Welcome October!

My daughter and I recently had an arts-n-crafts day and this is the result of our efforts! A 'fall-y' wreath with cute, little ghosts tucked in here and there. It was easy to make and pretty inexpensive (using a coupon for our local fabric store). It totaled about 11 bucks for everything from the wreath, the leaves and the tootsie pops inside each ghost. We made a wreath last year too but used a few different fall/halloween fabrics to cover the ghosts - however, the non-white ghosts blended in so much with the leaves, they were almost invisible...so this year, we stuck with traditional white. The wreath is super welcoming each time we come through the front door - and knowing we made it ourselves makes it even better! If you should make one yourself, be sure to wrap the tootsie rolls inside the ghosts, in plastic wrap before covering them with fabric. We didn't do this last year and over time, in storage, the tootsies 'weeped' and bled through the fabric. So, although it was super fun making a new wreath this year...the goopy, stained ghosts from last year were the real reason behind our new creation :-). Wanna make a fun wreath like this? Here's how!

Supplies:
1 grape vine wreath
1 wreath door hanger

2 to 3 kinds of silk leaves (to include berries, small pumpkins etc.)

5 to 6 Tootsie Pops

Plastic wrap and tape

1 black felt tip marker

5 to 6, 7x7" squares of fabric of your choice

4 pipe cleaners, cut in half (best if they match the color of your fabric)

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Hang the bare wreath from your wreath hanger - turning it this way and that until it hangs most pleasingly to your eye. Leaving the hanger in place, lay the wreath/hanger onto your work surface (this way, you know always know where the top of your wreath is which is good to know when placing the leaves and ghosts etc.). Cut the leaves, berries, pumpkins from their plastic 'vines' and set aside. Wrap tops of tootsies in pastic wrap and secure with tape around the pop stick. Cover each tootsie with a fabric square, gathering the fabric at the base of the pop and securing with 1/2 length of the pipe cleaner. Draw eyes on each ghost with the black felt marker. Place/stick tootsie ghosts into the wreath - space them any way you want - it's your wreath! Next, place the leaves into the wreath the way that pleases your eye - and lastly, place the berries and pumkins here and there for accent. Once everything is where you want it, start at one point and begin hot gluing each piece in place until all pieces have been secured all the way around the wreath. Lift the wreath by the it's hanger and make sure all pieces are in place and nothing is loose. If all is good, your wreath is ready to hang!

Enjoy walking through your own front door the whole fall season!