Turn on the Christmas music, grab some eggnog or hot apple cider, bake your favorite holiday cookies, and call your friends over so we can get this DIY Christmas Ornament Wreath Party started!

Isn't she pretty?! I smile every time I walk by this beauty! I have been dreaming of making one of these for a few years now and with the help of a few ladies from my women's group I was able to make a party out of it. 

We have about thirty to thirty five women in our group, but usually only ten to fifteen of them have flexible enough schedules to participate in events like this that take place during the week night. So I emailed everyone in the group a few wreath ideas and the majority voted on making a Christmas Ornament Wreath. 

I read a few different tutorials and even emailed Jessica from Four Generations One Roof for advice on how many ornaments to buy. Some bloggers used 80 to 100 while others used less. But it really all comes down to the size of your wreath and the size of your ornaments. I ended up purchasing 18 inch straw wreaths and followed some tips from Melissa of The Happier Homemaker's post as well since she used a straw wreath for hers.

Items You'll Need:

Wreath Form

Shatter Proof Ornaments

Low Heat Glue Gun

Ribbon (optional)

Decorative toppers (optional) 

I was concerned about the plastic that covers the straw but read in the comments on Melissa's blog that she left the plastic on to contain the straw. (Note: If you can't find the answer in the post, read through the comments...someone usually asks the same questions that are on your mind!) 

Another question we had: Do you leave the caps on the ornaments or take them off?! Jessica from Four Generations One Roof took hers off and faced the top downwards. It really helps to take them off so you have more room to work with and can place the ornaments closer together. But after a while it was getting to be a little annoying since the shatter proofs have caps that don't pop off as easily as glass ornament caps do! 

Another great tip I read from Jessica is to not only hot glue your ornaments to the wreath, but to each other as well to make them more secure. Note that in my items needed list is a low temp glue gun. Well, I only had a high temp glue gun and when it got too hot it started melting some of the plastic ornaments so I had to be careful with how much I used and only glued them to the wreath! 

You can see a few empty spaces in my wreath still, so I may be purchasing a few more small ornaments to stack on top. (Tip: If you don't want to worry about this wrap your wreath in colored yarn or ribbon first.) There's really no right or wrong method to how you start gluing on your ornaments. I started with the center ones, then the top and worked my way from there. We had a mix of large ornaments, medium, and small ones. The large and medium sized ones were from Walmart and the small ones were from Dollar Tree. 

As you can see everyone had their own method, and some ladies used just red and gold ornaments while others used red and green, or all three colors like I did! 

You can also purchase decorative toppers like holly leaves to cover those empty spaces. 

We actually ran out of red and gold ornaments since they were the most popular colors so a few of the ladies finished their wreaths at home and have been emailing me the final look!

I love the way everyone's turned out, each one is so different and unique. I'm so glad I could share this Christmas craft with the ladies of my women's group. 

I saw these little owls at Walmart and couldn't leave without them! But then today I stopped by the Dollar Tree and saw a reindeer ornament, these owls may change out next year! I am obsessed with Christmas reindeer decor right now. Have you seen these vinyl reindeer crafts from Two Thirty-Five Designs?! 

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AHH... I just love everything Allison from Two Thirty-Five Designs does and all of her Cricut deer designs! I need to find out if any of my cartridges have reindeer on them! PS, I'm also linking up with her for her Casual Friday link up!

So next time on the blog I may feature a reindeer craft, or something else I have in mind for DIY Christmas gifts this year...shh!! 

I hope you enjoyed my DIY Christmas Ornament Wreath. Do you make your own Christmas Wreaths? What are some designs you are crushing over right now? 

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?! What are your plans, are you staying home to cook or going as a guest? Either way, I hope you have a lovely holiday with your family. 

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great weekend! 

Also linking up with the Party Palooza and Weekend Re-Treat link parties!

DIY Spider Web Frame & Painted Pumpkin Craft Night

Happy Halloween Week! I'm so excited to share with you today the photos and craft ideas from the painted pumpkin craft night I hosted two weeks ago. To decorate our pumpkins we used items from the Plaid® Crafts box of Mod Podge goodies I received in the mail including glow in the dark Mod Podge, Folk Art paint, mod molds and mod melts. We used scrapbook paper and glitter as well (tons of glitter). I also put together a fun last minute Halloween decoration inspired by a post I saw on Michaels Stores Instagram page. 

Wicked DIY Spider Frame

Supplies Needed:

Picture Frame

White Yarn

Mod Podge Mod Melts

Mod Podge Mod Molds 

Paint {I used Folk Art Multi- Surface in Lime Green and Sequin Silver}

Hot Glue Gun

Scissors 

Paint Brush 

Spider Cut Out

An awesome daughter who is willing to help!

