Ok this idea I got from HGTV Magazine... and honestly I love it.

First, can we take a moment and talk about the AMAZINGNESS that is HGTV Magazine? I get so excited when it comes in the mail that I squeal like a school-kid and have to find the PERFECT moment to go through it, page by page.  I seriously put so much stock into having a serene moment to read it, that I almost didn't read last month's issue because I could never find a moment's peace (funny how that happens with a toddler and a newborn...).

But back to this month's issue.
And this on page 35.
Yea, that wreath... killer huh?  SOO cute!  Here's a closer up pic

Actual from HGTV magazine online... link HERE

Having a crafting itch that needed to be scratched since #2 came along, I figured this little project would be perfect for me to jump back into my game, especially since it looked pretty easy.
I was going to just do the classic wreath as seen in the magazine but then I saw this little number at Michaels and thought it would be fun to add in.
Thinking it would be beautiful to have a gold-leaf "Y" in the middle of our wreath, I attempted it with a "starter kit" I also found at Michaels... .... .... this was my result.
I even found this great, random box in the garage that I have dubbed my "spray paint box"...  Look how everything just fits in it perfectly with no mess!  Mary Poppins Chris was happy that it kept my mess contained.
 Step 1 of this project was finding the leaves.

Since I'm pretty sure its a class 1 felony to steal leaves from a neighbor's tree without permission, there are no pictures of this step.  Just picture me, dressed in black, playing it cool on a walk with my dogs, pretending they're pooping so I can rip a couple leaves off a neighbors magnolia tree.  If anyone WAS watching, Im sure they thought my dogs had some sort of diarrhea problem with the number of times I said out loud "Poop again?"  as I bent down and yanked a few leaves off this low hanging tree.  I kid you not when I say I ran back to my house thinking I was being followed.  I now understand why people steal; such a RUSH! (jk, dont steal, stealing is bad... should I go and leave money under this tree as penance? No, then people will think its a money tree... ugh, the web of lies!!)

When I got home and off my stealer's high, I threw 7 leaves into my spray paint box.
Brooks was still down for his afternoon nap and Collins had Chris pinned down in the infant sleeper hold/dead weight on the couch so I was safe to do all this for a few minutes. These are the colors I decided to go with:
Set by set, I gave my little stolen beauties a spray down.
I ended up spray painting 35 leaves, which is what HGTV magazine called for, but of course, Brooks woke up from his nap, Collins became the hungriest baby ever, and this project got moved to post-toddler bedtime.

Fast forward a couple hours, a random Home Depot family trip, several readings of Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site, and a glass of wine later, I was back at it.

Before I glued on any leaves, I couldn't decide if my Y should go above or below my wreath.
I decided on above since I wanted to be able to see the our family initial and the leaves would cover the circle anyway.

I also decided to cut my foam wreath in half so it would sit more flush to the door and did a quick, sloppy spray paint so the white wouldn't stand out like a sore thumb.

"yo..."

And so, I began randomly layering and hot-glueing.  Starting from the inside and working out.
I ended up going through all my leaves and needed a few more extras that I grabbed "just in case".  I found the placement I needed before painting them and assigning their colors.
All in all, I used roughly 40 leaves but I LOVE the result.
I hot glued a little twine on the back for the door hook and love how it looks.
So purdy... so Fall.
The only thing I think I would change is maybe painting the "Y" a brighter color, maybe yellow, to stand out more against the red door. But over all, it makes me happy :-)

Ugh, let's have this 100+ degree heat end Dallas!  Mama needs her baggy sweaters and XL yoga pants back in her life!

So what do you guys think?  I know the colors are different from HGTV but I almost think they are a little MORE Fall.

Anyway, Im happy with it.  And I'm also glad I did it with stolen magnolia leaves rather than thin oak leaves or some other type of leaf instead.  The magnolia leaf really holds its weight, held the spray paint well,  and is perfect for this sort of project.

If you have any questions, I would love to answer them!  Happy Fall everyone!