Floral Raven Decoration

I know it's only August but the craft stores are starting to stock Halloween and Christmas items. Some shoppers were complaining that summer isn't even over and already we are seeing Christmas items on the shelves. It does seem like the stores are pushing the seasons rather than let us enjoy the rest of the summer. That being said, the craft supply stores are the only place that it really makes any sense to stock Halloween and Christmas items during July and August. Many of us like to start working on decorations and hand made gifts early and not wait until November when the holidays are quickly approaching and we run out of time and it's nice to be able to buy the supplies that we need.

Last year Michaels featured a Halloween Floral Ball with a Raven on their website. By the time it appeared on the website it was too late to find the flowers or the Raven in the stores. Several Michaels stores in Maryland used the purple flowers and the Ravens to make wreaths to sell in their floral department for Baltimore Ravens fans. I bought the candelabra base and decided to wait until this year to buy the flowers and the Raven.

This is a quick and easy project. I sat the candelabra base on Brittany's copy of Edgar Allen Poe's stories. I chose not to glue the candelabra base to the book because I didn't want to deface the book and I thought it would make the decoration easier to store after the holiday.

Directions for the Halloween Floral Raven Ball:

Black candelabra- available at Michaels
6 inch styrofoam ball- available in the floral department of craft stores
Medium Raven
14 Dark Purple flowers approximately 4 1/2 inches in diameter
Hot glue gun
Wire Cutters

The directions for this project are available at www.michaels.com  Halloween Floral Ball Crow.

1.  Cut flowers from the stems with wire cutters. Leave about 1/2 inch of the stem still attached to the flower.

2.  Glue the styrofoam ball to the candelabra.

3.  Insert a flower at the top of the ball and glue in place. Then slightly overlap each flower and glue in place until the ball is covered.

4.  Place the Raven on top of the ball and glue in place.