Ghostly Rat Wreath for Halloween - Easy, Last Minute Halloween Decor Idea

I originally bought and spray painted 30 plastic rats for a last minute Halloween costume idea but as soon as I lined them all up to admire my handiwork, I suddenly envisioned a wreath and became so much more excited about this idea instead! 

Yep, it's a little last minute but that's how I roll. 

I spend so long hanging on to summer every year that Thanksgiving and Halloween always sneak up on me - I only just decorated my pumpkins! (Check out my quick and easy marbled pumpkins here if you missed them).  Because Halloween is looming, I'm thrilled that my new Halloween wreath only took about 10 minutes to whip up.  I'm not a huge fan of the classic Halloween palette of orange + black (although I do enjoy Orange is the New Black, lol), so I love this Halloween wreath idea because it's minimal and all-white - perfect with my blue and turquoise decor! - but it still has a ghostly, creepy, (kinda cute), Halloweeny vibe.   

If you're doing this Halloween thing at the last minute like me (or, as Hubby put it, getting ready for Halloween 2018), you'll love this quick and easy Halloween wreath idea.  10 minutes to make - tops!

Supplies:

• Plastic rats (I bought three packages of Les Rats, lol, on Amazon)
• Matte white spray paint (I also used a shimmering white for the wreath)
• Grapevine wreath
• White thread (or strong glue like E6000)
• Scissors (I pine for these)

The first step takes two seconds: lay the mice on their backs and the gravevine wreath face down and blast with a quick drying spray paint.  Let dry, flip everything over and blast with paint again.  The whole process, minus dry time, took me five minutes.

However, you could also save time and skip this step entirely!  Use a natural grapevine wreath and the rats au naturel for an even quicker craft.  Or spray paint to match your decor.  As I'm typing, I'm picturing a mischief of rats sprayed increasingly lighter shades of my favorite hue for a pretty ombre effect.  Hmmmm...

Hello little cuties!  You complement my decor so much better now...

With the rats painted a ghostly white, I quickly affixed them to my grapevine wreath.  

Time for a little confession: as a DIY blogger it's my job to come up with a steady steam of crafts and DIY projects and that's such a sweet gig, but one thing that bothers me is how wasteful the industry can be.  So many bloggers have admitted to disposing of their crafts immediately after pressing "publish" (never mind the perfectly lovely, beautiful rooms scrapped and decorated again and again for content).  I understand that more content is the name of the game, but I try to be mindful of promoting an unreasonable preoccupation with the consumption of goods.  Sometimes the sheer volume of STUFF in this world is really distressing.  Honestly, I can be a little harsh on the environment, with my unnecessarily massive diesel-guzzling truck and hit or miss composting efforts, but I do try to not be wasteful when it comes to DIY and home decor.  When I can, I reduce, re-use and recycle in my home and decorating pursuits - and that applies to my DIY supplies, too.  

So while I recommend you take a dab of E-3000 glue (or any other tough, multi-purpose adhesive designed for plastic) and strongly bond these little rats to their new home, I opted to use string and secure them by their feet and tails for a secure, but not permanent, rat wreath.  This way I can happily hang my wreath for the precious few hours before Halloween, and then re-use the rats and the wreath for another blog project down the road. 

Either method works, but gluing will take two seconds, the thread will take about 5 minutes.  I used a large needle to help me navigate the thread around a suitable piece of grapevine, secured the tail and a foot or two with one loop and tied off the thread and snipped the end before moving on to the next one.  Because the thread is the same color, you really cannot see where the thread has been tied.

I overlapped my rats a bit to create a more spooky vibe of these ghostly cuties crawling all over each other. Spooooookkyyyy.

Easy peasy!  And I love these little faces greeting me when I come home.

Please tell me there's someone else out there who has left their Halloween decorating to the last possible minute too???

I should probably get started on that cute costume idea for next year, shouldn't I... 

DIY Evergreen + Feather Wreath

Living lakeside in the country has definitely changed my aesthetic, and I find myself turning to nature more and more for inspiration.  I put together a DIY evergreen wreath tutorial for Hello Holiday that has such an organic, earthy feel to it that I surprised myself! 
 

You can see the full how-to on Hello Yellow but this was pretty straightforward to make.  Once I gathered armfuls of evergreen branches (using pruning sheers for a clean cut), I cut down the branches into smaller piece.  I grabbed bunches of these trimmings, fanned them out, and affixed them to my wreath form using green floral wire.  Easy!  Then I just worked my way around the wreath, layering on the boughs.

Once I got into the rhythm of it, making this evergreen wreath was actually really simple!  The trickiest part was creating a nice balance and keeping a round shape.  I wanted a really natural looking wreath so I kept the arrangement loose, but I had to be careful because it went really wild looking very easily.  I tried my best to tame it!

 

When I was finished with the wreath, I accented it with feathers.  I picked up a zillion Canada goose feathers from the yard one day and I was so enraged by their constant presence.  For some reason, vowing to make something pretty with their feathers seemed like the perfect revenge (I do not understand my logic).  I actually wanted to make something like Britt Bass' arrow art, but then I found adorable clip-on birds at the craft store and decided that an earthy wreath would be an even better use!  Take that, geese.  Ha!

