Monday, December 6, 2010

Ornament Wreath

There is a little bit of snow falling this morning.  This has changed the light such that I could finally take some decent pictures of my ornament wreath.
ornament wreat 011
As I mentioned the other day, this wreath took my almost five years to make.
It all started back a while ago when my dear friend Kathy asked me to start looking for vintage ornaments for wreaths she made with her sister.  After passing on several boxes to her, I saw one of her wreaths for the first time.  Five years ago, or so, I began collecting ornaments for myself.  Finally, in August of 2009, I visited her with ornaments in hand and she taught me how to make it.  We spent all day working on it.
Then, we got up in the morning and headed to our dear friend Julie’s house.  She had just moved back from Hawaii (woo hoo!) to Massachusetts and was in her home just a day or two.  We arrived and the moving men were there.  We parked the cars and went to work.  We worked all day and well into the night.  A very HOT day and a very HOT night.  With my poor little wreath sitting in a VERY HOT car. 
As you can imagine, this wreath is put together with hot glue.  The entire thing came apart.  Sniff, sniff, AGGGHHHH!
Last year, we were confined to our basement for Christmas due to renovations, so the wreath did not make it out.
Finally, Friday night I paid my beautiful wreath all the love and respect it deserves.  It is now happily hanging in my dining room.
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I also hung some favorites from the chandelier.
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I do not have pictures to show you how to make this wreath.  However, I am sure you have seen these before and it follows the basic techniques of wreath making.  The specific details are:
  • We used a grapevine wreath form
  • You need a LOT of ornaments to complete a wreath of this size.
  • When you start, build a foundation of ornaments around the center and outside perimeters.
  • Everything is hot glued at each “touch point” to another ornament or the wreath form itself.
  • You need a LOT of glue sticks. I used hot glue for the whole project.
  • About 95% of my ornaments are vintage.  However, if you do not have that many, or any at all for that matter, check out my tutorial for making new ornaments look vintage.
ornament wreat 005
If you choose to undertake a project  like this, or a similar one, please remember these important details:
  • These wreaths can not be hung by a fireplace or heating vent/source.  Heat puts it at risk to loosen your glue and cause damage to already fragile ornaments
  • Do not store these wreaths in an attic or place that the temperatures get very high at any point of the year.
  • Although the individual ornaments are light, when it is all together, this is pretty heavy.  I have heavy wire behind the ribbon that is attached to the wreath and a nail on top of the hutch.  If this wreath falls, it is pretty much done.
  • Last but not least, do not leave them in a hot car while you help your friend move!
ornament wreat 016
I did loose a couple of ornaments in the process of putting this together because they are so fragile.  If you have an ornament that is very special to you, I would suggest displaying it in another way and not run the risk of damage by using it in the wreath.
ornament wreat 010
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I am also sharing this project at
Visit thecsiproject.com

19 comments:

michelle said...

Laura is it so beautiful! It is seriously perfect! All the ornaments you chose are were made for that wreath!! Sorry that it took so long to make and thank you for passing on the "don'ts" :) I hope you had a wonderful weekend my friend! It is snowing like crazy here about 7" already since yesterday! Winter is here in Michigan!!

Sherri B. said...

Your wreath is Spectacular!

Krista@RustikChic said...

Beautiful!

Crystal @ Ordinary Days said...

Ohhhhh....sooooo pretty!!!

Unknown said...

That is simply unbelievable, I know how hard they are to make, even with plastic ornaments! I am tried to make one but I ran out of ornaments I didn't want to go and buy more so I quit.

Unknown said...

What a beautiful wreath!
I love the fact that you used vintage ornaments!

Unknown said...

Stunning wreath, Laura! It's huge! You did a beautiful job on it! Love the color combo!

Thanks for the tutorial!

Cheers!
Tina

Wendy said...

i absolutely love it! thanks for sharing!!!

Sarah AKA The Thriftress said...

When I see all those vintage lovelies I could just die! I collect them also and I am so glad there are people like you and me are rescuing them from obscurity! Your wreath is gorgeous!
Sarah

Megan @ Megity's Handmade said...

Oooo!! I'm glad that I snooped around because here is your wreath!! It looks amazing! I need a wreath for the front door this year. I can't decide what to do. This would be amazing except I would do your dabbing aging technique instead of the vintage ornaments. I wouldn't want them to be runined out in the cold.

Anonymous said...

Well worth the wait! Where did you get your buffet/china cabinet- it is gorgeous- did you make it? I'm following, it will help keep my christmas spirit up!

R. Long Pyper said...

This is absolutely stunning and certainly worth the wait!

Judy @ In His Grip said...

Can I just say, my eyes are green with envy. I have been looking for so long to collect some of those beautiful vintage ornament. I have only a bowl full and display them proudly every year. I only wish I had this many. Beautiful!

Carrie said...

All I have to say is... STUNNING!

Valerie said...

The wreath is beautiful. I will start collecting now. Maybe in a few years i can have a wreath as beautiful as yours.

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

This is gorgeous! Thanks for sharing with us!

Jenny @ DIY Newlyweds said...

This wreath is gorgeous! I just featured it on my blog, it's too pretty not to share :-)

http://www.diynewlyweds.com/2010/12/vintage-christmas-decorating-ideas.html

Nita Stacy said...

Love this wreath. I made one of these too...last year at the end of the season to use this year...I just kept taking ornaments off the tree and gluing. But then this year....I was unhappy that I'd used up so many of my vintage ornaments. I had forgotten to buy more! It is amazing....how many ornaments this takes...isn't it.

Your's is the best one I've seen. I'll be showing mine soon on my blog....

Elizabeth said...

This is so stunning!!!! I love that you used vintage ornaments! Would love for you to visit me at Sew Chatty and link up to Made with Love Monday! The party will be open until Friday if you want to link up multiple projects. Hope you have a great day! http://sewchatty.blogspot.com