"Welcome Gnome" Wreath

I was in the mood to make a new wreath for September.  I was in a store and all their spring/summer stuff was 80% off so I grabbed a gnome and some mushrooms.  It wasn't until I got home that I realized the mushrooms were glass and the gnome was heavy and oh by the way, didn't have anything remotely in the way of ATTACHING it to a wreath on it.

Yep, I love how I paid attention to that particular purchase.

Anyhoo, I mulled it over and grabbed Dean's drill and a teeny drill bit and drilled holes through gnome dude's feet.  Lots of holes.  Then I E6000'ed 2 nails into each heel along with wiring both boot toes with floral wire. It sounds easy but it wasn't.  One of his boots was solid resin and the bit kept getting stuck.  Once it got stuck IN the boot and pulled out of the drill.  Egads, that was a lesson in patience. 
Then the wire didn't want to thread correctly.  Probably had something to do with me NOT lining the holes up because I was "winging it."  But I did it.  

On to attaching gnome dude to the wreath.

Needless to say, punching holes into a plastic wrapped straw wreath I had also wrapped in fabric and then again in burlap wasn't the easiest thing to do. But I persevered and used a metal ka-bob skewer to make holes.  Don't ya love sophisticated tools?
Once that was done I had to cram gnome dude onto the wreath into those holes that oh by the way, had closed up because the wreath is made of STRAW. 
At one point, I thought I was going to cut his feet off or stab myself...seriously.  I was cracking up by now because it was so ridiculous.  

After finally cramming gnome dude and other stuff onto the wreath ("u" pins are da bomb!) I attempted a bow.  I'm not a bow maker.  It took me 5 tries to get it right. Well, sort of right.  I wired that sucker up super fast before any of the loops untwisted.  
  

This damn gnome wreath about killed me.  Talk about a labor of love.   I never realized you could actually SWEAT while making a wreath in your own air conditioned home.  That being said, the wreath looks EXACTLY how I had envisioned it.