My Christmas Wreath Tutorial

Hello!  :)

I've been gone for a little bit but I've actually been getting a lot done. I managed to get the sashing on the Super Mario quilt but I haven't gotten a picture taken yet. I'm hoping to take one tomorrow so I can show it to you. I've decided to add some borders too. It's long enough but I want it to be wider. So I'm thinking about adding small borders to the top and bottom and wider ones to the sides. Do you think that will be okay? I know what I want to do and I'm hoping to sit down and work on it tomorrow.

So what have I been doing the last few days? I've been decorating for Christmas!  :)  I'm really enjoying it and went all out this year. Every time I finish decorating I think of something else to add. I really do need to stop though so I can get back to the quilts I need to finish. I'm hoping to take some pictures to show you later this week.  :)

I've been seeing a lot of those ornament wreaths around blogland. I love them! I've been wanting to make one of my own and I finally did!  :)  I actually remembered to take pictures along the way so I'll share them with you so this will be a mini tutorial.

Supplies needed:  

Wire wreath form (mine is 18"), tinsel garland (I used one plus a little more of another one), approximately 60 average size ball ornaments, approximately 30 small ball ornaments, hot glue gun with glue sticks. 

There are many ways to make an ornament wreath. I thought about using a styrofoam base but I wanted it to last for a long time and I didn't think styrofoam would hold up for the long run. Instead I choose to use a pre-formed wire wreath as my base. I forgot to take a picture of the wreath base by itself so here it is with the tinsel garland already wrapped around it.

I secured the end of the tinsel garland to the wire wreath form and then began wrapping. I tried to get it as evenly spaced as possible. When I got to the end I secured it with hot glue.

I got my bulbs ornaments at WalMart. I laid them out around the inside of the wreath to see how many I needed. I began gluing them to the inside edge of the wreath form with the top of the bulbs towards the wreath. Try to space them evenly so you don't have too much space between them or too much space leftover at the end. Make sure you hold the bulb long enough so the glue sets.

Next do the same thing with the outer edge of the wreath. You will end up with bulbs on the inside, on the outside and the tinsel showing in the center. The wreath will be kind of flimsy at this point. When you add the bulbs in the center it will become much more stable.

At this point I just started adding bulbs between the other ones one at a time. I tried not to get glue on the other bulbs where it would show but it did happen. If it happens to you too you will be able to cover it up. Just try to avoid it if possible.

Each time you add a bulb glue it to all the bulbs it touches and squeeze them together until the glue sets. This is how the wreath becomes stable. Do the same thing all the way around. You can either add the smaller bulbs at the same time as the larger ones or get all the larger ones on and then do the smaller ones later. I actually did it both ways. The small bulbs are basically filler bulbs. Use as many or as little as you like. Put them where you have holes. You will be adding more tinsel in the next step to fill some of the smaller holes so don't worry to much.

After I had all the bulbs on I cut tinsel in pieces that were approximately 1-1/2" to 2" long. I added them randomly around the wreath where there were holes. I carefully pushed the tinsel down into the holes with my finger (you can also use a tool to do this). At this time you can also add tinsel to those places where you may have dried glue showing that you don't want to see.

Now you have a beautiful finished wreath!  :)  You can always add ribbon to it (or anything else you like). I'm really happy with how mine turned out. I immediately hung it on the inside of my front door.

Here's another picture of it . . .

So now I have a wreath on the inside and outside of my door.  :)  I also have an heirloom wreath to cherish from year to year. If you make one of your own I would love to see pictures so please share.  :)

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with Mario quilt progress to show.  :)

Until next time . . .