2017 Happy Halloween Skull Wreath Tutorial

New Halloween wreath tutorial that Carrie and Rachel did a few days ago, just in time for Halloween! The products for this wreath will be in a kit - while supplies last. But, we'll leave the tutorial up even after the kits and/or individual supplies have sold out, since the basic directions can be followed and other products chosen to make a similar wreath. Supplies: XK61873 Wooden Skull Sign XX751123 24" Purple Metallic Pencil Wreath RP8401C3 10 Tinsel Foil Stripe Poly Burlap Mesh RE130223 10" Purple Deco Poly Mesh X710540-21 2.5" Skull Ribbon ZXP-TT05 2.5" Green/Black Stripe Ribbon G3726112 RAZ Orange Glitter Garland Update: Kit containing all the supplies has sold out, but some of the individual supplies may still be in stock. Summary: 24" Wreath: We chose a 24" purple metallic pencil wreath for this project, but you could use a variety of different colors in the pencil style or work wreath, just choose your preference. Our 24" wreaths actually measure 15" across the widest portion, but with the addition of mesh, ribbons and other products, you usually wind up with a wreath that measures 24" or greater. The width also depends on the way the mesh is attached to the wreath. The pouf technique usually results in a little wider wreath than the ruffle technique. Poly Burlap: The mesh products we chose for this wreath included a new 10" Poly Burlap Tinsel Mesh. This mesh is made of Polypropylene and Polyester which gives it a little different look with the tinsel stripes. We also chose a plain 10" purple Deco Poly mesh to use as a second mesh. This is an inexpensive mesh and would help reduce the cost of the wreath. We did the ruffle technique for this project and both rolls of mesh were used up completely. We cut strips 20" in length from each roll of mesh. The strips were cut at the same time using a Fiskars 60mm Stick Cutter and a Ominigrid Self-Healing Cutting Mat. You can also get replacement blades for the stick cutter. Both these tools are very useful in wreath making. They are items that we no longer sell on Trendy Tree, but we have included our Amazon affiliate links in the above paragraph. Cutting the ruffles in longer strips instead of shorter 10" strips does help reduce the fraying. This was a tip that we learned from Lori "Hard Working Mom" on one of her videos a while back. She had cut 30" ruffles and used one ruffle in each twist. Since we were using two different styles of mesh, we cut a 20" ruffle from each style and attached the ruffle cluster in each twist around the wreath. You could chose a variety of colors of Halloween mesh for this project, but since we thought the Tinsel Poly Burlap was the prettiest, we put the plain purple as the bottom ruffle and the black tinsel poly burlap on top. You could alternate those if you like too. We worked all the way around the outer ring with two ruffles and then did the same with the inner ring. Skull Sign: Next the wooden skull sign was placed on the wreath. You may want to hang the wreath on the wall to decide your placement. The sign and can be attached different ways. You can staple some chenille stems to the back of the sign and secure the sign to the work wreath frame. For this project Rachel used some of the tips of the twist ties to secure the sign in about 3-4 places just wrapping the twist around parts of the sign to hold it in place. Bow: We decided on placing two bows instead of doing ribbon strips, but you could do either. Rachel made a large bow to secure toward the top left of the sign and a smaller one to the bottom right. Bows can be made in a variety of ways. Rachel cut about 3 yards from each of the two styles of ribbon, and started by grasping the two ribbons leaving a tail of about 10". She made about six 6" loops and wired the bow off with floral wire. Floral wire, wrapped in floral tape makes a better holder than just plain wire, but you can also just use chenille stems. Just fluff out the bow and even up the tails if needed. You may want to finish off the tails of the ribbon using an angled or chevron cut to make them look nice. The bow was attached to the upper left of the sign with the same wire holding the bow. The smaller bow was made by cutting about two pieces from each of the two ribbons about one yard in length (total of 4 pieces). The four pieces were all held together and one six inch loop made, wired with wrapped floral wire and secured around the bottom right of the sign. Again, you can finish off the ends of the ribbon with an angled cut, or chevron. You can make the ends uneven if you like, just whatever is your preference. Make sure the right side of your ribbon is facing up. RAZ Orange Glitter Garland: The RAZ garland is a new product for this year and really has a bright color. It's not a wired product, but has a little bit of recoil. It's similar to a plastic belt in a way. Rachel secured one end to a twist on the outer ring. The garland was just sort of looped and twisted here and there around the inner and outer ring, attaching it in places where it was convenient with a twist. She used just about the whole garland with only 3-4" cut off at the end. The RAZ glitter garland is a fun product to work with and comes in a few other colors. This orange color is new for this year. We also carry black and some Christmas colors. When you're all done, be sure to fluff your ribbons and clip your strings. You will have some raveling. It doesn't matter what kind of product you have, it will ravel. It seems to help if you clip strings rather than pull or you may get a never-ending amount of strings. Check the back of your wreath for anything sharp that you need to cover up so it won't scratch your wall or door. You can make an simple hanger using chenille stems, floral wire or zip ties. The wreath measured about 26" x 26" overall. Happy Halloween! Save