DIY Bat Wreath

Hello Eighteen 25 readers and Halloween enthusiasts! Christina here from Lincoln Street Blog. I am thrilled to be sharing this very easy to assemble bat wreath. I was inspired by a similar one in a store catalog. I loved the wreath, but I did not love the $50 price tag! Get your glue guns ready and have your glitter on standby, it’s about to get festive up in here!

 Okay, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty of this project! The first thing you need to do is gather your supplies!

 

For the black strips I literally found some old fabric lying around and just cut random, haphazard, strips. You could even cut up an old black t-shirt you have on hand. Very simple. The bats I cut from my Silhouette. If you don’t have a Silhouette (a Cricket would work as well) perhaps you could make fast friends with someone who does! Ha! If not, many stores do sell pre-cut paper bats. Typically, I would be the one to recommend tracing and cutting your own bats by hand. However, you will need about 80 of these bats (for a small wreath) so that could get a little tiring. The next step is gluing your strips around the wreath so as to cover any signs of green.

I simply glued one end down and started wrapping, making sure to add a few drops of glue, here and there, as I went along.

Once your entire wreath is covered, grab your first bat and let the fun begin!!

I bent the wings of my bats so that they would appear to be “in-flight” before gluing each one down.

I glued them down with space to fill (as you can see above) and then I went back and filled in all the empty areas. This was the point at which I decided that it might be a good idea to attach a hanger to the back. I simply took a piece of ribbon (I cut mine 7 inches, but you can adjust to your liking) and attached it to the back with a bajillion push pins. You could also hot glue your ribbon down, but if you do I recommend taking a small piece of felt and gluing that down over the tails of your ribbon to further secure.

I recommend hanging your wreath to help you decide whether it is full enough or still needs more bats. It’s hard to see it from every angle when it isn’t hung. Once you are satisfied with the look it’s time for the metallic spray paint!

I sprayed the wreath from about 15 inches away and moved the can back and forth quickly so as to let the paint mist over the wreath. I didn’t want full coverage and still wanted the black to be somewhat visible.

Of course, you can do whatever your heart desires! If you want full-on metallic–>go for it! Next I grabbed a brush, some glue, and glitter. Oh, and don’t forget a drop cloth or newspaper to catch the excess glitter!

The way you apply the glue and glitter is really up to you. I chose to add glue and glitter to just the tips of the wings and I liked the way that looked.

I am so happy with the way it turned out! I am not decorated for Halloween yet so I had to fake a vignette and I went with black and white since it was the easiest to pull from many of the current pieces in m home.