Fall & Halloween Wreath

It's a little late to be posting Halloween projects, or maybe not...  Halloween is still two weeks away, but the cool thing about this wreath is that you can switch it to a Fall wreath in 5 minutes or less.  I love anything that I only have to make once then use it for something else with just a quick change.   This all came about because my daughter-in-law sent me a photo of a wreath she saw on somebody's door and asked if I could "make one like that".   It was already a bit late to find exactly the same supplies, but I grabbed the last roll of orange deco mesh at my local craft store and a Halloween garland, now on sale and here's what I came up with, plus the idea to change it to a Fall wreath on November 1st!  This is the wreath for the next 2 weeks

and this is the Fall wreath transformation!

This is what you do.  You'll need a wreath, a roll of 5" wide Deco Mesh and some floral pins to make the basic wreath. I used a straw wreath for this because it was cheaper.  KEEP THE PLASTIC ON!  For the Halloween wreath decorations, I used Smoothfoam™ letters "B, O, O", a 1" Smoothfoam ball,  a small piece of cheesecloth, 2 black sequins, 2 sequin pins (they are shorter than regular straight pins), 4 bamboo skewers, black paint and 2 plastic zip ties. 

1.  Pinch the end of the mesh together then secure to the wreath with a floral pin.

2.  Pinch the mesh about 6" from the end then secure to the wreath with a floral pin about 2"-3" from the first pin to create a loop.  Make loops all around the wreath.

3.  Secure the end of the black tinsel garland to the top of the wreath then wind it backwards and forwards around the mesh loops.

4.  Make the decorations.
 
    Ghost:  Stick the blunt end of a skewer into the base of the ball.  (There's a small indentation you can use as a guide.)  Attach the zip ties to the dowel as shown for arms then cover the head with the cheese cloth draping it over the arms as shown.  Push the "arms" upwards to the base of the head.

 

Tie the cheesecloth tightly around the skewer at the base of the head.  I used a piece of a black chenille stem I happened to have, but you can use anything.  Attach the sequins to the head with sequin pins for eyes.  You can also make black dots of paint (or marker) directly on the ball for eyes, before covering with the cheesecloth.

    Letters:  You can leave these white, or add small black dots using the rounded end of a paintbrush handle - perfect for dotting.  Black adhesive acrylic jewels would look great too!

    Bow:  This is a simple bow.  Cut about 24"of Deco Mesh.  Cross the ends over then pinch together at the center.  Attach to the wreath with a floral pin.  You can also use a zip tie to wrap around the center to secure.

5.  Cut 3 skewers to 5"-6" in length then push one into the bottom of each letter.  Attach the letters and ghost to the wreath.

When November 1st comes around, simply remove the bow, ghost and letters then replace the tinsel garland with a Fall garland.  You can use the same bow again, or add a burlap bow and a floral pick.  How cool is that!!!!!

Enjoy!  Y'all come back now...........

Yours truly,
 Julie :) 

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON CRAFTING!