a pinterest christmas: ornament wreath.

this project was a bit more challenging, but it was still fun & so festive. there are a few different methods that you can use to make an ornament wreath; i chose the least expensive one which involves a wire hanger (you can also use a foam wreath core - the tutorial link is below).

{the original pinterest link: ornament wreath (foam). ornament wreath (wire).}

supplies:

wire hanger (i got one for free from my dry cleaner - just ask!)

ornament bulbs (i got mine from target)

ribbon for hanging (i used thick wired ribbon)

hook or nail 

hot glue gun (optional - i used it to reinforce loose ornaments)

{i can't seem to find the pictures of this part - that is what i get for having 6 million projects going at once! so the first thing you do is un-wind the hanger and shape it into a circle. i had aaron do this part - he told me to tell you that it is easier to bend the hanger into a circle before you begin to unwind the wire on the top.}

 {i took all of the ornaments out of the box - just like for the garland - so that i could mix up the colors.}

{i started threading the ornaments onto the wire. this is the tricky part - it is really hard to do this by yourself, because the ornaments won't stay in place by themselves (like they seemed to with the garland). it is also more complicated to get a good color pattern - all of my reds and greens seemed to be all clustered together.}

{after the wire is full of ornaments - mine was too full & i had to take a couple off in order to complete the wreath - you bend it in a circle and re-wind the wire onto the hanger (i had aaron do this part too).)

{then i took thick wired ribbon and put a loop around the wreath in order to cover the top of the hanger. and then i added a bow.}

{ta-da! so my wreath is not every circular, i know, but i think it adds some character & charm. also, when aaron hung the wreath, he had to bend the hanger back towards the wall a bit because the ornaments don't allow the wreath to hang flush against the wall - if this doesn't make sense, it will if you are trying to hang an ornament wreath. isn't it festive to have all of those christmas ornaments!}

so hindsight is definitely 20/20 & these are just words of advice if you plan on making an ornament wreath:

• if you want a perfectly round wreath, use a styrofoam wreath
• multiple sizes of ornaments can be helpful to fill in gaps - especially little ones
• this project would be WAY easier if you choose a monochromatic color scheme
• the same is true as was in the ornament garland project: target (or other cheap) ornaments tend to pop off really easily. this is good & bad: it is good because i need shatter-proof ornaments; it is bad because it is really frustrating when ornaments start popping off & you can't get them to fit again.

have you made any wreaths for the holidays this year, ornament or otherwise? have you found pinspiration (i love this word!) on pinterest lately?

M