For several weeks now we have been running a series of starting a more self-sufficient lifestyle. We are taking a break from that to offer some seasonal stuff. With the holidays coming up we wanted to do some fun, holiday talks. Today we will give you a step-by-step on how to make an inexpensive DIY Halloween Wreath and Halloween village.

 We decided that we would do our holiday decor a bit differently than most. Everyone makes the traditional Christmas wreath and they are lovely. But we decided to do a Halloween wreath this year, as we had not done one before. Not wanting to get gorey, we decided to go with classy. There is always the issue of cost on new projects. So we took a trip to The Dollar Tree and picked up everything we needed at a price we were comfortable with. We made our classy-looking Halloween wreath for about $12.00. There were a number of glue sticks and several burned fingers to add to that tally.

Our materials for our DIY classy Halloween Wreath:
metal wreath ring ($1.00 each)
black wrap ($1.00 each) used 5
silver branches ($1.00 each) used 3
silver Christmas balls ($1.00 a package)
black and silver ribbon ($1.00 per roll)
glue gun and glue sticks (we already had these on hand)

Step one:
Wrap the black, cloth wrap around the metal wire wreath. This was a type of crochet loop method done by hand. Use the glue gun to secure the ends so they do not unwrap.

Step two:
Make the ribbon. The ribbon we used was black with silver, glittery swirls.  Trim the ribbon ends to keep it from fraying.

Using the glue gun, secure the ribbon to the wreath.

Step three:
Use the glue gun to secure the silver, glittery tree branches to the wreath wrap.

Step four:
Use the glue gun to secure the Christmas balls to the wreath.

We used silver, glittery materials to add some bling to our Halloween decor. Again, we were not going for gorey or traditional Halloween, we wanted fun and shiny.

Here you have a classy-looking, black, and silver Halloween wreath for under $15.00. It was pretty simple to make, the wrapping took the longest time. A hot glue gun is a must for this kind of quick, simple DIY art.

You can, of course, substitute any variety of materials, colors, textures, and themes you choose. Pick your colors, materials and make it your own way. Use your imagination and your own experiences to make a Halloween wreath as unique as you are. This works for other holidays year-round as well.

This is also a good project to get the kids involved in. Every kid can make their own unique holiday wreath to decorate their room or door. Just be careful to supervise kids with the hot glue gun. There is not a faster way to kill a kid’s love for crafting than to get a really nasty hot glue burn on their first project. Although, there is not really any good hot glue burn, yes we speak from years of experience and many burns.

Along with our inexpensive Halloween Wreath, we made a Halloween village also. We are not “in to” Christmas villages, never have been, never had one. So we thought, let’s make a Halloween village instead. Holding to the lower price requirements, we bought 4 Christmas village buildings on the trip to The Dollar Tree.

building ($1.00 each) used 4
set of mini lights post and bench ($1.00)
mini led lights ($1.00 each) used 4
spray paint (we already had on hand)
art pens (we already had on hand)
glow in the dark nail polish (already had on hand)

Step one:
Spray paint the buildings and the lamp post black
In hindsight, it may have been better to use a primer coat as the buildings are plastic.

Although this was a cool look, we decided to go full dark.
We had to do several coats to get all the hold-outs coated.

There were some places that just did not want to hold the spray paint. We did a quick primer on the places that would not take the black paint.

Once, the paint was well and dried, we made sure all the eaves, doors, lights, and creases were covered with paint. Again, it took several coats per building to get complete coverage.

Step two:
Make sure the lamp posts were fully painted with spray paint.

Step three:
Spray paint each building and lamp post again with metallic, glittery, black spray paint. We were sure to get all the “hard to get to” spots.

The adults handled all the spray paints. It is best even with simple projects to have adult supervision with spray paint. No one wants a holiday trip to the e.r. with spray paint in the eyes or face.

Step four:
Add accent colors with the metallic art pens.

The kids handled the accent details with the art pens.

Step five:
Add the lights.
The buildings were originally made to hold a plug-in light to light up the windows. We went with battery-operated tea light candles. This avoids any need for electric plug-ins as with the original lights. It also keeps us from burning down the house with real flames. We did consider real flame candles but thought better of it.                                                         The tea lights we used are color changers so they cycle throught the different colors.

Step six:
Arrange the Halloween village.

Step seven:
Turn on the lights and watch the show.

There are quick, easy, steps to making an inexpensive Halloween village. We made our Halloween village for $9.00 in bought materials and the stuff we already had on hand.

Of course, you can make any changes you want to your village. Choose your own colors, accents, and placement to make your Halloween village unique to your artistic style.

We hope you have enjoyed this talk on how to make an inexpensive Halloween wreath and Halloween village. We hope you will try your hand at it and show off your own style to decorate your own space.

As a family-friendly project, you can get the whole family involved.

Thank you for visiting and please come again for another edition of Out Standing in the Field.