Anatomy of a Halloween of a Wreath

Fall is here. FINALLY. It is my absolute favorite season what with Halloween and Thanksgiving and my birthday and the foliage. I woke up on Saturday practically dancing. Fall! Apples! Pumpkin farms! Cider! Not unbearable temperatures! Of course fall is also the start of serious hockey season so all of those things, save the reasonable temps were out of the question. HOWEVA. The first day of fall just so happened to coincide with the last day of JoAnn Fabrics' crazy coupon promotion. If I wasn't gonna get my Autumn fix the traditional way, I could at least craft it out.

Because I'm mean, and I secretly get kind of angry at hockey's demands on his time, I made Bruce come with me and the kids. Calder loves going to craft stores. Wren just loves going places. And I like spending more than five  minutes at a time with my whole family together.

Since it's a bit too early for straight up Halloween decorations, I decided I wanted to make a fall-themed wreath and Calder decided he was going to help. I've never made a wreath before so I figured any help was good help and I'm glad I did. Not only did we produce a fabulous wreath (no really, I keep opening my front door to look at it because I am just that pleased with myself) but we also had a lovely afternoon where no one got sent to time out and no one cried and Calder told me hilarious tales about vampires that only four year olds could make up. I chose the grapevine base for out project but Calder picked out all the accoutrements, I only had to step in occasionally to keep him on track with regard to the color story.

Like, I said. Calder picked out all the stuff and he had specific reasons for each item. Some make more sense than others.

Calder called these branches "poison berries"

The black feather spikes were deemed to be "dead birds".

Glittery leaves. For vampires to hide behind. Yeah, I dunno.

And silver glitter skeletons because, duh, that's awesome.

As for assembly, I handled the ribbon parts but Calder did a great deal of the picks by himself. Sometimes he needed reminding to take the tags off or a hand shoving them in far enough to stay in but other than that, he was practically a pro. The best part? Other than glitter all over the living room, there was almost no mess and no clean up, very rare for a craft project with kids. And, with the sales and coupons, it was dirt cheap too. Much cheaper than buying a premade wreath.

Final product

I think we should do one for every season. Or get more doors.