Wicked Wreath of Delight ~ crafting with the kids

It is that time of year again when the streets will be filled with miniature ghouls and goblins. If your house suffers the same fate as mine, then they already haunt the halls and stairwells.  These critters are howling and growling for activities and themed crafts to ring in the season!

If you’re like me, you prefer creating treasures that will not only last for years to come but will work well with your decor. Of course, in a house hold much like mine, it must have “NO Budget” (the husband doesn’t let me spend any money). Obviously it is unrealistic to make totally amazing creations on zero dollars, but we will keep the costs to a minimum.

Check out the list of items we used in making this wreath, but remember this is all personal preference. You may want to vary it to match your tastes. I tend to follow the rule of less is more but that doesn’t mean it’s right. Make this project your own.

Items used:

• 1 Black Halloween Wreath
• 1 Wide Polka-Dot Wire Ribbon
• 3 Thin Solid Colored Ribbons
• 1 Bag of Harvest Colored Jewels
• 1 Purple Sparkly Spider
• 1 Orange Sparkly Spider
• 1 Glue Gun w/glue sticks
• 1 metallic or black twisty tie

Run (don’t walk or they might be all gone by the time you get there) to your nearest craft center and pick up a basic black wreath like the one seen in this picture. They are cheap inexpensive and the perfect palette from which to start.

When picking your ribbon you have a choice (we went with the $.99 special spools), you can make the bow wide and the ribbon around the wreath thin like we did, all of it wide or all of it thin, it is completely up to you and your personal preference. I like the look of the thin ribbon around the wreath using the wide wire ribbon for the bow; it is easier to work with and allows more wreath for show when adding the jewels later. But I have done the large ribbon all the way round the wreath before as well. If you choose to go this route, replace the purchase of the thin ribbon with an additional wide roll. If you question whether you have enough, buy an extra spool; it is always better to have extra than not enough.

Need I tell you to remove all tags? I would hope not. Let’s begin. Lay out your wreath and fluff. This alone will make a big difference.  Set aside.

1. Take the ribbon you have chosen for the bow and remove all of it from the spool.  Deciding how wide you want your bow to be measure from the end of the ribbon in and fold. (For me this is generally 9 to 10 inches long with the cinch in the center) Now fold the ribbon again over the end.  When you have wound the ribbon approximately four times stop and wrap the twisty tie around the center, cinching in with a twist to create the bow.
2. Once you have this secure you can fan the sides out to your liking, puffing and fluffing until the bow looks just right. If you want part of the larger bow design to hang down the center of your wreath, take this into consideration when making. Either cut the ribbon length out before hand and run it across the back, attaching with the twisty or buy extra ribbon if you fear you won’t have enough for this scenario.
3. Now that you have your bow, get your other ribbon or ribbons ready. We have three so we tied them together and anchored them to the back of the wreath. Have fun weaving them in and out, back and forth and around the wreath. Make sure you have enough left over to hang from your bow if you like this look. Unless your wreath is considerably larger than ours or your ribbon much shorter, it shouldn’t be a problem. In our case we took two colors one way and the third the opposite. It was anarchy! LOL Have fun with this, that’s what it
   is all about.
4. Once the ribbons are in place you can anchor the bow. This is an easy thing to do. Take an extra piece of the thinner ribbon (In our case we used all three together, using them as one), or whatever ribbon type you chose to use, and wrap it around the center of the bow securing it directly to the wreath in the location of your choice and tie it off in the back. Just let the extra dangle down nicely as we have, making sure to cut a nice clean end. I always cut a crisp sharp angle.
5. Jewel time! You can waste time trying to tie these precious stones nicely to the wreath but ultimately they will fall where ever they want when you lift and hang the decoration on your door. You probably won’t be happy.  I know I wasn’t. Save time and irritation, get out the glue gun and warm that puppy up. Decide where you want each jewel to be and glue them into place. It’s as easy as 1-2-3. You don’t need to use them all but you can if you want. I leave that up to you. Once all your treasures are in place be sure to remove every little strings the glue leaves. We don’t want those clinging to our beautiful work of art.
6. You can see it is really coming together now! We are in the home stretch. All it needs is that final little *WOW*. That special something that simply makes “IT”. Grab your pretty spooky little spiders and clip them into place. The kids and I had predetermined where ours would go before we started gluing on the jewels. You might want to do the same. One small spider to the bow and one sparkly scary, eye-catching spider front and center. Wa La! You and the kids have now created a spooktacular wreath for the front door that will make you the envy of all your neighbors.

I hope you enjoyed this Halloween craft. I would love to hear from you. Do you like to craft at the holiday time? Do you have a favorite?