Halloween is one of those holidays you either love or hate.
Unless you're me, in which case you both love and hate it. In a related note, I also both love and hate exercise, John Grisham novels, Spanx and America's Next Top Model.
When it comes to Halloween decorations I'm not big on the cartooney, cutesy stuff. Think more Addams Family, less Munsters. For one thing The Addams Family were infinitely more elegant than the Munsters. Candelabras, smoking cauldrons and marble floored ballrooms. They had better taste than the Carringtons when you think of it.
Creepy really can be beautiful if you're focused. And creepy but beautiful was exactly what I wanted for the Halloween wreath I planned to make this year.
So when I eased my way past the people wearing slippers as actual footwear in the Halloween aisle of my local Dollar Store, I had to keep a sharp eye. Only look at things that had qualities I would have in my house on any given day, let alone Halloween.
What I came away with were some black skulls covered in sparkles, 8 black feather boas and some black cotton gauze.
The Dollar Store didn't sell any styrofoam wreaths big enough for what I wanted to do, so I hijacked a garbage bin behind a furniture store and grabbed 3 sheets of styrofoam to make my own wreath.
And here's how I did it and exactly what I used.
Materials
Table of Contents
A Few Black Sparkly Skulls - $ 1 each
8 Black Feather Boas - $2 each.
Black Gauze - $1
3 Sheets of Styrofoam - Free
If you choose to make your own styrofoam wreath form because of your excessive cheapness (and laziness ... couldn't be bothered to drive to Michael's) you have to glue your sheets of styrofoam together.
This way you end up with a nice, thick wreath. Not an unnice, skinny wreath.
I used 3, 1" pieces of styrofoam to make a HUGE wreath. You don't have to be as excessive as me. I tend towards excessiveness.
After you glue all your pieces together with regular white glue, let it dry overnight.
The next morning, when you wake up bright and cheery, full of vim and vigour, stretching your arms over your head just like they do in breakfast cereal commercials, your styrofoam will be perfectly adhered, ready for shaping into a wreath.
The first thing you'll need to do is regress to grade 6 math class and make one of those circle making things out of a string, a pin and a marker.
Do the same thing in the centre with a smaller circle.
Grab the trusty 1970's electric knife you bought at a church bazaar and get 'er revved up. Maybe stretch your arms over your head again, just for good measure.
Cut the outer styrofoam circle. An electric knife is the easiest way to cut styrofoam. I'm not saying you won't have flying balls of styrofoam everywhere. It just makes it easier. Be forewarned that you will be trying to clean up styrofoam balls that have static clinged themselves to every part of you and your kitchen. For the next week.
Good job. Now your outer circle is cut out perfectly. I'm quite impressed with you.
Now cut the centre circle out.
In just moments I'm going to wrap the black feather boas around the wreath, but to make sure they stay where you want them you should cut some wire into 2 inch pieces ...
... and then bend them over so they're like modified clippy things.
Start wrapping and clipping your boas around the wreath.
When you've applied approximately 17 birds worth, you'll have something that looks like this.
If you need a little more room in the centre of your wreath, just clip away some of the feathers so you have a bigger opening.
Allow the cat to court it's newfound love for a minute or two then shoo the cat away.
I randomly cut small pieces of the black gauze and then pinned them "pleasingly" on the wreath. Just wherever I thought it looked good. It was at this point I had to show some restraint, remembering I wanted a classy and elegant Halloween wreath. My "excessive" gene had to be stomped down for this one.
Every so often hold your wreath up to see what it'll look like hanging.
The sparkly skulls I got from the Dollar store had tooling and ribbons around their necks and came on sticks. However, I didn't like where the sticks were, so I cut them off ...
... and placed them where I wanted them, in the backs of the skulls. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love these sparkly styrofoam skulls. They make me want to grin and stretch my arms above my head like I'm about to have a delicious bowl of sugar cereal.
This is another place I had to show some restraint. If you want to know the truth, I actually bought 8 skulls expecting to use them all and thought it was entirely possible I'd need to go buy more. But when it came down to it the wreath actually looked better with only a few skulls. Too many of them and they weren't as noticeable.
Hang it on the door, bat your eyelashes at Gomez and call it a night.
Oh yes! And I put mini-lights into it for nighttime viewing.
If you plan on doing this yourself for Halloween keep a couple of things in mind. The wreath will end up costing you $20 - $25 depending on where you get your supplies but you can use it year after year. So all in all it's pretty inexpensive. Even if it costs you $30 ... it isn't disposable so that's a deal and a half really. It'll last you as long as you can keep your cats from humping it to death.
Also, improvise. If you can't get feather boas, use all black gauze. If you can't find sparkly skull heads, use crows or spiders or anything else that gives you a tight squeeze, cool breeze ... leaves you with the shiverees Don't worry if you can't find the exact same materials I have. Just get things you like. As you can see, I happen to think the wreath looks best if it's monochromatic. An all white version of this would also be beautiful and unexpected.
