My Halloween Wreathes and Love/Hate Relationship With Glue Sticks

Ok, let me get this out of the way. If you do not have a least an hour to read this blog today...then please call in sick...your boss will understand! Just kidding...maybe. I don't think it will take an hour, but I know it will be long...but I have lots of cool picture for those that don't want to read.

 

I know you can't celebrate the holidays without a wreath. I might change it up a little later...because I like thing to look similar. But for today's sake...it worked. It took much longer than the 10 minute crafts I enjoy...plus at least 7 trips to my craft room (which I'm tempted to have the kids move in the basement and bring the craft room upstairs...).

 

And to show the TRUE story of my craft mess...I took a picture of my living room before AND after....4 hours later.  Easton is going to be MAD! The living room is HIS zone to clean this week :D

Not bad. It is cleaned...he did a good job. So continue reading to the end to see the final result! DO NOT CHEAT AND SCROLL DOWN (I saw that)!

 

Ok on to my Halloween wreath(s)! 

 

I had found a wooden "B" at the thrift store for $.50...then I covered it the same way as my spell book (http://loggingoffoffacebook.blogspot.com/2014/10/spell-books-are-donesuper-excited.html?zx=66b3e17ba164a3e2), painted it black with a white overlay. Then I dug through a ton of boxes and totes in the basement looking for my wicker Xmas wreaths I bought last year and never used. They would be PERFECT for my "OO" to spell out BOO!

See what I mean about the "B" being off? Still bothers me....so I might check out Hobby Lobby, because I want a wicker one (or I could go in the garage and make my own with the grapevines the boys and I picked a few weeks ago).

 

I decided to start with the "OO" and see what I could do. The first thing I made was my "Ghost Wreath".

I used crepe paper and a piece of Halloween trim on the bottom. The ghost is made from a paper napkin (like you learned in kindergarten). The spider was just a cheap rubber spider, and the web is white ribbon tied at each section. The web alone took at least 30 minutes...and the back of it looks terrible...but no one can see that. For an additional decoration I added a bunch of the spider rings around the top of the wreath. It worked great because I just opened up the rings and wrapped around the wreath pieces. I think it turned out cute :D

 

The second "O" is my "Scarecrow Wreath".

This one is my FAVORITE! Looks pretty and simple to make...but took the most time because of the "creativity" I had to endure! The pumpkins are just ceramic and I laced a ribbon through them and tied it to the wreath. The scarecrow I bought for $.10 and I just attached it to a small dowel and stuck it in to hold it in place. The mini corn were easy to attach with just some black thread...but the hay bales....those were a bitch!

 

Ok so they weren't super hard to do...just to attach. I have this paper/ribbon/cordage stuff that I really like to use as a natural tie to presents. All it is, is thin textured paper rolled up tight. When it is unrolled it gives a nice texture that reminded me of hay (which I could not use because I am very allergic to it). Below is a bad pic....but it shows what the paper rope thing looks like.

Then I wrapped two different sizes of Styrofoam (I have a bunch I brought home from work...but the pieces I used was cut from a long piece in the box my new TV came in) with the paper and secured it with small sewing needles. Folding it the same way I would if I was wrapping Xmas presents.

Great, I thought. This looks so cool. I love crafts. I'm going to tie down the bales and life will be great. Nope, tried a bunch of different ways to tie the bales down and nothing seemed to work. So I did the next best thing. I used bobby pins (because they were next to me and I didn't want to get up). I bent them around the wreath and jammed them into the Styrofoam. Perfect...but they didn't want to stay very well. Damn, looks like I do have to get up. Just one more time I told myself. I will only go downstairs one more time. HA

 

I just have to glue down the bales...and...hey...where is my hot glue gun? First thing first. I have three hot glue guns...all for different things...and they are all different sizes. So I made a few trips downstairs to look for it. Why a few? Because every time I got halfway through looking through the boxes I had a better idea of where it could be....and nope...it was never there. So back down the stairs I went...and each time I came up with more things I found.

 

When I was looking out in my trunk (at 2am mind you) low and behold I see the cord. I damn near jumped for joy and rushed back inside. I plugged it in and it was then that I noticed I didn't have any glue sticks! That's fine. I have more glue sticks that anything else in my house. No biggy...back down the stairs to grab the sticks...and what do I find? NOT THE FRICKEN GLUE STICKS!

 

For almost 30 minutes I pulled out EVERY box in the basement and could not find a single glue stick! I was tempted to drive to Walmart and buy some, but the kids were sleeping and I worry about leaving them alone at night...because knowing my luck my house would burn down or something...an I would be "that mom" that left her kids home alone at 2:30am to go to Walmart.

 

BUT...I remembered where my glue sticks were! Or at least two sticks...in my purse. Don't ask why I have glue sticks in my purse...I would have to create a whole new blog just to explain it...and I don't have time to do that...so trust me...I have glue sticks in my purse.

 

However....remember how I said I have three different sized glue guns. Yeah, well the glue gun I found was the mini one. The glue sticks I have in my purse....were NOT the mini ones. They were the regular sized ones. The ones that are TOO big to fit in my glue gun. #@&$! I almost cried. Ok, I lied...I did cry...I was so pissed. BUT being a crafty woman...I grabbed for the E6000 glue (it works great, but there is a very strong smell that sticks around for a long time)....empty! GRRRRRR.

 

Thankfully my last back up is the fake nail glue I keep in my tool box . Problem is that it takes forever to dry...and I always seem to glue my fingers together. This is another subject NOT to bring up. I don't know why I can't just keep the glue in one spot...but I have always had the nail glue in my tool box, and not my craft glue box.

 

I remembered to unplug the now very hot glue gun and quickly glued the hay bales down. Perfect! I had gone through 4 hours of taped TV shows (fast forwarded through the commercials of course)...and I just had to finish the "B". I had a ton of energy until I started the "B". I glued a few bugs and eyes down....and even had to staple the stupid bat because the glue wasn't drying fast enough and I was pretty pissy! But thankfully no trip to the ER was needed because I glued my fingers together....AGAIN! Yep, you got...don't ask!

So they were all done! I will hook them together and attach them to the door....after I fix the "B". It just looks out of place. The more I look at it, the less I am happy with it. Yes it is cute...on it's own...but not with my "OO"s.

See how cute they look! I am happy how it turned out. However...as soon as I turned around from taking the picture...I saw my living room. The worst part of doing crafts is cleaning up. I am terrible at that part! And instead of cleaning up...I typed up this blog...and now heading to bed. I'm pretty sure I will be woken up with Easton yelling at me....grrrrr...but would you blame him?  LOL. So guess what I get to do tomorrow? Hobby Lobby for a wicker "B" and MINI GLUE STICKS! And I will hide them EVERYWHERE! EVERYWHERE I TELL YOU! Stupid glue sticks!