Some of my fun North Iowa Bloggers and I attempted to be crafty the other night.  Some of us succeeded perhaps a little bit better than others but we all had fun and that was what the whole evening was about.

You might remember me writing about visiting the Carlson Christmas Tree Farm back when I was posting about our Franklin County Harvest Bloggers Tour in the fall this year.  It was one place that we stopped on our first night to enjoy some fabulous food and conversation.  Oh yes–the wiggle cars and meal worms were also a hit that night. Our return trip this week was specifically to make beautiful evergreen wreaths.

Several of us were able to make the trip to go be creative and like I said—some did better than others.  I decided that I am much better at paper crafting than I am at wreath making.

Amy and Alicia look for just the right size bundle!

Amy is just not quite sure about this bundle!

Val was an old pro at wreath making –can you tell? Donna was just trying to create one handed.

Jeni and I teamed up to do our wreaths together but we were just not getting it right.  Jeni kept taking breaks and going over to snuggle Sophie who has to be the absolute best dog in the whole wide world.  I couldn’t’ blame Jeni at all.

Jeni and Sophie

The process included making 10 bundles of 3 different types of evergreen and then using the cool wreath crimping apparatus to clamp the greens into the wire frame.  Sounds easy but our first wreath was a bit……grandiose.  Or as Michelle (wreath elf and maker extraordinaire) said “it is certainly whimsical”.   I think that was code for crazy, ridiculous looking, horrible really not good. She is so kind.

The good thing is we had all this great help to make our “creation” look fabulous.

Beth makes pretty bows. Must be because of her name.

Jeni said she would take the first wreath we made and it actually turned out looking really nice when it was all done. 

I continued to work on mine and with the right bow and embellishments I was really happy with my not so whimsical wreath. Never mind the bubbly door (you can read that post here—yes–I write about everything here on It’s Just Life).

We all had so much fun and laughter filled the barn.  I would do this again in a heartbeat because the folks at Carlson’s are real nice people.  Genuine and good people who have a wonderful family business that they obviously love running. The local paper ran a front page story on them this week and you can click here to go to read more about their operation.  It is really quite interesting. 

We really did have a great night and topped it off with dinner at West Fork Wharf in Sheffield.  I was feeling a bit cranky with no nap, a late night and late dinner so I was craving comfort food and West Fork Wharf provided that in a wonderful way.  We shared some appetizers of batter fried handcut whole mushrooms which were recommended to us by several folks ahead of time and along with the delectably crisp cheese curds our dining experience started out superbly. Just look at these mushrooms!

I decided to go with one of the specials that was a lovely entree of sliced beef over mashed potatoes and Texas Toast.  Like I said—I was craving comfort food and wow—was this an awesome choice.

The portion was huge and after chowing down on appetizers I ate about 1/3 rd of my entree and packed the rest up for leftovers. I was thrilled with my choice and would definitely return to this place again. The food was excellent and our service was prompt with attention to drink refills and to go boxes offered at just the right time.  My crankiness disappeared.

As Jeni and I drove back to Mason City we realized that we are both definitely not used to being “out in the country” as much as we were.  It was dark.  Really dark.  While I don’t claim to be a big city girl at all I guess I am used to having a few more lights around me at night than there are in the country.

Would I do it again?  Without a doubt.  Would I go with these gals anywhere?  YES!  We have such a great time and I am building up memories in my memory bank for that time when I am no longer a North Iowa Blogger. These friendships are lifetime friendships and I am blessed.

What has blessed you this week?  Have you ever made a “whimsical” craft that didn’t turn out quite as expected?  I would love to hear all about it.  Thanks for stopping by today.