Thanksgiving crafts

There’s nothing quite like a pretty wreath on a front door to welcome visitors and celebrate the season.  One of the reasons why I like wreaths so much is because they are great craft project for anyone to make.  It doesn’t matter how talented or experienced you are at doing crafts.  You can keep your wreath as simple as you’d like, or get carried away and adorn it with anything you can think of.  This makes it a fun project for kids too.

Another reason why I enjoy wreaths so much is because these decorations are ideal for any climate or location.  It doesn’t matter if you live in an apartment or house.  Everyone has a door, so a wreath always has a place to call home.  But let’s say that you don’t have the ideal door for hanging a wreath, you can also put these creations in a window, or hang it on the wall.

Here are a few of my favorite ideas for making your own holiday wreath.

Image courtesy of Shards of Blue CC 2.0

This yarn wreath was created for Halloween, but the technique is one that you can use for any holiday.  All you have to do is choose yarn that goes with the holiday you’d like to celebrate and and then choose appliques and accessories that go with it.

How to Make a Yarn Wreath

1. Start with a Styrofoam, foam, or wicker wreath.
2. Wrap yarn around the wreath, taking your time to place the yarn close together with no holes showing.
3. When the entire wreath is covered with yarn, cut the yarn and glue the end using a hot glue gun.
4. Start adding accents, appliques and decorations to the wreath to create any style, or holiday theme that you’d like.

Another strategy with wreaths is to have a “base” wreath that you use for a couple of holidays and simply change out the accent pieces that go on top.  The Halloween wreath above is a good example of that.  You could create a yarn wreath in a fall colored yarn that will look good for months.  For Halloween you can add white yarn to create a cob-web look and then add Halloween appliques. Add a ghost, felt flowers, felt bat and you’ve made a spooktacular Halloween wreath.

Image courtesy of roland CC 2.0

When it’s time to switch to a Thanksgiving theme, simply remove the Halloween items and swap them out for some fall leaves, pilgrims or turkey. The felt designs above are the perfect color combination for a fall wreath.  Here’s how to make these easy accent pieces.

1. Choose several different colors of felt.
2. Cut out any shape you’d like.  Use the same shape for each color.  You can either make them all the same size, or make each layer slightly smaller than the one beneath it.
3. Using a needle, thread yarn through the center of each piece of felt, layering one piece of felt on top of the other.  You can tie knots on the ends of the yarn to make it look like the center of a flower.  You can also leave the tail coming out the back side of the “flower” if you’d like to attach them to the wreath using the yarn.

Just remember that if you are going to swap out the appliques and details on top, you want to use velcro or something that allows you to change the accent pieces without ruining the wreath below.  You can always use glue if you want, you’ll just have to be careful removing the old accessories and the new ones will have to go in the same spot so that it covers up the old glue.  Or, wrap a few more strands of yarn around the wreath to cover up the old spots and blend with the existing wreath.

Here are some Thanksgiving accents and appliques ideas to add to your wreath.

Pattern for Fall Crochet Appliques

Pattern for Crochet Maple Leaves

Pattern for Crochet Oak Leaves

Free- Crochet Flower-Leaves

From Halloween to Thanksgiving, fall wreaths are full of color and fun.  I hope you enjoy making a DIY Fall Wreath to brighten-up your home, or to make as a gift.