Grandinroad Halloween Wreath Knock Off

Every year my Mother-in-law gives me her Grandinroad Halloween catalog and every year, I drool over the beautiful decorations, especially the wreaths.  Along with all my other obsessions, Halloween and wreaths are my top two! So when I saw their beautiful "Happy Hauntings" wreath, I decided that we just had to have one.  Unfortunately, Grandinroad's is way over our budget, so I set out to see if we could come up with a less expensive version.

Here is Grandinroad's wreath - 

There are a few differences - theirs has only a skull, while ours has a torso and theirs has more detailed hands, but all in all, I think it's a pretty good copy.

The biggest difference is that our version cost $12 to make and almost all the supplies came from the .99 Store and Dollar Tree! Not bad for $12 bucks!

Here's a list by store - 

.99 Store

1 - Skeleton torso 

2 - feather boas

Dollar Tree

3 - rolls Halloween Ribbon

2 - Halloween glitter stems (1-orange, 1-purple)

2 - Willow wreaths

Hobby Lobby

2 - Fun Foam glitter sheets 

Tools & Misc. Supplies

Glue Gun

Heat Gun

Wire

Small piece of orange ribbon for top hat

black cardstock for top hat

Small piece of black foam core board

Purple paint

Sharpie

Coat hanger

Instructions - 

1. The base of the wreath started with a wire coat hanger that was opened up and formed into a circle. 

2. Cut one wreath and wire to the coat hanger circle.  The wreath won't be large enough to cover the entire circle, so cut a piece out of the remaining wreath and wire it to the hanger to complete the circle.  The wreath is only a base and will not be seen after you have glued the feather boas to it.

Here's a view of the wreaths before their surgery - 

And here is a view of the back of the wreath, after they have been wired to the hanger - 

I sprayed the coat hanger with black spray paint, but that's just my craft OCD kicking in - it's really not necessary.

3. Hot glue the two boas to the top of the wreath.  One boa will just go around the wreath once, so use both to make it fuller.

4.  Now let's work on the skeleton.  Here's what he looked like before he was posed - notice his straight stiff arms.

To make him look more life like, I used a heat gun to heat up his elbows and bend the arms into a more natural position.  You can see how much more natural he looks here - enjoying a nice tropical drink!

His arms have a small button on them that attaches them to the torso - you can see that here - 

Pull his left arm out of his torso and cut off the button flush with the bone. Then hot glue the bone into the torso like this - you can see the difference between the shoulders in this shot - 

I also used the heat gun to tilt his left wrist forward just a bit.

5. Now the skeleton can be wired on to the wreath. Cut small holes in his back on either side of the back bone and run floral wire through, then wire on to the wreath.  Place one set of holes high and the torso and one set low.  You will also want to hot glue the skull on to the neck so that it doesn't wobble.

6. Cut a jagged "board" out of a piece of foam core board (or cardboard), paint purple and write

 Happy Haunting on it with a sharpie. Hot glue a piece of wire on the back and wire the board to the wreath.  I also used a dab of glue to affix the "board" to the skeleton hand.

7. Top Hat - I didn't take any photos when I was making the hat - sorry!!! But here's the basic how to - cut 2 circles of glitter foam for the brim, cut out inner portion so that it will sit on his head - Cut a strip of black card stock to make the main part of the hat - form into a tube and glue - gut tabs into one end (all the way around) - tabs should be about 1/2" - slip tabs under one brim and hot glue tabs to brim - glue other brim upside down so that glitter shows underneath - cut strip of glitter foam to cover cardstock tube - cut glitter circle for the top.  Trim hat with ribbon and a bit of glitter stem

8.  Make loops of ribbon and wire around the torso. Then cut the glitter stems apart and use them to fill in around the torso.

And TA DA!!! You will have a Grandinroad Happy Hauntings Wreath KNOCK OFF!!!

Elegant and Cheap too!!! Maybe not as elegant as Grandinroad's version, but it works for me!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Leave us a line and tell us what you are working on for Halloween - we would love to see your creations!

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