Deco Mesh Halloween Wreath Tutorial – Easy DIY crafts

I was at Dollar Tree a few a weeks ago and they had the best Halloween crafting supplies! They had deco mesh in all the Halloween colors, ribbon, and some spooky accessories that could be attached to the wreath. So of course, I was inspired to make another deco mesh Halloween wreath. Yes, another. I have 3 now because one can never have too many Halloween wreaths, am I right?

If you’ve never shopped at the dollar store for crafting supplies, you’re missing out!

I made a cute wreath for Easter with stuff I bought from Dollar Tree. For every holiday, they carry a wide range of supplies for pretty much any craft or project you want to make. And everything is only a dollar! You can’t beat that at all. Granted, the “it’s only a dollar” mentality has gotten me in trouble a few times. Have you ever had so much stuff in your cart that you’re almost embarrassed to check out? I certainly have.

Making a deco mesh wreath is really easy once you understand the basics. And making them yourself is so much cheaper than buying one. Alex and I were at a craft fair last week and I almost choked when I saw that some of them were $80-$100! They were gorgeous for sure but I just cannot justify spending that kind of money on a wreath. Especially when I can make one myself!

I tried a different method for this deco mesh Halloween wreath. I used small rolls of deco mesh instead of one long piece of it that gets attached to the frame. Not sure if it’s easier or not but I liked the final result.

Follow along to master the art of the deco mesh wreath!

Deco Mesh Halloween Wreath Tutorial

Supplies

First up, supplies. I always grab everything that inspires me. I might not use it all but I can always save it for another project. And this is why my cart overfloweth with craft supplies…

Full disclosure – I did not buy the Halloween ornaments from the dollar store. I had picked those up at Joann when they were on sale and I had a 20% off coupon. Ditto on the pipe cleaners. They do carry pipe cleaners at the dollar store and I bought some, but I found this mega-pack at Joann for around $3 I think. But everything else in this picture was purchased at the dollar store.

The deco mesh comes in 5-yard rolls, which is less than you’d get if you were buying it at Joann or Hobby Lobby. The easy fix for that is to pick up more rolls! Again, it’s a dollar so you’re still paying less for 2 (or 3 or 4) than you would for one of the bigger rolls.

Get Your Wreath Frame Ready

Next up is attaching the pipe cleaners to your frame. You can buy work wreath frames that already have the pipe cleaners/twisty wires attached. But I don’t think it takes that much time to attach the pipe cleaners so I always buy the plain frames which saves me money.

There’s no real trick to doing this. I pull the pipe cleaner up around the bar, making sure the ends are equal, and then twist right next to the frame until it’s tight.

I used the purple deco mesh for the outer rows and black for the inner rows so those are the colors of pipe cleaners I used too. It helps the pipe cleaners to blend in with the mesh.

Cutting the rolls of deco mesh

For this wreath, I cut the deco mesh into smaller rolls and attached them all separately to the frame. This is probably the most time-consuming part of the whole process. Even the cat was bored – see her laying on the table asleep? She always lays there when I’m doing a craft project. I chase her off but she comes right back so eventually, I just give up. Cats, I tell ya.

I didn’t measure the rolls but I’d estimate they were about 6 inches wide, enough so that the deco mesh forms a complete tube. It took about an hour to get it all cut. And yes, the cat slept the entire time.

Start attaching those rolls

Assuming you still have any feeling left in your hands after cutting all those rolls of deco mesh, it’s time to attach them to the frame.

I pinch the middle of the deco mesh roll and then twist the pipe cleaner around it. Give it a couple of good twists so it’s secure.

After the purple row was done, I attached the black pipe cleaners and deco mesh to the inner ring of the wreath. Then I went back and did the second rows of each. There wasn’t a particular reason why I did it that way. You could also do both rows of each color at once.

For the second row, I used the same pipe cleaner from the first row. Here’s a picture of how I pulled the ends of the pipe cleaner down to the next wire. Position the ends around the wire and then attach the rolls in the same way as you did before.

One thing to keep in mind as you’re working through this is to keep the ends of the pipe cleaner pointing up. It’s a real pain to have to go digging for the ends if they get buried under the mesh.

Here’s what it looked like after all the rolls were attached. I think using the rolls makes it look fuller so I might stick with this method going forward.

Attach the tulle (or ribbon)

Dollar Tree had this really cool tulle with a spiderweb pattern. I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to use it when I bought it but I knew I’d figure it out. It’s the perfect addition to a deco mesh Halloween wreath.

I ended up adding it after all the deco mesh was attached. Since I used purple and black deco mesh, the orange in the tulle provided a nice contrast.

I just picked a spot to start and twisted the ends of the pipe cleaner around the end to secure. It’s hard to see in the picture above but you’re basically just using the same method as with the deco mesh.

The difference here is that I didn’t cut the tulle into pieces. I left it in one long piece and fed out a few inches and then attached using the next pipe cleaner.

Attach the fun stuff!

This is the fun part. It’s time to attach all the fun accessories to the wreath. How you attach them really depends on what you bought. For instance, the bats that I bought had clips on the back of them which made it really simple to clip them to the mesh.

If you’re using ornaments, you can feed one of the ends of the pipe cleaner through the loop where the hook goes. Works like a charm!

The spiders didn’t have any kind of loop or clip so I ended up hot gluing them directly to the deco mesh.

Clean up the pipe cleaners

The last step in our deco mesh Halloween wreath project is to take care of the ends of the pipe cleaners. Pull all the ends through so they’re sticking out of the bottom. Then wrap the ends around one of the bars in the frame.

If you have a lot of pipe cleaner left, you might choose to trim them before you secure the ends to the back of the frame. The main goal here is to tidy up the pipe cleaners and also make sure everything you added isn’t going anywhere!

I was disappointed because I picked up a set of battery-operated lights that ended up not working. Only part of the string worked so I wasn’t able to use it.

Still, I think the wreath turned out pretty good! After I snapped this pic, I noticed the tulle on the right side needs a little adjusting. It’s been so windy here lately it probably got blown out of place.

There you go! An easy and budget-friendly deco mesh Halloween wreath. You don’t need to spend a fortune on a wreath when you can pick up the supplies at the dollar store.

I barely got the porch painted and decorated for fall and then it was time to get it ready for Halloween. I didn’t go quite as crazy this year with the decorating as I did last year. Alex and I have both been so busy that it’s been hard to find time to add anything new and exciting. I’ll be putting the graveyard together this afternoon and we’re having a pumpkin carving party this week too. I found some cool templates we’ll be using. Alex is mostly excited about homemade pumpkin seeds.

It’s only the 14th so I still have time to decorate more (she says as she’s eyeing her to-do list with a sinking heart). I’ll try to get a post out in the next week or two with all the decorating details.

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