Fall Monogram Wreath and Candy Jar

With the weather finally getting cooler in the evenings here in Georgia, we’re starting to really get in the spirit of Fall!  Simply hit your local grocery store and you will see…everything has Pumpkin in it and that middle aisle is brimming with terrifying Halloween décor (which you may or may not want to browse with your toddler, depending on their fondness for a singing, dancing Snoopy wearing a skeleton suit).

In order to bring some of that home (beyond my  candle obsession), I climbed into my musty crawl space and pulled out my “Fall” décor box.  While I do have some cute things, my sister’s sweet garland and mantel made my stash seem somewhat inadequate.  After purging quite a bit, I decided that we were in serious need of a cute monogrammed wreath for our front door.  So, while Colin played in the playroom with his trucks, I sat in the dining room, with the smell of Pumpkin Cupcake in the air, to get back into my crafting!  I had quite a few of the supplies I needed, but did run to my local Hobby Lobby and grab a new grapevine wreath, a sweet tin monogram and some decorative mini-pumpkins.

I busted out the glue gun, which has been seriously neglected of late, and sat down to create.  Tools of the trade (all of which I had on hand, Jordan!):

I started with leaves, I mean, it’s Fall right?  What I love about grapevine wreaths is the planning is easy because you can place everything by pushing the stems between branches, but you’re left the flexibility to change.  Hot glue makes things more permanent and that is no good for Miss OCD here.  Here is me placing my leaves and then gluing.


I took the monogram out on to the patio and sprayed it a champagne-gold, and while that dried, went to tackle the snarl of natural raffia that came out of my supplies.  Once manageable, I was able to tie a quick bow to place at the top of the wreath and was almost finished.

Knowing my need for placement options, I had the foresight to purchase my new pumpkins and flowers with picks attached.  This made arrangement easy and my wreath was really coming together!


Once all of the floral pieces were placed and secured with glue, I grabbed my newly golden “H” and raffia bow for the final touches.  Truly a simple wreath to make, and roughly 20 minutes total work time and I think it turned out rather nicely!  I was quite happy to not only have my first decoration up, but be back on the crafting.

While I was on a roll, I figured I should keep going.  And, once Baby Boy was PJed, teeth brushed, stories read, kisses given and snoozing, I headed back to my supplies.  Now, I told y’all earlier about my candle obsession and when I opened my “Fall” storage container, found the remnants of this problem from last year; several nearly empty candle jars just waiting for me to get my hands on them!

Like I said previously, feel free to browse our Recycled Crafting board for ideas on what to use these old jars for, but this is my favorite tutorial on getting them clean and pretty, Wax Removal.   This process took me about 30 minutes total, only because you have to let the hot water and wax cool enough to be touchable.  Otherwise, SUPER easy to do.

Once I got them all shiny and clean, I pulled out two drawer pulls (originally purchased at Christmas for wine cork decor) and my two favorite tools:  Goo Gone and my Glue Gun.

With these, I started removing the candle labels and attached the knobs to the tops of each lid and made my old candles into lovely little jars to be put to further use, instead of just tossed in the trash!  The gold one is just screaming for some Fall colored Peanut M&M’s and placement on my mantel, but the silver will most certainly find its new home on my bathroom vanity!  What a great idea for holiday gifting once I burn through some more!