Halloween Wreath

Here's the wonderfully creepy-cute mummy ninni monster I received from my partner Bunnie Boo in a recent craft swap on Craftster:

The heart under the wrappings, the stitched mouth, and especially that crazy red eye make me love him so much I HAD to find a way to display him prominently for Halloween, so I decided to make him the focal point of a wreath for my front door.  Here's the final product:

It came out great, right?  All it took was a quick trip to my local JoAnn's store.  The Halloween decorations were on sale, so I only spent $13 there--that was my cheapest visit to that store, ever!  Here's what I got (and what you will need if you want to make a similar wreath):  a wire wreath form, 1 1/2 yards of black, stretchy, sparkly fabric, a package of Martha Stewart bat cutouts, and a package of "spiderwebs" with plastic spiders.  I also used polyester quilt batting and cotton cheesecloth, both of which I had on hand already.

If I had found a black wreath, I would have used that for my base, but there weren't any in the store, so I made my own black wreath by first wrapping the wire frame with quilt batting strips...

...then cutting the black fabric into strips and wrapping that over the batting.  I sewed everything in place (because glue guns get messy and the glue is permanent, and I like to have the option of changing things later if I wish.)

I loosely wrapped strips of cheesecloth around the wreath for a "festive" look, then arranged the mummy, spiderwebs, spiders and bats.

I make excuses to go in and out my front door just so I can look at my wonderful mummy-ninni wreath now!  It's the creepiest thing I've ever made, and I love it!

Happy Plushies Wreath

This year on Craftster I've made and swapped a lot of plushies; they were starting to take over my house, so I've been looking for ways to put them to use.  I've already told you about using some of them in toy drops for The Toy Society, but a lot of my plushies have button eyes or other parts that might not be child-safe, so I can't use them all that way.  I'm not sure where this new idea came from, but last week as I was thinking about decorating the house for Christmas, I suddenly knew what to do:  put them on a Christmas wreath!  One stop at Walmart was all it took to get the supplies I needed for my project, and here it is, in all it's glory:

I LOVE my new wreath!

By the way--the green plushie on the center left and the red plushie on the center right are Hungry Monsters--the very ones chosen by Natasha at Serenity You as one of her top-ten handmade Christmas gifts this year!

You can make a wreath like this too!  Here's what I used:
--a large artificial wreath
--sparkly red ribbon, and lots of it (I started with a 15 foot roll, and ended up using almost twice that much)
--green string (in the picture the string is red--oops!)
--small sparkly red ornaments
--scissors
--handmade plushies

It's simple, really.  Start by wrapping the wreath with the ribbon.  Ribbon with wire in it works great, because you can shape it as you wish, but it isn't necessary for wrapping the wreath.

When you return to your starting point, tie the ribbon in a knot.

  I made a separate bow, by looping ribbon in a big circle, then gathering it together at the center and tying it in place with the ribbon trailing from the knot on my wreath.  I used wired ribbon for the bow so it would hold its shape well.

I TIED the plushies and ornaments to the wreath, so I could move things around if I wanted to (which would be much harder if I had used glue!)  I sewed the string through the back of each plushie using a big curved needle.

You will want to play with the placement of the stuffies and ornaments to get everything looking good; that's what took the most time.

I'm hanging this wreath on the inside of the front door, where I can enjoy it!  I have a more traditional wreath for the outside of the door, so visitors will think we're normal.

I have a few plushies I haven't used for anything yet...this is what I think I'll do next:



JUST KIDDING!!!!