DIY By: Amanda @findingmandee
October is almost here!
And while I don’t have my Halloween decorations out just yet, that doesn’t mean that I’m not getting them ready!
In keeping my New Year’s Resolutions, I did a massive clean out of my entire house, including holiday decorations. I ended up getting rid of several of my wreaths for the front door, including my old Halloween wreath.
(My old Halloween wreath was a witch)
I made most of them 4 or 5 years ago and they were just really worn out and faded.While I was a little sad to see my ‘witch wreath’ go, I was more than excited to make a new DIY Halloween wreath. It only took a few minutes of scrolling through Pinterest before I found several Halloween wreaths that I loved!
The Inspiration:
Image on Left (Found on Etsy) and Image on Right (Found on diys.com)
After pinning several of them, I could only narrow down my favorites to 2 different wreaths. I really liked the black and white stripes of the first wreath – it kinda reminds me of Beetle Juice. But I also really like the skull in the top hat on the second wreath – it’s so whimsy and cute.
Since I couldn’t make a final decision, I decided to make a mash-up of the two. Here is how I made this adorable DIY Halloween wreath:
(My mash-up of the 2 inspiration wreaths)
Step 1: Get Supplies
Gather your supplies. Nearly everything for this wreath can be found at Wal-Mart or a local craft store. For this wreath I needed:
- styrofoam wreath form
- styrofoam skull head
- top hat headband
- black & white yarn
- wire
- wire cutters
- ribbon
- scissors
- hot glue gun
- hot glue sticks
Step 2: Wrap with Yarn
Start wrapping the wreath foam with the yarn. Then wrap and wrap and wrap some more!
This was definitely the most time-consuming part of the whole process. I started wrapping the wreath form, creating the black and white stripes, and halfway through I realized that my technique was flawed. I had made the stripes too straight, when I should have made them wider on the outside of the wreath and slightly more narrow on the inside of the wreath form. So, I unwrapped all of my hard work and started again.
I wish there was some tip I could give you to make this step go faster, but I have nothing. My only advice is to find an interesting podcast or good music and comfortable place to sit.
After wrapping each stripe, I used a little bit of hot glue to hold the loose strand of yarn in place.
(Finally done wrapping!)
Step 3: Make and Attach Bows
After the wreath was completely wrapped, I could start working on the ‘fun stuff’. By looking at the inspiration photo I found on Pinterest, I started making the 3 big bows that go under the skull.
I made 3 simple bows, each one slightly smaller than the one before it. Then, I wired the bows into the place where I planned to place the skull. I stacked them one on top of the other very close together.
(The 3 big, ‘traditional’ bows)
After making the 3 major bows, I made 2 smaller ones with the brighter purple and green ribbons. I decided I didn’t like them in traditional bow shapes, so I cut the loops of those bows to make a star-like shape. These were placed on top of the bigger bows and glued down with hot glue.
(After adding the star-shaped bows)
Step 4: Attach the Skull
After gluing all of the bows into place, it was time to attach the skull head to the wreath.
There was no way to attach the skull securely to the wreath until we cut the back of it off. After cutting the back half of the skull off, we were left with a large flat surface. This made it much easier to attach to the wreath form.
Even though the skull head I used is fairly large (bigger than the one on the inspiration pic), I was able to attach it to the wreath using just hot glue because it is really light. If you are using a plastic skull, you might need to also use wire to secure the skull to the form.
(My DIY Halloween wreath is finally coming together!)
Step 5: Attach Top Hat & Extras
Next, I attached the top hat to the skull after cutting it off of the headband that it came on.
To attach it to the wreath, I used floral wire to wrap around the base of the hat and the wreath. I also attached the bottom of the hat to the top of the skull with hot glue.
After adding the top hat, I added in a few extras that I had bought, such as glittery pieces of the wreath picks that I found and the black puff balls. You can also add in extra ribbon, a small sign (like in the inspiration pic), or any other Halloween-themed goodies you can find.
I love my new DIY Halloween wreath and can’t wait for it to hang on the front door!
For more of Amanda’s fun projects, go to her blog at Finding Mandee-Tutorials!