Halloween Wreath

I am not your Fall girl. I love my summer...  I know that I love to decorate for Fall. Next to Christmas, I have loads of Fall decorations. Our whole main floor and outside get the Fall and Halloween treatment. This is also why we have a Black Cat. He performs on Halloween for all of my Trick or Treaters.

Tried a different approach this year. A little more wild and carefree.

One day, I was in Michael's for the 1000th time, standing in their forever line, looking at their wreaths. I have always been able to do wreaths, just basic styling. I was not paying $45.00 for a Halloween wreath. NO way. So, I came home and down to the basement I went. Gathered some supplies and went from there. Spray paint from the garage and off to the back yard with a smile on my face.

I found this greenery garland that I had purchased at the end of the season for 80% off.

I had a 40% off coupon, that I used for the wire wreath base. It was $5.00.. and then a coupon. I did not even use any wire. Just folded the greenery around the base. EASY

And then on to my favorite part.... Spray Paint City. Over the years, I have painted SO many things. I really think I was a tagger in a former life. Once I was done painting, hung it in the garage to dry completely.

I purchased some Fall/Halloween Orange Ribbon.(with a coupon) I have seen this type of ribbon around for the last year or so. Wanted to try it, just did not take the time. I made these big loops, and wound it through the greenery and wreath. 

I wrapped another smaller black metallic ribbon around for different color and texture. I purchased some glittery Halloween picks. Inserted them and I was DONE.

MY FRONT DOOR
Steal my ideas. Do this for your house. Send me your pictures. I would love to see them.
Most of ALL... Make it yourself. Get those creative juices flowing.

This is our Monster from two years ago. PVC pipes, fabrics and a mask.
This was also a blast to make. 

Christmas Projects

MERRY Almost CHRISTMAS
The weeks just keep flying away.... Where has the time gone? Every year, I always want to be better organized and not freak out. NEXT Tuesday is Christmas. My Christmas shopping is close to being done. A few gift certificates to complete some presents.

There has been no holiday baking. Not really sure when that will happen... At least I am off on Christmas eve. I have a whole day to finish up.

For almost twenty years, I have been sending out my own handmade stamped and embossed Christmas cards. It is a huge project, but I really like doing it. It takes a tremendous amount of time, and no matter how early I start, it always takes longer than I anticipate. And this year was no different.

A Snowman with Cardinals is the theme of this years' card. Very special people in my life receive cards.

This card started with Plain white card stock. A layer of Green, a layer of Red and then the actual Stamped card. Then all of the coloring. I also used some glitter glue for the Snowman's buttons. The layering of paper gives the card some weight. 

This inside of this card was very simple. There was also layering of different size paper. Some coloring of the cardinals. Just a signature and I was done. TIMES 75 cards. Yikes...

This was another project that I tackled this year. All over Pinterest  there were tomato cages with lights and some green garland. I started out that way, and realized that was just not enough for me. So off to the Dollar store  I went and found two $10.00 four foot trees. Shoved them up the middle of the tomato cages and I was in business. Shatterproof ornaments were inexpensive and some pics and I was done. I had a few pieces of burlap left over from my place mats, covered the base, viola. Done.

We drilled small holes into the container, used zip ties and attached the cages to the container.

They look great from the street. We put some sand in the bottom of the container for weight.

For many years, I have purchased real evergreen wreaths. They smell fabulous and look great. But in January the wreaths were dead and all the decorations need to be removed. So this year I purchased plain artificial wreaths and decorated them. I used some of my existing decorations and added a few more to match with all of my new stuff. And when January comes, they will go into a bag and into the attic.

We used different colored light bulbs to reflect differently off of the wreaths.

The Christmas Trees sit right below the wreaths. Together they add a color punch to my driveway.

Also on Pinterest, I saw all of these beautiful garlands for front entry ways. I had to do it. I was not sure how it would hang, but in my mind, that would be solved. That was my Husbands job....

Several years ago, I made a lighted garland for staircase near my front door. Very pretty and made such a grand entrance when you walked into my house. The first Christmas we had Apple Jax (CAT), she was very destructive to the garland. She found it to be the best play toy in the world. All night long she would 

pick and play. The next Christmas, the garland did not go up.

I measured the garland, decided to purchase two piece of plain greenery and go from there. I had some artificial poinsettia's on hand, and purchased more shatterproof ornaments. The garland and the greenery wrapped together. Using florist wire to attach all of the ornaments. I recycle my old garland and made it absolutely beautiful. We used the clips to hold the lights to the gutters and attached the garland with zip ties. The garland going down the newel post was also attached with zip ties. Very secure.

I also made the baskets with the left over burlap and the extra ornaments. 

With the exception of the cards, all of these projects will be able to be used next year.

It was a lot of work, but I really enjoy the Holidays and dressing up my House.

I will definitely take a picture of my tree. It is absolutely beautiful this year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.