Cue up the Monster Mash and bring on the smiles! This jammin’ wreath from our guest blogger, Shannon Cosgrove-Rivas, delivers fun for Halloween… or kids birthday celebrations!
Not everyone is into the blood and gore version of Halloween decorations. I am one of them. I prefer my scary served with a healthy dose of funny. This monster wreath is hanging on my wall right now and every time I walk past it I smile!
This is a great craft for the kids too. There are a lot of little bundles of raffia that need making for this project. A lot. Gathering the raffia together is the perfect job for little ones that are still developing fine motor skills.
1. Paint the grapevine wreath green using Design Master Spring Green.
2. Cut the pipe cleaners into three equal parts.
3. Make tufts of raffia by stacking 12 pieces of raffia together, securing the raffia with a piece of pipe cleaner and cutting the raffia so each tuft is about 3 inches long.
4. Hot glue the raffia to the wreath until the entire wreath is cover in raffia tufts.
5. Shape the wreath by trimming the attached raffia so the round shape of the wreath is maintained.
6. Make about ten raffia tufts that are 6 inches long and glue them to the top section of the wreath. This will make the monster’s “hair”.
7. Paint the raffia on the wreath using Design Master Spring Green, making sure to cover the natural color of the raffia completely.
8. Paint the wood rounds with Design Master Flat White.
9. Make a small circle from one of the sections of pipe cleaner and glue it to the back of the googlie eyes. This will act as a spacer.
10. Glue the googlie eyes to the center of the painted wood rounds.
11. Attach pipe cleaners to the backs of the wood backed eyes.
12. Glue the wood rounds and googlie eyes to the top of the wreath right underneath the monster’s hair.
13. To give the monster teeth, glue the wood teardrops to the inside bottom of the wreath with the pointed end of the teardrop facing up.
14. Make a bow tie using the Halloween themed ribbon.
15. Attach the bow tie to the outside bottom of the wreath.
My favorite parts of our monster are his frazzled looking raffia fur and his fierce, slightly surprised, expression. Hilarious!
To keep our friend in great shape for next year, cover the wreath with a plastic garbage bag, tie the bag closed and then hang the covered wreath on a wall in your garage or basement. The bag will keep the wreath dust free and by hanging the wreath rather than packing it in a box it will keep its shape and not get crushed. If the color needs freshening up next year just give it a quick coat of Design Master Spring Green paint.
1. Paint the grapevine wreath green using Design Master Spring Green.
