Quirky Boots: Halloween fun

Hi! I'm Lisa Swift, owner of Altered Chic, a handmade homeware and gift shop in Chesterfield. I live in the Derbyshire with my other half John and our two cats. I've been crafting since I was at school and love nothing better than spending an afternoon on a scrapbook page or creating something pretty for our home. I also own Easy Craft Projects, a crafting website that is being relaunched in 2012. I love art, pretty homes, walks in the countryside and homemade food.ft
Halloween Wreath

You will need:

1 piece of pipe insulation
Parcel Tape
2m x 30cm black organza fabric

Sewing Pins
Orange and green felt
Die cutting machine
Cuttlebugs 'pumpkin spice' die
Modge Podge, fabric glue or similar
Black sewing threadPiece of ribbon

How to make:

I used a piece of pipe insulation to create my wreath. You could use a polystyrene wreath but pipe insulation is much cheaper and can be bought from any DIY store. Mine cost just 77p! Bend it into a ring and secure the ends together using parcel tape or any other strong tape. My wreath is approximately 10” in diameter.

Cut your black organza into strips about 1” wide. You could use any black fabric but I like the sheen that organza has and although it is semi-transparent, once you have wrapped your wreath with a couple of layers you won’t see through it.

Wrap your wreath with strips of the organza, securing the ends in the back with pins. You could use a hot glue gun but I find sewing pins are easier to use and you can move them about it something doesn’t look right on your wreath. You should cover your wreath with two layers of organza.

Using more organza strips, loosely wrap them around the wreath, you need to pin each loop on the back of your wreath to keep them in place. You should be able to see what I mean from the photographs.

I also added a large bow tied with another strip of organza to the bottom of the wreath and attached any strips left over to the bottom of the wreath at the back to create the ‘tails’. Cut these to different lengths to make them more visually appealing.

To add some colour I added a string of pumpkins across my wreath. You could add any other decorations that you like (spiders, skeleton bones etc.). My pumpkins are made from felt cut using the ‘pumpkin spice’ die from Cuttlebug.

I put mod podge on the back of the felt and let it dry before cutting to help stiffen it so that the leaf and vines wouldn’t tear. I used sewing thread in two lines to create the garland attach the pumpkins to the wreath.