Halloween Crafting a Few Minutes at a Time

There are only 66 more crafting days until Halloween.  It seems like there is plenty of time, but the season will be here before you know it.  I have already started working on some of my decorations.  If I do a little bit on a regular basis, I will have all the decoration ready for the Halloween party without feeling rushed.  I like to give myself plenty of time.  If I wait until the last minute, I end up staying up late trying to get things done at the last minute and I don't enjoy the evening as much.  The other alternative is to buy decorations, but I hate spending money on things that are destined for the trash in a day or two.

Some crafts take a lot longer than you would expect from looking at them.  Many people do not do them because they can't find two or three hours to make the project.  However, if you could find ten, fifteen, or twenty minutes you have time to make crafts.  The project will not be complete as quickly, but it will eventually get finished.  There is satisfaction from comes making things yourself.  By giving yourself permission to just work a few minutes at a time, you tap into that feeling rather than feeling frustrated because you can't fine the time to make the craft.

Styrofoam wreath as the foundation.

Cardboard wreath foundation.

Before we get into the instructions for crafting the wreaths shown in the photos a question:  How much do you want to spent on your craft.  As the saying goes there are ways and there are ways. Two (or more) projects can be look the same on the outside but have internal support structures that can add or subtract from the cost of the project.  I will show you what I mean with the project I am blogging about today.  So look at the photos of the wreaths on the right.  One is black and the other is orange and black.  Other than the color difference, can you tell me what the difference is in these two wreaths?  Probably not unless you investigate further so I will tell you
here.  The black wreath cost $6.07.  The orange and black wreath cost $1.48.  If I had made the wreath according to the original crafting instructions the cost would have been $25.75.  So read on for instructions on how I made the wreaths and what the cost differences are. 

First off, let me say that this project is one that I saw in a book on Halloween decorations:  Spooky and Bright by Hearst Books.  This is a reprise of Halloween ideas that have appeared in Country Living magazine over the last several years.  I did not make the wreaths totally following the directions in the book.  I found their way to be too expensive.  The instructions called for a Styrofoam wreath, crepe paper,and black glass headed straight pins.  The wreath was $4.69 at the craft store.  I could not find that color pins at my craft store.  When I looked online I found packages of fifty straight pins that were half black pins and half white pins for $4.79 per package.  To have all black pins I would need to purchase four packages, so the pins would cost a total of $20.56  The crepe paper was two rolls for  $1.00 at the dollar store.  (I only needed one roll.)  As written the project cost $25.75.  Not extravagant for a project, but I thought that I could do better.  Even on this project it was possible to cut the cost by using any glass headed pins you happened to have.  The pins on the wreath were covered by the next layer of crepe paper and the pins on the crepe paper that wrapped around the sides would have been hidden on the back of the wreath.  You won't see the pins at all, so why pay extra for black.   However, I also had concerns about whether or not some of the pins could fall out and cause an injury if someone stepped on one or a small child got hold of the wreath. (One caveat that I will add is that if you choose to use pins you will be able to remove everything and reuse the Styrofoam wreath for another project.  If you choose to follow the directions below, you may not be able to re-use the wreath.) So on to my makeovers of this project.

The original instructions for the black wreath called for cutting 100 four inch long strips from the crepe paper.  The strips were then folded in half.  I did the same for my project.  For the first wreath I also purchased a Styrofoam wreath as per the craft instructions.  After that, I diverged from the original instructions.  The original instructions called for laying three crepe paper strips across the wreath and attaching them with straight pins.  Rather than using straight pins, I used a low temp glue gun and glued the strips on.  I would put one dot of hot glue at the center of the bottom of the crepe paper strip then fold the strip in half and pressed.  Then I would run a very light strip of glue along the bottom edge of the folded strip.  I would pick the strip up, flip it over so that the glue side was down and adhere it to the wreath.  The stringy bits of glue that are such a nuisance when using hot glue can be minimized by holding the glue gun straight up and down and by gently wiping the tip of the gun against the crepe paper after each dot or strip of glue.  Each row of three crepe paper strips was overlapped by the next row of three crepe paper strips.  When I was near the end, I added the long strand of crepe paper ribbon, then finished gluing the folded crepe paper strips over top of it. All total the assembly time was one hour and twenty-four minutes.  However, it is not necessary to make this project all at one sitting.  Any time you have ten or fifteen minutes you can adhere quite a few strips. 

The orange and black wreath was less expensive.  It cost only $1.48, but that lowered expense added crafting time.  It took about two hours to make this wreath.  The main difference was that rather than purchasing a Styrofoam wreath, I made a wreath from cardboard.  The cardboard was free.  My store gives away boxes, so when I see a fair sized one I bring it home for crafting material.

I drew a circle using a compass on a piece of corrugated cardboard.  Then I drew a smaller circle inside the first circle and cut out the inner circle.  I cut the scrap piece of the inner cardboard into small strips and hot glued the pieces around the edge of the circle.  The pieces were small square pieces glued equidistantly around the circle.  The wreath was still a little thin, so a second layer of square pieces bridged the first set of squares that were glued onto the wreath.  This created a five-eights inch thick wreath which is about the same thickness as the Styrofoam wreath.  The wreath was flipped over and the crepe paper strips were glued on as described above.  Any part of this project can be worked for a few minutes at a time.  Keep the glue gun, glue and pieces of the project in a box so everything can be pulled out in a matter of seconds.

Everyone is busy.  Finding blocks of time to craft is one of those things we tend to put off because we always can think of something more important that needs doing first.  But it is generally possible to find a few minutes here and there. Giving yourself those few minutes to do some crafting is giving yourself a gift.  Don't discount how much enjoyment you can receive from making a craft.

A note to regular readers: 
Regular readers know that my current main project is a Celtic Knot Work Walking stick.  I am still progressing on that.  I have wood burned the knot work pattern about half way down the stick.  I probably have about six more hours of wood burning to do to complete the knot work.  While that is going on, I am blogging about some of the projects I have completed by working on them a few minutes at a time. Not every project requires long hours at one sitting.  Check back next blog post for new photos of the walking stick.