Make a Halloween wreath
This autumn wreath has a spooky twist making it perfect for Halloween!
What you will need:
Long lengths of evergreen vine
Twine or ribbon for hanging
Thin wire / floristry wire (twine could be used but would be more fiddly)
Wire cutters
Acorn caps
White and black acrylic paint
Paintbrush
Tree cones
Orange berries
Dried seed heads or grasses
Dried leaves
Glue gun and glue (optional)
What you need to do:
This project started as I was trimming some of the climbers in my garden and ended up with lots of long lengths of flexible vines ideal to be made into a wreath! I used cuttings from an evergreen jasmine but lengths of any evergreen climber will work, you just need to make sure the cuttings you take are pliable.
Begin by gathering long lengths of vine and untangling them. Take several lengths and form them into a circular shape the size you want your wreath to be, joining and weaving any extra length into the circle. If you’d like your wreath to be thicker, then take a few more lengths of vine and weave them in and around the circle. Tuck in any loose ends.
Wrap wire or twine tightly around the start point to secure the wreath and then roughly wrap the wire or twine around the rest of the wreath which will create some extra points to tuck in your decorations.
Next, you will need to gather your decorative nature materials. You’ll need some acorn caps and small tree cones, such as alder cones. Make sure they have a stem or small branch attached which you can weave into the wreath. Dried grasses, seed heads or thistles and some fallen autumn leaves would also work well and orange berries will add some beautiful Halloween colour.
To make the googly eyes, paint the inside of the acorn caps white and once dry, paint a black pupil in the middle.
Paint your tree cones black.
Now you can decorate your wreath! Start by tucking the dried grasses and thistles into the wreath, making sure they won’t fall out. You can secure with extra wire or twine if needed. Then add your alder cones and berries in the same way.
Take a few of the leaves and, holding them together by the stalks, thread the stalks through the vine wreath. Pull the stalks so the leaves bunch together a bit which helps hold them in place.
Now you can add your googly eyes! Push the stems of the acorn caps through the entwined vines and try and tuck the ends back into the wreath to secure. This might be tricky if the stalks are short but you can use a hot glue gun or a strong glue to hold them in place.
Now you just need to add a twine hanging loop and your Halloween wreath is ready to be hung!
Author: Denise Hope, home educating mum of two boys