With my one of my favorite holidays fast approaching, it was time to get started on my wreath. I searched pinterest for an inspiration wreath. I found several awesome wreaths but decided on this one (primarily because it's the only one my husband really showed any interest in). 

This wreath was available for purchase on etsy at:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/HighMaintenanceDes?ref=l2-shopheader-name
Des makes some amazing wreaths. But being the budget friendly girl I am, I couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a wreath. Sorry Des! So using her basic idea I headed off to the Dollar Tree and Ben Franklin Crafts to gather supplies.

I decided to make mine a little less frilly... and less bloody. By the looks of it she added some blood to her gauze and body parts, none of the parts I found had that much blood on them. I'm sure some red paint could give you that same effect. Ok now for the how to part!


To make my version you'll need:

• A wire wreath frame
  
• your color choice in large mesh (I went with black).
• Pipe cleaners 
• Bloody hands, feet and fingers (Dollar Store)
• Some bloody cloth (or make your own with red dye and some medical gauze)  
• A small piece of wood for your sign
• Craft paints again in your choice of colors.
• Paint brushes (small for writing and blood detail)
• Your handy dandy glue gun
• Some little foam pumpkins
• A black sharpie

You can buy wreath frames for making these mesh wreaths pre made but at $10.99 I'd rather spend a little extra time and get the $3.99 wire frame, and $.89 on the pipe cleaners.

Space out your pipe cleaners wrapping them around your frame I put 2 for every little section.

Next you want to start gathering you mesh and attaching  it to your frame. I saw on one site to gather the very end and use a little scotch tape to help secure it. (this did help, just wrap some extra tape around the frame)

I was able to go around the frame twice with the mesh. You can make your mesh loops as big or small as you want. If the loops are bigger then it comes out more like the inspiration wreath but that also makes it a bit more transparent. So you'll need 2 rolls of mesh. 

Once you have your mesh the way your want it start positioning your pieces until you are happy with how they will look. I drew little jack-o-lantern faces on my pumpkins with a sharpie, making each one a little different just for fun. (images below)
Tie on your gauze and tie the foot (or hand) to the bottom, hot glue all your pieces into place.

Once all your pieces are in place its time to paint our sign!

I spray painted the whole board black then sponged on some tan and painted on the wording and dripping blood. 
(To make the normal red paint a bit more blood red I added a few drops of brown paint a drop at a time until it reached a shade I liked) 

The wording didn't stand out enough for my liking so I highlighted it with some more of the tan paint using a thinner paint brush and to give the dripping blood a more 3-D look I added some hot glue and then painted over it. 

Once your sign is dry Just hot glue it in place. My hot glue gun is dual temp. so I put it on low and just kind of held the sign in place until it was positioned the way I wanted it. 

To me wreath making is one of the easiest crafts to start with... gets your creative juices flowing if you will. And you can find most everything you need at your local dollar store. Or better yet at a garage sale... yup, those ugly looking wreaths that the lady down the street is selling for a couple bucks is perfect! It has the wreath base and decorations on it. Just cut or pull them off and start it over again with some new things to give it a whole new feel!

Ok you might be thinking... How did this only cost two dollars? If your anything like me you have boxes and boxes of christmas decorations. (Chances are your Neighbor, Mom, Aunt, or Grandma are trying to get rid of some of their collection: whenever someone offers something at least check it out.) It just so happens this was the case for me, I took some of their old stuff and went through all of my old decorations to see what I thought would look good together. Most things are easy to pull apart, I got lucky with a wreath from a neighbor that had tied things on with a thin wire.  I went to the dollar store and got a wreath hook ans one of their plain christmas wreaths, the greenery on thier wreath is pretty thin so your going to want another garland to help fill it out.

Ok so once you have your wreath and all the "parts" from your old decorations your going to need:

•  a hot glue gun
  
•  some needle nose pliers (my crafting pair is also from the dollar store)
  
• a good comfy space to work ( i like the couch and coffe table)

*if your parts don't have wires you may need some floral wire which can again be found at the dollor store.


1. Wrap the garland around the wreath frame and hot glue in spots to secure it. (watch your fingures it's called hot glue for a reason, and it will hurt if you touch it) I ususally wait a few second and then press down and hold to make sure the connection stays.

2. Decide which parts you want to go where. arrange and rearange until your happy with it... not just "well I guess that's ok", but "Wow, that look good," kinda happy with it. 

3. Now glue your parts into place, if they have wires on them hold them in place with one hand and tighted the wire around the vase withyour needle nose pliers with the other.  


* Hang it up on the door, and proudly show off your creativity!*

This one cost a little more but is still way cheaper than a store bought premade wreath. This is actually the second take... The original just had the eggs, daisies, and blue ribbon all of course from the dollor store and the ratan wreath form was a major thrift store find at only 48 cents. Wasn't thrilled with the original look so this year I added the little bunches of different colored flowers I found at Jo Ann's Fabrics during their spring sale for only 99 cents each. Another major plus to doing wreaths they are pretty easy to change or add on to! 

This one is pretty much the same as the above you need to prepare all your Spring or Easter goodies, pull out the hot glue gun and get creative with it. 

1. For the flowers cut off stems and leaves. Wrap the ribbon around your wreath form and cut about a few inches longer than desired length just so you have room to play.

2. I started with the ribbon and wish I hadn't so I would recommend starting with the placement of the leaves. just tuck them into the ratan wreath and play around with different directions a little (the leaves on trees and bushes aren't all facing the same direction so why should ours).

3. Once you have the leaves on re-wrap your ribbon and glue into place. *I always do the glue in the back so that nobody can see it,  if you accidentally squeeze to hard on the glue gun you end up with a big glob of glue that isn't very pretty. lol  

4. Now to add on your goodies. I start with the bigger pieces or what item i want to be the focal point of the whole arrangement. In this case it was the daisies, then I tried to even it out by putting most of the eggs on the opposite side.  Arrange and re-arrange your flowers, eggs, and whatever else you want to add in until your happy with it... again not just kinda happy, this will be on your front door, so play with it until you know you'll be proud to say "I made that."  when someone asks where you got it! Once your happy with it glue on your pieces allow the glue to harden and use that same clear wreath hanger to show off your creative side!