The grass is turning green, the camellias are blooming, and our town is full of Race Day Buzz. Steeplechase Races to be exact!
To celebrate the horse races and welcome our weekend guests I created a Steeplechase Race Day Wreath. It is a fluffy black horseshoe topped off with a colorful paper rosette and ribbons!
Cheapo black trash bags and a wire hanger are the perfect resource for making a large horseshoe shaped wreath. Add brightly colored scrapbook paper and coordinating ribbon and you have a wreath fit for a champion.
Race Day Wreath Supplies
a large wire hanger
3 thirty gallon black trash bags
coordinating ribbons
small pliers for bending the hanger
patterned scrapbook papers
throughbred horse image
coordinating ribbons
All of the scrapbook papers and ribbons were purchased from Hobby Lobby. On sale, of course. 
Straighten the hanger then carefully shape it into a horseshoe shape. Honey’s pliers were helpful with the stubborn ends. The column in my kitchen proved to be a great tool for pulling the hanger into the correct shape. 😉
The trash bags must be cut into strips for tying onto the hanger. To prep the trash bags pull one bag out of the box and lay it on a table. It will be a long rectangle. Do not unfold it!
While it is still folded cut off the drawstring (if there is one) and run your scissors through all the folds. Cutting the folds will turn the strips into 6-8 inches instead of 12-20 inch strips. Once the folds are cut begin cutting the long rectangular into 2″ – 2 1/2″ wide strips.
The strips should be between 6″ and 8″ long. Anything shorter than 6 inches will be too hard to tie.
Simply begin tying the strips onto the wire. All the way around. Pushing the knots together as you go and gently pulling the strips apart after you tie them on will give the wreath a fluffy, full appearance.
Find a good movie or catch up on your DVR recordings because filling the entire shape takes a while.
If you have been a follower of my blog for long you know I have a thing for trash bag wreaths: White and Fluffy $2 Valentine Wreath and Luck of the Irish Shamrock Wreath. Be sure to check out those projects if you need more details on the wreath making process.
Once the wire hanger was completely filled with poofy black strips, I used twine to hang it up outside on the red front door.
Ummm. It didn’t really look like a horseshoe to me.
Then Tootsie scooted by on her Dora bike and yelled, “Ooo, Mama! I like your U!” She was followed a few minutes later by Little Boy who wanted to know why I put a capital U on the front door.
Sigh. Back inside I went.
A 8″ piece of pipe cleaner was added to the tops of the HORSESHOE to make it look like one. Those were covered with 2″ x 6″strips of black trash bags too.
To make the big ribbon rosette I used the same technique for making the Paper Pinwheels (Wall Art on a Budget) for Tootsie’s bedroom makeover. The thoroughbred horse image was downloaded from an online site for free.
The ribbons and rosette were attached to each other with hot glue. Then pipe cleaners were hot glued onto the back of the rosette.
The pipe cleaners twisted easily around the wire wreath form and held the ribbon rosette securely in place.
The Steeplechase Race Day Wreath looks smashing on the front porch! I can’t wait for our weekend house party to begin!
Don’t fret! You will have an all access pass to the Race Day Tablescape, Menu, and Steeplechase fun. Crossing my fingers there will be warm, sunny weather!
Your comments totally make my day! They give me huge motivation to keep creating and having fun with my 3 Little Greenwoods!
I link up with these fun parties!
This is such a unique wreath! I love the use of the trash bags. Great job!
Hey Kelly! Thank you so much for your sweet comment. I love making wreathes. Especially cheap and easy ones!
This is adorable! Such a fun wreath!
Thanks Kelly! I have a definitely wreath addiction going on!
You can do so much with trash bags! Genius and inexpensive. I love that! I love the ribbon! Nice job!
That chevron ribbon is so pretty but it was a bugger to keep from unraveling! So happy you like my wreath, Sweet Friend!
Love this! We live in the heart of Kentucky – can’t wait to show this off on my door!
Found you on the Best of the Weekend link party. Thank you ~Stacy
So happy you like my Race Day Wreath! Pretty please follow along to see the rest of the Steeplechase festivities!
Trash bags?! Who knew! I love making those paper rosettes! I use them all of the time for banners.
I love paper rosettes too! And yes trash bags are my other favorite cheapo crafting supply. Halloween decoration? Awesome idea!
Thanks Deonna for always taking the time to leave a sweet comment!
{bighugs}
Ashley
I think you could make a super cute Halloween wreath with those trash bags too…forgot to add that to my first comment 🙂
My grandparent would have loved this! They bred, raised, trained and raced thoroughbreds for years!
We have the best time at our hometown Steeplechase races! I just had to make a Racing Wreath to celebrate!
Oh wow, what a cute idea!
Thanks for joining the Link Up this week!
You are so creative! I would never have thought of using trash bags. Kudos to the kids for knowing their abc’s 😉 Thanks for sharing at Plucky’s Second Thought. Im this week’s co-host and wanted to introduce myself and let you know i pinned your wreath!
Congrats on your co-hosting!! I love Plunky’s Second Thought linky party!
I truly appreciate you pinning my Race Day Wreath! Thank you!
Ashley, your race day wreath is amazing! Your very talented and creative!!
I nominated you for the Liebster Award ! You can check it out here http://bit.ly/1gN9vaW
Kim from This Ole Mom
So exciting! Even though I’ve been nominated before, I would still love to participate and do my part to promote other blogs!
Ok now that is just freaking awesome! Super creative idea! LOVE!
Thank you so much sweet lady!
This is beautiful, love it! Thanks for sharing on the weekend re-Treat link party!
Britni @ Play. Party. Pin.
Thanks so much for hosting your fun party!
This is SO cute! Love it!
Thank you Jamie! So excited you loved my wreath!
all so pretty!!! Thanks for linking up to Create Link Inspire. You are being featured this weekend and I just spread the word all over my social media ;o) I tagged you where I could so If you see it… retweet, share or like it so we can all work together to promote our projects ;o) Emily@nap-timecreations.com
So thankful that you chose to feature my Race Day Wreath on your Spring Craft Projects Round Up! I have pinned, google+’d it, and Facebook’ed the post! 😉
How fun, they look great! Thanks for linking up to Sweet and Savoury Sunday, stop by and link up with us again this weekend, I’d love to see you there 🙂 Have a great weekend!
Thanks so much for hosting your fun party! I will hop right over!
Extraordinary!! Your wreath is so striking and perfect for the occasion!
Thanks for sharing your tutorial with us at Project Inspire{d}!!
Hey Diane! So tickled that you like my Race Day Wreath! Thank you so much for hosting Project Inspire{d}!
I love that you used trash bags on a wreath! Thanks for linking up to the Be. You. Tiful Link party. Hope to see you back tomorrow night.
Cheapy trash bags are so much fun! Thanks so much for your sweet comment, Adrienne!