Spooky Skeleton Wreath

Halloween is almost here, are you ready?  I think I am!  I'm cutting it real close with getting this wreath posted before Halloween, but I had to share it with you because I am loving how it turned out.

You can just pin it for next year, right?!

I saw an awesome version of this wreath on Pinterest and I was on a mission to make one of my own! See my inspiration here.  Isn't it awesome!!

Do you decorate spooky or cute? I use a little of both, but not too spooky...no blood and gore at our house!  I love using lots of orange at Halloween time normally, but for this wreath, I kept it all pretty neutral with some black accents.

These arms are salad tongs from the Dollar General, yes, I said salad tongs! lol!  They were stark white, but I used a combo of white, brown and black acrylic paints to make them look old and spooky.  I used a dry brush technique with very little paint on my brush at all times.  The skull is from Amazon and although it was ok looking, I wanted the skull and arms to match, so I painted it too.  After the paint dried, I sprayed them with clear enamel to seal them.

NOTE: You may want to use a plastic primer on the arms (salad tongs).  I did not and the acrylic paint would come right off at the slightest little bump.

I used one 12" wire wreath form and one 18" wire wreath form to create my finished wreath.  I did this because I wanted a smaller open space in the middle and more fullness on the wreath to work with.

I connected the two wreath forms together using some small zip ties and tried to get them pretty tight, but not so tight that it would stretch the forms out of shape.

I'm pretty sure I grab at least three packs of these Creepy Cloth Decorations each year in this off white color and black too.  They are great for decorating at Halloween. This is what you see along the bottom edge of my wreath.

I used an actual feed sack from our local feed store for my burlap strips of fabric, but look here for something similar if you don't have access to real feed sacks.  Your strips will be about 1 1/2" to 2" wide by about 8" long.  These do not have to be perfect either.

Start to add your strips one at a time randomly by tying the strip just one time.  I always made sure I had two rows of wire under each tie, alternating the rows as I went along. Try and make it look full.

I made the sign as well using the same steps I used in my Easy to Make Fancy Hand Lettered Sign tutorial post.  Let me just say that the smaller font was HARD to make look nice...but maybe that's just me over here with my old eyes! lol!

That cute burlap chevron ribbon that I used as his bow tie was from my craft stash, but you can find it here too.

The creepy spider and his hat are both from the dollar store.  The hat was one of those headband hats that I disassembled from the headband so I could place it on his skull.  This one is pretty cute, but way more spendy than the dollar store version.

The black roses are from Walmart. I got two bundles that were .97 each.  I used all of the rose heads and leaves but not the stems...I threw those away.  You can find a bulk of (20) just the rose heads with no stems right here.  I used hot glue to add the roses around his head and then a few more around the wreath.

A hot glue gun with a low setting will be your best friend for this project.

To give you an idea of how I assembled the whole thing here's the order in which I added each part of the wreath.

Step 1: Tie all the burlap strips on to the wire form.
Step 2: Add the creepy cloth to the bottom area.
Step 3: Attach the skull with zip ties through the jaw area. I added a long piece of jute twine with hot glue to the back of the skull and tied it to the wire form to keep the head back.
Step 4: Add the hat/spider to the skull.
Step 5: Add the burlap ribbon bow tie.
Step 6: Add the roses.
Step 7: Attach the sign by hot gluing a few pieces of jute twine to the back of the sign and then tying them to the wire wreath form.
Step 8: Add the arms.

This wreath was very time consuming, but well worth it for how it turned out. I LOVE IT!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
The Dedicated House  - (I was featured)