IT'S AUTUMN TIME

We didn't carve all of our Halloween pumpkins so I'm using a few of the small ones for the pedestals I made for Emily's farewell party. The pedestals are made from a vintage brass candlestick and goblet each glued to vintage salad plates. I must confess, I made those on the fly (for a wee $4 total) with just hot glue and they need to be epoxy'd before they fall apart, break, and make me cry. I had no idea how much I'd end up using them and have since fallen in love with them. It's time to make them more permanent.

I also made an acorn cap wreath for our back door. Our front door requires a wreath that can handle the elements which means our options are limited. So our inside back door is my opportunity for more fun decorative wreaths each holiday.

NEEDED
12" Styrofoam Wreath
Wool Brown Felt - Cut into 2" strips
Hot Glue Gun and Glue
Acorn Caps - Approx. 150 (I ordered on etsy)
Wire - I'm not sure of the gauge, I just used what I had. Heavy, but bendable.
Ribbon - At least 2" width, approx. 1 yard

Extra Wool Felt - To cut leaves (Fall colors)
Felt Balls - (I ordered on etsy)
* Felt Balls and felt leaves for alternate cluster at the bottom

PROCESS
1. Cut a 3" strip of heavy wire and bend it into a U Shape. Insert that into the back of the Styrofoam wreath. I also like to hot glue at the entry points just to secure it until it gets wrapped.
2. Wrap the wreath with felt strips using hot glue to start and finish each strip. This can be fairly sloppy, as it will be mostly covered with acorns. The back will be visible though. I like to wrap and glue extra securely around the wire hanger.
3. If needed, sort your acorn caps in small, medium, large. If they're all about the same size, no worries, just start gluing.
4. Glue acorn caps onto the wreath, starting at the top (where the wire hanger is) and glue an entire row all the way around the outer side of the wreath.
5. The next two to three rows will be the most visible so if you have a variation of sizes, use your best caps for these rows, and try to keep the sizing even if possible (Probably the medium/large).
6. The last row will be on the interior of the ring and might need to the smaller acorns. Some people spray paint at this point, but I like the naturalness of the acorns as is.
7. You can use the ribbon for a bow or as a loop for hanging.
8. * I had a few felt balls and left over caps so I used them to make a cluster and cut out two oak leaves in different colors of wool felt.