanted to share a tutorial for making some primitive carrots to go along with your primitive bunnies.  Click on my older post in February to see how the bunnies were made and add these carrots to make your spring arrangement really "pop."

Here we go again.....

First, I drew a carrot on this muslin with a pencil.  I doubled the muslin so when I cut it out there will be two peices that are the same size and shape.

Next, I cut out the carrot leaving a quarter inch space around the outside.  Stitch around the carrot right on the pencil marks.  Leave an opening in the end the greenery will go in.

Turn the carrot inside out and stuff it with poly fill.

Next, find some greenery to stuff in the end of your carrot.  I have some leftover primitive pine from Christmas that will do the trick.  Use your imagination here, almost any type of greenery will work.

I used my wire cutters to snip off three pieces of this pine to use in the end of the carrot.

Stuff your greenery in the end.  I then used a needle and tread to bunch the top together around the greenery and sewed it up.

Next, I used some acrylic craft paint to paint the fabric orange with a brush.  This is "433 Terra Cotta" by Folk Art.  I prefer to use muslin painted, instead of orange fabric because the paint helps to make it look old and makes it stiff.  But you could use orange or orange patterned fabric to make these carrots and then skip the painting step.

While the paint is drying, I mix cinnamon and Mod Podge in a disposable cup.  You can use any spice you like here, it just grubbies the carrot up and makes it look more real.

Now take a paint brush and brush your Mod Podge mixture all over the carrot (not the greenery though).  Let this dry and your carrot is finished.  I do a bunch of carrots at a time...it makes each step go by quicker.  Now all you have to do is decorate them.  I made some "Carrot" tags, bunched them together and tied cheese cloth around them.  Check out my older tutorial in February titled Primitve Bunnies to see how I made the tags.  Then just stick your carrot bunches in arrangements or sit them out in bowls or all by themselves.  Use your imagination!  They really make everything look so much like spring with the bright color!

Thanks for taking a peek...let me know what you think!

**Christina**

Primitive Bunnies

Here's another tutorial for my primitive bunnies that can be put in all kinds of arrangements. I'm sharing the instructions for making the bunnies, use your own imagination for different ways to arrange them in all different kinds of containers.

Here we go....

First, I used muslin and folded it in half so when I cut the bunny out, it is double thickness. I free handed drawing a bunny outline directly on the muslin.

I cut out the bunny about a quarter inch on the outside of the pencil marks. Stitch along the pencil mark but leave an opening in the bottom to stuff him.

Turn him inside out, and place a piece of craft wire doubled over (like the piece shown) up in each ear. I then stitch a line at the base of the ear to keep the stuffing from going up into the ears.

Now stuff the bunnies and stitch across the bottom to close him up.

I cut a triangle of fabric and stitch it to his face for a nose. Use any decorative stitch you want here. Then I coffee stain them, I just dip them in a full pot of coffee, but use any formula you like.

Then I took Hemp thread and pulled through to make wiskers, you can use rusty wire curled on each end if you would like to instead. Use buttons, stars, paint or whatever you like for eyes. I used grungy berry bowl filler that I hot glued on.

For the tags, I cut a piece of brown paper bag from the grocery store, and just used a Word program on my computer to print "Bunny" and Rabbit" for their tags. You can use your imagination here for the tags.

I cut the tags out, punch a hole through them, wrinkle them a little and then thread a loop through each one. I just used cheese cloth around their necks looped through the tags, but you can use any fabric you like to here.

Now you're finished...how easy was that?

This bunny I placed in an old wooden bucket with some spanish moss for filler in the bottom and some spring berries in the back.

This one I arranged in an old, rusty wire basket.

Here, I arranged one in an old metal cup.

Here's my favorite, two bunnies arranged in an old tool box.

I hope you enjoyed and can use my bunny tutorial. I would love to see how yours come out!

**Christina**