After collecting them, I cleaned the goose feathers.  First I popped them all in a ziploc bag and placed it in the freezer for a few days (to kill any bugs), then I gently washed them in dish soap, rinsed, and let them air dry.  I mixed them with some shimmering faux foliage stems and a handful of teal feathers from the craft store for some subtle colour, inspired by the lake and it's moody, grey blues this time of year.  A dab of hot glue is all that was required to affix them.

The wreath is so full and lush - and smells amazing.  I love that it is huge because it makes such a statement on my walls. 

You can see this wreath - and tons of other holiday crafts, DIY projects and decorating ideas - in Hello Holiday!  And, if you missed my other modern holiday decorating ideas, check out my DIY agate wreath and DIY dyed bottle brush trees. 

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DIY Agate Slice Wreath

Yesterday I showed you a sneak peek of the Hello Holiday guide - did you spot my holiday DIY projects?  The agate slice wreath I made is definitely my favorite!!  I absolutely love this modern spin on a classic grapevine wreath.

It has such a cool, organic feel thanks to the grapevine and irregular agate slices.

How I came up with the idea is kind of a funny story.  Hubby and I were driving home one night and I was brainstorming wreath ideas, lazily scrolling Pinterest on my phone.  I joked that making wreaths seemed to be competition in gluing weird things to a wreath form.  We started naming really ridiculous things one could affix to a wreath and, all of a sudden, agate slices popped into my head!  You know I love rocks, gems, and minerals - I even have a whole Pinterest board devoted to them!  (My agate slice pendants and framed agate slices are still very popular posts, so I know I'm not alone...)  Once I had the idea, I was fully committed!  We turned the truck around and hit up the craft store for a grapevine wreath and some wire, then I tracked down the perfect agate slices on Etsy.

Supplies:

• Grapevine wreath (mine is 18")
• Spray paint (optional)
• 10-12 agate slices (I bought mine from this seller, Amazon has multi-colour lots)
• 22 gauge wire
• Wire cutters
• Needle nose pliers

First I spray painted my wreath gold, but you can leave it natural.  I purchased 10 dyed agate slices from an Etsy seller and she helped me choose stones with a similar scale and colour.  They're all between 2.5" - 4" (except the one bonus mini she sent me).

To affix the agate slices, I looped a piece of wire around one end of the agate, twisting it tightly at the back. You can do this by hand, but needle-nose pliers help.  Be careful not to over-twist as metal fatigue can cause the wire to snap.  If your wire has snapped a few times, upgrade to a lower gauge wire.  It will be a bit stiffer to work with, but will be stronger – especially good if you have little kiddos around who might be tempted to tug on the shiny agate slices.  (If you're really committed to the look, you can also use glue instead of wire, but wire affords some flexibility because the wreath could be dissembled in the future).

Next I cut a second piece of wire and looped it around the other end of the agate slice, twisting it tightly as well.  With a loop at each end of the agate, I brought the tail ends of wire together at the back of the agate slice and twisted them together.

Then I simply twisted the wire on to the grapevine wreath and buried the tail.  I worked my way around the wreath, layering the agate slices for a natural look.

Check out Hello Yellow for more tips, ideas for wire wrapping, and more photos. 

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Adding Curb Appeal Even With Strict Condo Rules + Small Budget

Now that I can finally show you the outside of the townhouse, I wanted to share some photos of the teeny, tiny little spruce we gave it to boost the curb appeal.  As you know, with condo rules we couldn't change much: the door colour, exterior colour, mailbox design and colour, trim colour, lighting choice, door style - they are all part of a master design scheme.  Don't feel sorry for us though, because that also meant that exterior care and maintenance were up to the condo.  Every spring they cleaned our gutters, inspected the brickwork, made necessary repairs, etc. - we even got a "free" roof.  Although it was unnerving the first time I heard a stranger stomping around on the roof, and spotted a ladder propped against our bedroom window, this perk far outweighed our lack of creative input. 

This is what the townhouse looked like when we first toured the property in 2009:

Looks like someone hated gardening more than me!

The next spring, I made the left side "flower bed" (if I can call that dirt-heap a flower bed) deeper and planted a small yew bush, which I refuse to prune.  Lily of the Valley flowers (my favorite!) were both mailed to me by my mother-in-law and pilfered from my grandparents' garden and transplanted to the right.  We also swapped out the dated brass door hardware for a pretty brushed silver handle and lock (obscured by the condo-issued brown storm door).

 The house certainly looked more loved after our efforts, but I guarantee Martha Stewart would feel embarrassed for us.  Sadly, by the time we went to sell years later our little spruce had faded.  The orange mulch had turned blah and the salt had wreaked havoc on our lawn.  The colourful mat, which was originally teal, turquoise and orange (look at me coordinating) had become disgusting.  Even the mailbox was looking worse for wear.

We didn't do much to get the exterior ready for sale but we did plant some grass seed, splurge on fresh mulch, buy a crisp new mat, and add a colourful potted plant.  Oh yes, we also restored the mailbox with a quick blast of black spray paint.  I still refused to prune my yew.

During our original sprucing, I made a wreath with my Mummu, a devoted crafter.  I added teal-grey eucalyptus (the same colour as our exterior), plus gold and coppery glittery bits to complement the orange door.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
 

These small changes made the exterior of the townhouse more welcoming and helped boost our curb appeal, without spending a lot of money - or breaking condo rules!

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