I fall in love with one of those big, gorgeous Christmas wreaths on the front of catalogs every year as they start being delivered. But then I balk when I see the price. I mean, they’re beautiful – but goodness no do I want to pay that kind of money. Especially considering how hot it gets in South Georgia and these kinds of things don’t last more than a few years. I also have the guilt that comes with an art degree and think to myself, why spend the money when I can make something similar myself? {On that note, my degree is a “Master of Arts in Interior Design“…not arts and crafts as my husband likes to call it…so, I feel like that’s a valid excuse when DIY seems too hard.}
Anyway, last year I bought a couple of boxes of multi-colored ornaments from Target and put together a colorful garland around our dining room window. Then I designed a coordinating tablescape with the extra inexpensive ornaments mixed in with some of my nicer tiny ones.
What I really wanted was a colorful wreath to hang on the front door. I planned to make that wreath – you know, the ones completely made of ball ornaments stuck together with a hot glue gun? But it didn’t happen. I ended up really like my dining room and so the door just stayed bare. Hey…we had plenty of lights in the front yard to distract, thanks to an exuberant little boy. I doubt anybody even noticed our plain front door.
I am not a DIYer, really. But I know how to drive to Hobby Lobby. So that’s what I did. I picked out two very different wreaths (indoor/outdoor) and decided I would play with both of them before making a decision to return the unchosen.
I gathered my ornaments on the dining table and started placing them around the wreath to get a feel for what it would look like.
Once I knew which direction I wanted to go in – the flocked wreath, the berry was just too busy – I set everything in its place and started securing the ornaments to the wreath. If you happened to see this on my Instagram stories, Hannah did some videos (which may or may not have made you dizzy). She is my little helper, or design assistant as she likes to call it.
I did this by cutting smaller pieces of chenille stems (“pipe cleaners” if you’re old school like me) threaded through the top of the ornament and twisting the ends around the wreath’s frame. I was initially going to use a glue gun, but I have learned in the past that that does not hold up as well – both outside in the elements and in the attic when it’s 400 degrees in the summer.
When I was done, it looked like this:
My plan was, of course, to hang this wreath on my front door. A way to give a little taste of what’s inside: a colorful flocked living room tree, a colorful garland and table in the dining room, etc. And no, that’s not my front door. I decided that with all the rain we’ve had (with more to come in the days ahead of hanging), I didn’t want this wreath I worked so hard on to last only one season.
Since, we didn’t have anything festive and colorful in our bedroom, I decided to hang it over our bed.
Of course, then I couldn’t leave the front door bare. And I did love that red berry wreath, so…
(Isn’t that shirt the best? My mom gave it to me several years ago.)
I tied a pretty bow on it and decided to keep that wreath, too.
I love them both!
I don’t feel too bad, as you know with Hobby Lobby, they were both 40% off so together they cost me about $75. The ornaments I had, so I just needed to buy the ribbon.
While working on this project, which took over our table for a few days, we had several other things going on. Including, taking a break and walking outside to see the aforementioned little boy hanging up lights (almost completely on his own)…
And watching an adorable toy soldier in two performances of her third Nutcracker:
This year’s Christmas project down. Do you have a Christmas project going on or a wreath you love? Where did you find it? Or, did you make one like me? It’s hard to find the time for a DIY project, especially in December, but the satisfaction upon completion is pretty great, isn’t it?!
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