Woodsy Walk & DIY Mossy Wreath

Our neighborhood is literally surrounded by woods.  Deep and forestlike, those woods hold a lot of interesting views and nature scenes.  Me and the hubby enjoy walking in the woods and there are trails all over the place, so we could literally walk for hours, up and down the hills and valleys nestled back in those woods.  This one we drive to, even though it’s right next to our ‘hood, it’s easier to get to with a car.

This trail meanders right beside a pretty stream of water and with all the leaves changing colors for fall, made a wonderful place to walk.

I started noticing all this pretty green moss growing everywhere while we were walking, especially on the large granite rocks that were in abundance.  Take note of this, we’ll come back to it.

That pretty stream.

Now, this trail is straight into the woods literally at the end of our street.  We walk down the street, through a neighbor’s yard and into the woods and this is one of the big trails that is back here.  It’s all owned by a large corporation and hasn’t been developed, much to our delight.  We are technically trespassing, but that has never stopped us yet since we are surrounded by beauty, a big open sky, and mountains.

See our mountains?!  In case you didn’t realize this, Birmingham is at the foot of the Appalachian mountain range and our little mountains are quite impressive.  I had no idea until we moved over here that the terrain was this hilly at all and that was a pleasant surprise.  Alabama the beautiful!

The view from the top is amazing.  We sat up there and talked and rested a bit, me perched out on a BIG rock to take these pics.

And a little self-portrait since we climbed up so high to get here.  It was a warm semi-sunny fall day and I got so hot I had to take my sweatshirt off and cool off a bit.

I should have pointed the camera straight down, so you could see just what a drop-off this was where I was sitting.  Lots of granite rock formations are up  here too.

Anyway, this little walk in the woods was a sidenote, now let’s get on to the main thing I wanted to talk about…that MOSS!

Yep, that pretty moss caught my eye and I decided it was too special not to use, so I went back and dug up enough to make myself 2 wreaths.

OK, stop laughing, I know I could have gone to the craft store and bought a couple of bags and accomplished the same thing.  But, this was so much more fun!  How neat to gather your own moss! 🙂  I bought 2 of these smallish straw wreaths last year during the holidays on sale, with plans of doing something with them.  So, now I had my big plan.

I laid the moss out for several days and let it dry out well.  Yes, there is dirt on the back, but a lot of it will come off once it dries out, so let it dry for several days.  The best moss I gathered was growing right on top of the big rocks and came off in nice sheets without a lot of dirt.  But, yes, there is dirt.  And maybe a few bugs.  That’s why it’s a good idea to leave it out in the garage for several days, just in case some bugs come out. 🙂  I’m just sayin’.

I got out the hot glue gun and starting gluing away.  It really stayed on well.  It’s like filling in a puzzle, just keep adding bits and pieces all the way around the wreath until it is completely covered.

On the right, you’ll see the backside of the moss, lots of dirt.  I’m hoping that most of this will stay put after I glue it all down.   Some of it, I knocked off before I started gluing.

And here they are all finished.  I just love how natural and woodsy they look with the special moss from my nearby woods.

I think I’ll wrap some pretty green ribbon around them and keep them really natural and simple and find a special place to hang them.

So, do you think you’d ever try this too?  I know, it’s pretty crazy to dig up moss, but it was right there for the taking and I loved the texture and color of it.  If you’re out in the woods, take a look around and see what you can find, there’s so much beauty out there if you just look for it. The Lord is such a masterful Creator.

Joining Kimba’s DIY Day.