It’s time. It’s TIME! I big.fat.heart.Halloween! It’s one of my favorite holidays…mainly because it’s all about kids in my world (not evil), it’s fun, and it’s in the fall. There’s something wonderful about being out in the evening in that cool, brisk air, running from house to house asking for, what else, but CANDY!
My mom was never a big holiday decorator. She just wasn’t (isn’t). I did all of our decorating. Our Halloween decorations consisted of a couple of clay pumpkins and maybe, occasionally, a little figurine or two. Thatz it. Depressing right? I always promised myself I’d do better. And this year, I mean it!
This is not an original idea (are there any?) I was flipping through the most recent Parents magazine and saw the most adorable Pumpkin wreath. I found this in the most recent Parents magazine. I tried to find a link online, but no such luck so I’m doing a little tutorial for yall. First, let me show you the final product!
Isn’t it cute?!? I just love it. Simple and really easy to make.
Ok, to the tutorial
Supplies (I did 2 wreaths):
Wreath (the directions in the recipe calls for 16 inch foam, I used a 12 inch straw wreath with plastic removed: Michaels: 1.99 ea)
Orange burlap (I found it at Hobby Lobby for 2.99/yd) cut into strips about 3 inches wide and 20 inches long
Hot glue gun and sticks
black felt (4/$1 at HL)
cardboard
ribbon
scissors
stuffing
something to make a stem out of
(anything without a price, I had on had so FREE!)
1. Lay your wreath on the cardboard and trace it. You’re making a back for your wreath. Cut it out.
As you can see, I had no plain cardboard so a Digiorno box it is! I told you this was THRIFTY!
2. Hot glue your cardboard to the wreath. I had to put a lot of pressure on mine to get a good seal.
3. Now, fill up the hole in your wreath with the stuffing like this:
It doesn’t have to be packed full, just nice and fluffy. True confession: I have an old pillow that the washer tried to eat. It now has a hole in it and I use it for stuffing (See the thrifty part of this?)
4. Once you have your hole filled, flip it over carefully and take your first strip of burlap. Attach it to the edge of the cardboard with hot glue and give it a minute to set. Then you can slide the burlap underneath the wreath so you can hot glue the other side. Once your first strip is done, it’ll hold the stuffing in for you. Although, the straw wreath did hold the fluff pretty well for me.
5. Repeat Step 4 until you have the entire thing covered with strips of burlap. The next two pictures are the back
and the front
Tada! Pumpkin!
6. Now, for the stem, I used some leftover brown fabric. You could use green. You could use that foam paper stuff, yarn, a paper sack, or felt. (The magazine used green ribbon tied into random knots. I sort of free-handed it with the scissors and came up with this instead.
It’s not perfect but it’ll do. I hot glued 3 sides together and left the bottom open to insert the stuffing. Then, I stuffed it lightly and carefully hot glued the stem to the top of the wreath.
7. For the face, I looked at the picture in the magazine and kind of copied it. Since I’m no artist, I decided to draw it out on paper and then cut that out for a stencil to use on the black felt. Here’s my very professional stencil
Yep, I used a crayon. Impressed aren’t you?
And here’s the felt on a test-fit.
And HERE are the final products!
Aren’t they CUTE??? They turned out way better than I expected!
To hang my wreath, I just took some ribbon that I had and hot glued it to the back of the cardboard but mine lean a little. I’m thinking of just poking a hole in the back for the hook. I have metal doors so no Nester method of hanging them. And I don’t have any over the door hooks for some reason.
Anyway, that’s my DIY tutorial for some thrifty Halloween decorating!
Total cost:
1.99 x 2 (2 straw wreaths)
2.99 (1 yard of fabric—I actually bought 3 for other projects though)
0.25 x 2 (2 felt sheets)
$7.50 for TWO cute wreaths!
Check back in the next few days! I’m working on another Thrifty Halloween Decor Project now.
Oh! And the question: 1 wreath has eyebrows, the other does not. Which one looks better???
Enjoy,
C-re