1. Remove the glass from your picture frame. Next paint the frame with the Folk Art multi-surface lime green paint and let dry. Then paint the multi-surface sequin silver on top and let it dry again. The box of goodies also included a silicone craft mat and was the perfect surface to use while painting my frame and using the hot glue gun to make the molds. It cleans up so easily, the paint wipes right up with a wet paper towel and the mold melts peel right off! 

2. Recruit a family member (my step-daughter helped me!) or friend to help you make the yarn spider web. Cut the yarn into long strands and start with the legs of the web, then the inner circles. 

3. Next I used my Cricut® machine and Doodlecharms™ cartridge to print out the spider. If you don't have a Cricut machine, search Google for a free spider printable. 

4. Using the Mod Podge mod melts, mod molds, and a glue gun make the fun skull character and spell out the word "EEK" to attach to your frame. 

5. Find a spot to hang your DIY spider web frame and get your Pumpkin Craft Night on! 

Painted Pumpkin Craft Night

I was finally content with the look of my decorated space and was ready to host the best painted pumpkin craft night ever! I set up the table the night before and pre-made a few mod molds including DIY skull push pins. 

DIY Skull Push Pin

Supplies Need: 

Mod Podge Mod Molds

Mod Podge Mold Melts

Mod Podge Silicone Craft Mat 

Hot Glue Gun

Push Pin

1. Plug in your hot glue gun and put your mod melt into the gun to heat up. I used orange and pink mod melts for our craft night, orange being the more popular color of the two. 

2. When your mod melt is ready to go fill in your skull mold starting at the center and working your way out. Make sure to fill in the entire mold. 

3. Once the mold is filled quickly place your push pin into the middle of the skull before it hardens. 

4. Use your glue gun to put a few more drops of the mod melt over the area of the push pin and let it cool/harden for about 10 minutes. {You can check the temperature by touching the bottom of the mod mold, if it's still warm to touch let it sit longer.}

5. Once it's cool enough, remove from mold and decide where you'd like to use it in your Halloween decor. Or make a few more to give as Halloween gifts in your office or to your teens! 

After painting my pumpkin with the Folk Art multi-surface lime green paint, I covered the stem with the Mod Podge and sprinkled on the glitter (tip: place a paper plate or folder under your pumpkin to gather the falling glitter and pour it back into the bottle to reuse). I let it dry overnight then added a top layer of Mod Podge to seal in the glitter so I wouldn't have glittery hands every time I picked it up! Then I topped it off with the skull push pin! 

We each had two pumpkins to decorate for the party and I was very excited about trying out this next technique... 

DIY Mod Podge Pumpkin

Supplies Needed: 

Glow in the Dark Mod Podge

Colorful Scrapbook Paper 

Paint Brush

Scissors

1. Cut strips of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper to the length of your pumpkin. {Tip: Make sure you have enough of the same pattern or color for your pumpkin, as you can see in the photo below I ran out of the butterflies and used a similar patter/color!}

2. Using the paint brush, generously brush the glow in the dark Mod Podge onto the bottom of the scrapbook paper strip and onto your pumpkin. 

3. Neatly place the paper strip on your pumpkin, smoothing out any creases. 

4. Once your pumpkin is covered with scrapbook paper, brush a top layer of Mod Podge over the entire pumpkin. Be sure to brush out any clumps, the Mod Podge dries clear but clumps of it will dry white. 

5. Next, brush your stem with Mod Podge and cover it in glitter. 

6. Once your pumpkin is completely dry hold a light up to it for a minute or so, then turn out all of the lights to enjoy not only a Mod Podge pumpkin but a DIY glow in the dark pumpkin as well! 

I love that I have two ways to enjoy my one pumpkin design. In the day time she's fancy and glittery pink, but at night when the lights go out she's a green glowing machine! 

Everyone had a wonderful time painting, using the Mod Podge, glitter, scrapbook paper, and mod melts for pumpkin craft night. I can't wait to do it all again next year! Who needs to carve a pumpkin when there is glow in the dark Mod Podge to enjoy?!

If you're still looking for Halloween or Day of the Dead decoration ideas, fun gift ideas, or other ways to craft with Mod Podge products check out these great videos, posts and Pinterest boards....

DIY Faux Sugar Skulls with Collage Clay by Mod Podge

3 DIY Decoden Cell Phone Cases with Mod Podge + Dollar Store Jewelry

Introducing Mod Podge Modeling Clay

Mod Melt Spider Webs

Plaid Decoden Pinterest Board

Plus don't forget to follow Plaid®  and the Plaid Palette Blog on social media {YouTube, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+ } and sign up for their newsletter for even more creative ideas. 

I'm linking up with other bloggers who participated so be kind and show them some love. I'm also linking up for the Dream Create Inspire Party and the Show Me Saturday Party. 

I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid and Blueprint Social, however all opinions on their awesome products are my own.