How to Make Autumn Decorations from Yard Waste
I enjoy decorating my doorway for Halloween as much as the next mom, however, I don’t have the budget to go along with it. Because of our budget restrictions, I started looking around our yard and home to see what we could use in a creative way to decorate for Halloween. Within minutes, I was in my back yard trimming a small tree near the swing-set. Shortly thereafter, I was cross-legged in the grass stripping the small branches of their leaves. When my husband discovered me, he thought I had gone a little shy of crazy- man with no vision. (Haha, kidding)
sWitches Broom
Check out my sWITCHES broom! I gathered long branches together to create the broom handle, and skinny shoots for the “broom needles.” I am very pleased with my results. I tried several solutions for keeping the branches together, in the end I opted to use black duct tape. It held everything together tighter than I could ever tie it. It is especially important to have a snug hold on the branches if you plan to use it on your main door as I have. My children don’t exactly close the door lightly..
Once I secured the branches for our broom, I decorated it with two rolls of ribbon. My total cost for this project was $6! When was the last time you purchased a Halloween door decorations with your lunch money?
Pine Needle Wreath
Once Halloween is over, I will switch out my Halloween door decoration with a Harvest door decoration instead. For those that don’t celebrate Halloween, you can go ahead and move forward with the harvest door decoration and enjoy it even longer than I will.
I have always loved pine trees and pine needles. I use the needles in gardening and often look for ways to use them instead of sending them away on yard waste day. While sitting in the backyard with our puppy last week I started playing around with the needles. Within minutes an idea came to me to use them as a wreath or as mini-witches brooms. I started gathering them and creating bunches with black duct tape.
After I had several bunches of needles together, I bent a wire hanger into a circle (or, as much as a circle as I could get it). If you are particular about having a perfect circle, I recommend craft hoops. They are very inexpensive and will work just as well as the wire hanger. Once the circle was formed, I started duct taping the bunches onto the wire. Bunch by bunch my wreath came together.
Once the wire is filled the pine needles need to dry. You should do this on a flat surface. If dried properly, you shouldn’t need any help supporting your needles. However, if you feel your needles need a little extra support to stay in place, I cut and hot glued pieces of a pizza box to the backside. The cardboard is almost the same color as the dried needles and is unseen once it is hung in place.
After your pine need wreath dries out, you may begin decorating with ribbon. I tried a large bow and I didn’t care for it. Instead, I created a ruffled ribbon with the help of my glue gun. Simplistic elegance with a tiny cost! Again, this project was only $6!
Do you have another idea for Halloween door decorations with common yard waste?
I would love to hear about it in the comments below!
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I make a wreath out of leaves!
These are awesome and look easy!! Thanks for the ideas!
These are so pretty and a good way to be eco friendly. I love to use pinecones, and I know you need to bake them to kill any bugs or insects you don’t want to get into your home.
These are some fantastic ideas! Thanks!
I love what you did with the pine needles! That’s a lot of dedication and the work paid off! It’s wonderful!
Sounds like a fun craft to make with your children!!!!
These are great ideas and look like they will be fun to do with grandkids.
I never had enough pine off my trees to makes these wreaths but they are so beautiful. I have used pine cones to make miss decorations. And love reading and looking at pictures I get so many ideals.
You have a lot of great ideals here and people just have to go out and look at their yard. They may not have the stuff you do but they know what and how to look at their yard to come up with great things.
I really like the pine needle wreath. We have a big pine that litters all over.
Awesome, we do this with pinecones too, but just treat them and use them as decor
Wow, these decorations turned out great! I have tons of pine needles right now and my favorite was with the plaid bow, super cute.
These are cool ideas. I shared the link with my cousin who does crafts like this.
This is very interesting.
These are great ideas, thank you so much for sharing! I really like the pine needle wreath, my kids would love helping me collect them!
These are so clever. I am going to try making some of these next Fall!
I would love to make the pine needle wreath!
Love the way it turned out! Great colors for the fall!
I love the nature wreaths. They’re beautiful.
I love this idea! I can’t say that I’ve ever visited someones house that had a wreath made of yard clippings/waste before.
This is such a great idea. Both wreaths are creative and you can’t beat the price of the projects!
You have some clever ideas! I used to love making my own decorations with my kids and now my grandkids, but now my hands don’t work like they used to. 😢. We don’t do Halloween, but Harvest Fest – yes! I have a hot glue gun and Gorilla Glue and tape. It’s great stuff and holds like a vice! I would also decorate the front of my house with hay stalks too. This was pin worthy! Thank you for sharing!
What lovely yard crafts! Thanks for sharing these with us.
These are very cute. I really like the sWitches Broom!
This is awesome!! Thank you!
I love this – finding beauty everywhere
These are fantastic. I love wreaths, but hate spending $7 for a pick. There’s such an abundance of “waste” around the property.
these are great!
Such fun ideas! Thanks for sharing!
Sharing this with my niece. She and her daughter try to make things for each holiday. Over at her grandmothers house are lot of pine trees. they will have to make a visit.
I love the idea of creating wreaths out of yard waste. I wish we had beautiful foliage here. Our leaves just go from green to brown.
What a great way to recycle!