Getting Crafty: Halloween Rag Wreath

So, despite my excitement over it being October, our Halloween decorations aren’t exactly up yet.  The torrential downpours  last weekend made it virtually impossible for us to put them up, unless of course, I wanted them all to wash away.  So tomorrow is the day.  They will be up tomorrow…hopefully.

In the past we haven’t decorated a lot for Halloween, but now that we have a toddler, it is much more fun to put up decorations for each holiday.  Unfortunately, our supply of Halloween decorations is fairly slim.  Time to make something festive.  Enter, the Halloween Rag Wreath.  I first saw it on this blog, but as I did more research it’s everywhere!  How did I not know that this easy craft was out there?  So in case you’ve been living under a rock (like I apparently have been), here’s how you make one.

I found a ton of holiday fabric on sale at Jo-Anne’s fabrics and got a yard of each.  The directions in the blog linked above state that she only used 2 yards total, but mine ended up needing about 3 1/2 yards.  I think that is because the wreath frame I picked up (for about $2.00 with a coupon)  is a lot bigger than hers.I used my pinking shears and cut the fabric in strips (1 inch wide).

I then cut the strips down to 6 inch a piece.

Take each 6 inch strip and tie it around the wire wreath.  I used double knots, but lots of instructions for this projects state that only single knots are necessary.  The tying part took forever, but it was worth it.

Next, I wanted to decorate my wreath a little.  The original poster used individual letters, but when I found this wooden string of letters spelling out “Beware” for $1.49 at Michael’s, I knew it was the perfect way to decorate my wreath.  I was also able to use the paints that I had left over from this project, and only had to buy orange acrylic paint.

Two coats of gloss finish and it was ready to go on the wreath.But this is where I had to get creative.  I was a little confused as to how I was going to get the string of letters onto the wreath, so I decided to go back to the tying technique that I used to make it.  I hot glued small strings to the back of the letters in 4 different places,

Placed the string of letters where I wanted it on the wreath, pushed the strings through to the back, and tied them to the wreath.  I then cut down the excess ribbon so it would blend with the rest of the wreath (even though they were tied on the back of the wreath and won’t be seen.  I just didn’t want any loose ends hanging).

I used some ribbon I already had at my house to hold the wreath and tied a bow at the top.

And that’s it!  Beautiful wreath for very little money!