This hardly qualifies as DIY since it may in fact be the most rickety thing I’ve ever built. BUT this Halloween wreath was quick and easy to put together and, best of all, FREE!  

I really wanted a black wreath for my front door this year.  I thought the color would look great against the yellow door and while I probably could have found something similar in stores, I decided to attempt a DIY using things I had on hand.

First step, gathering sticks.  The kids were more than happy to help out with this and we were able to find lots of usable specimens in our yard and neighborhood.  I went for small to medium-sized sticks, roughly 6-12 inches long.

I didn’t use a hoop as a foundation since I really wanted a free form, rustic looking wreath.  I simply laid out the sticks in a rough circle/octagon-ish shape and started hot gluing where the sticks touched.  

After the first layer of sticks were all glued, I continued adding sticks in an overlapping pattern.  Sometimes I would tuck the end under other sticks to sort of ‘weave’ the sticks around each other.  Lots of glue helped!  And I had always planned to paint it black, so I didn’t worry about making the glue invisible.

On a walk through our neighborhood, I found a dead scotch broom bush in an empty lot.  Its wiry branches had dried into these curly tendrils that just screamed spooky to me.  So, of course, I dragged that gnarly giant branch back to my house.  I’m sure my neighbors really thought I’d lost it.

I started tucking the curly branches into my wreath and it was at this point I almost considered scrapping the whole project.  The hot glue started coming off the branches and the whole thing started falling apart with the new additions.  Luckily I had some twist ties in the garage that worked well enough to hold the branches together.  I probably used 8 all around the edge of the wreath.  Then, I sprayed the whole thing with black paint and prayed it would cover all the hot glue bits and twist ties.

Luckily it worked!  The spray paint covered everything and really made the wreath look cohesive.

I love how the black pops against the yellow door!

So far, it’s held together.  We had one windstorm that blew it off the door, but it remained in one piece! Whew!

It just has to make it two more weeks until Halloween! Cross your fingers!