Happy October! Our favorite time of the year is finally here! We started gathering up our decorations, costumes, and pumpkins this past weekend on the 1st. I’ve always wanted to make a Halloween wreath, so that has been my first project for the season. I’m excited to have my wreath included in the Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams 13 Days of Handmade Halloween series! Visit Keisha to see all of the recipes, crafts, and fun Halloween projects included this year.
I went to Michael’s to browse wreath supplies and stumbled upon their natural dried plants, something I didn’t realize they sold. They came in perfect autumn colors and were even on sale, like most of their Halloween items right now! I chose the longer, orange tinted pieces as the base of my wreath, and the smaller orange and yellow flowers to compliment it.
Here are the supplies I started with. The wire frames come in many sizes, I chose my foliage, and some velvet ribbon.
I placed my base branches on top of the wire loop and began wrapping, beginning with the middle of the ribbon on the backside, bringing the loose ends forward to criss-cross. If your branches are particularly resistant to bending or you find yourself in need of an extra pair of hands, it may help to use the wire twist-ties that came with the branches to secure everything before you start wrapping with ribbon.
Once your branches are secured, you can shift them back and forth a bit to be sure they’re evenly spaced (or spaced as you envision them to be!).
Next, you can place your accent foliage in – I love the colors of these dried flowers! I scattered them to fill out any sparse areas and generally have an organic look. It also helps to hang the wreath at this point – I find it much easier to place accents when I can easily see the whole wreath and how everything will hang. It also allowed me to properly position the skull I used as a final creepy touch, to give it a real Halloween feel! The skull is secured with a few inches of wire running through the back, and wrapped around the wreath. I also added some extra ribbon streamers.
As my neighbor pointed out, wreaths made of natural materials can be composted and the ribbon reused for the next one! I love that idea so much and think I’ll go this route and reuse the frame and ribbon for a wintery wreath after Thanksgiving. 🙂
Leave a Comment