Thrifty Halloween: Black and Orange Wreath

With the majority of my Autumn and Halloween decorations in storage at my parents' house right now, I decided I needed a way to start decorating- on the cheap. I found a plastic black and orange striped table cloth at Target for $3 (and ultimately used one and 1/5ish) and an old wire hanger in the deepest depths of my closet. After a few hours of tying strips to the now circular hanger, I had the wreath. Then, after a few days of looking at the plain wreath, I decided to add a jack-o-lantern, which I made with a scrap of orange craft foam and Martha Stewart glitter in the color "Fire Opal".

Happy Hallowen!

Music to craft to- Spooky

Beachcomber Craft: The Driftwood Wreath

A little while ago I was at a cousin's cottage on the Potomac River. After the crabs were devoured my mom found a small wreath made with driftwood- a gift from the the neighbor- and decided, without hesitation, that we needed to make our own.

The Potomac doesn't quite offer the variety that an ocean beach does, but we made off with a pretty good collection of driftwood, sea glass and brick, shells, shark teeth, and fossils I've always called "curlicues" because I have no idea what they actually are. They're pictured in the second detail shot, so if you know, send the information my way! Luckily, we ran into the artist who inspired us, and she helped us beach comb, gave us a few tips, and even showed us her own collection.

Everything I wanted on my wreath was assembled and attached to a wooden wreath form. The driftwood could be glued down with hot glue (and a few twists of thin wire for the less stable pieces) but the other items required floral glue. You may be surprised by this, because I certainly was, but when I tried using super glue, the shell and wood started smoking. So... I stuck with the floral glue.

 Music to craft to- Surf Playlist