Friday, November 30, 2012

Crafting for Adults: Fall Wreath

I recently started a new program series at our library.  This new series will offer a craft type program once a month to adults.  This is the first time we have offered this type of adult programming. 

This first event was planned for 27th.  We ended up having 5 attend and we had enough supplies for 12.  This was a pretty good turnout and we were very happy with it.

The total cost of this wreath was about $15.  This could probably be reduced by changing some of the materials.

It took aprox. 1 hour to complete this craft if the foam board was pre-cut.  I found that the measuring and cutting took longer than I thought.  Especially when I was prepping 12!

Materials used:

1/2 sheets of white foam board (cut in half)
Quick Dry spray paint
Glue
Aprox 100 Fabric Leaves 
Ribbon (if you want to add a bow)
Exacto knife w/ cutting board (the knife may damage your tables)


Fall Wreath Craft
 Directions

1. Start with foam core board. You can cut this into a square/rectangle.  The 1/2 sheet is 30in long, so I cut it in half at 15".  Each person gets on 15" portion.

2. Determine how thick you want the whole in the middle to be and mark and cut accordingly. We measured 4" from each edge and marked it with a sharpie and then went back and cut it.  It will basically look like a picture frame. Remember: It doesn’t have to be perfect – you won’t see the exact shape when you are done! J

3. Do a quick spray of the edges with a similar color spray-paint. (Just in case the edges show through at all.)

4. You can purchase packets of leaves from the Dollar Tree during the fall season or online from a craft supplier.  I did not find leaves at Hobby Lobby or Michael's. If you get the ones with wire in the stems you can fluff them and make them more dimensional. (You can snip off the wire stems, just to have the leaves showing.)

5. Fire up the hot-glue gun or use a high tack craft glue and start arranging leaves as you would like. There is no rhyme or reason to it – just stick them on in whatever pattern you would like.  With the craft glue we found it best to put the glue on about 1/2 the board and then go back and add your leaves.  The additional few minutes helps the glue get tackier. I also found it unnecessary to go back and press down the leaves every few minutes because the fabric leaves aren't 100% flat and they needed to be coaxed a bit to stick down on the glue instead of on top of it.

6. If you have a door that is exposed to the wind, you’ll want to add weights to the “frame” because it is very lightweight.

**Honestly I cant find the site I ordered my leaves from, but I found some here and here.  They can be found online for between $5 and $15 per package.  Most packages I found came in 100 counts, but a few came in 200 counts.

**My favorite glue is Beacon 3 in 1 glue.  I find it at Hobby Lobby and Michael's craft stores and it ranges from $5 to $7 per tube.  Yes, this glue is expensive, but we use it on almost everything when we do crafts.  I have tried several types of glue and this is hands down the most versatile and it dries quickly and crystal clear.