And on *that* very Martha Stewart note ... happy wreathing.
Love Morticia.
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CourtneyOutLoud
This is a great Halloween project. You need your own YouTube DIY channel!
Deb J.
Love the wreath. Gives me ideas for Christmas. Regarding styrofoam, you can cut it on a band saw too - if you have one. And a tip I got from my mother - one way to control (at least a bit) those styrofoam bitties that fly all over the place is to rub yourself down with dryer sheets. They control the static. The spray stuff works too but is harder to find. This trick works with styrofoam peanuts and foam rubber bits as well. Doesn't solve the whole problem but means you can get the $*!* things off your hands:)
jeni
You DO NOT want to rub those dryer sheets on your body. In fact, you do not want to dry your clothes with those sheets. The thing they are good for is to keep mice out of your house. Why do you think mice and insects will not go near them? They are toxic.
Fifi
Your creativity is terrifyingly inspirational. I bet you give out the best treats on the block, too...
On my way to Dollarama.
giggle
THIS IS SO CUTE I AM GOING TO GIVE IT A TRY. THE BOA IN RED OR GREEN COULD DO SOMETHING FOR NEXT HOLIDAY!!!
Theresa
Gorgeous! I'm thinking crows as I love them and maybe dried berries and vines. I like a touch of nature. But gotta hurry as the holiday is almost upon me
Kate
Karen, you are a legend....
Karen
Kate - I poke myself in the eye at least once a day. And I regularly can't follow something as simple as a Disney movie. I am not a legend. ~ karen. ow!
Natalie
Hahaha, that part about the cat in your post was hilarious! :)
Mary C
Well Done!!!
Karen O.
This is fabulous! I love Halloween, but I think that like you, too often I find the decorations gaudy and ridiculous. This would be awesome hanging on the front door of my house. Thanks, so much! :D
Tonia
I love it. I'm always drooling over high priced wreaths, but can't bring myself to spend the money on them. I like to decorate more for fall than Halloween. I'm feeling crafty now. Thanks for the inspiration.
Steph
Great wreath! And just as creative (more) than the overpriced ones in the store!
I wish more of us would realize our creative potential. Just get some cheap stuff, and play with it a bit. You'll be surprised what happens!
Michelle
Very cool! If I can get remotely organized I am definitely going to try this! You are absolutely right about those skulls - they are awesome! I can't believe you found them at the dollar store!
Jacque Charwood
That is beautiful!! I think I may have to invest in this... I've found SO many thing I want to make this year.... some of them are just going to have to wait until NEXT year!! LOL
Ana
I love it!!
Sam
I so admire you types over the pond who really make a celebration out of Halloween. Sadly in Britain that would be set fire to and posted through your letter box, closely followed by some dog shit. Either that or held to ransom by a scary youth demanding a 'treat' for its return, which would probably be £50 or your jewellery!
Cindy Casique
Oh my! You don't celebrate Halloween there?
Liz
oh, the wreath looks awesome by the way. Really awesome.
Liz
The only thing you left out of this post was how horrendous it feels cutting styrofoam (or polystyrene if you don't live on the North American continent).
Squeeeeeeeky squeeeky. It's making me clench my teeth just thinking about it.
Rebecca
Man, I finally beat you to something! I did a black feather boa wreath last year, and just remade it a couple of days ago because I took it apart to use the form. I, also being cheap and lazy, made this one, but I just used one skinny sheet of foam core, and once the boas are wrapped around it, it looks really full. I didn't embellish it at all, and I like it that way, but your skulls are lovely! Typing the word "boas" gave me an idea for next year's wreath - snakes!
Karen
Snakes! That's a fantastic idea. But I did that last year. HAHAHAH Just kidding. I'm not sure I could make an *elegant* snake wreath. It's really hard to find a sparkly snake. Other than at a male strip club perhaps. ~ karen
sk
it may be hard to find a sparkly snake but it is decidedly NOT hard to find a can of high gloss black spray paint...
Cindy Casique
THAT was hysterical....male strip club. Bahaha.
martina
Martha Stewart did a gorgeous snake wreath this month if you want some inspiration: http://tiny.cc/45egc
Karen
That isssssssssss nice. I of course, would like to do a version of it and "one-up" her. I'd use real snakes. ~ karen
Rebecca
I can beat Karen to the punch, but not Martha. Never Martha!
Karen
LOL. I ... um ... I didn't want to say anything earlier, but well ... I actually did my first feather boa wreath several years ago. Sorry! I'm sure you'll "get me" eventually. ~ karen
Ann
Are you ok, kid? ...
Pati
Awesome! I too hate cutesy...this is perfect. I usually harvest big branches and do my front door with spiders and webs. Thanks for the great idea and post!... I just hope our dollar store has some comparable stuff.
Shea
You have me wishing my dollar store was open 24 hours. Love this!
Vila
You have me fishing we are celebrating halloween :))) great ideas, as always!