My Luxe (and Costly) Holiday Wreath

Every now and again a project comes along that seems like a good idea at the time but about midway through I start to wonder what I am doing.  This wreath was one of those projects.

The idea came from my sister, actually my sister’s son-in-law’s sister (got that?) who brought the supplies to make one of these when she came for Thanksgiving.  My sister said it was turning out really cute but more bulbs were going to be needed to finish it. 

I thought I would try to make one myself.  I started with an 18” straw wreath form (from the local craft chain), some plastic Christmas ornaments of various sizes and colors and some floral pins.  Seemed simple enough.

I pushed the floral pins through the bulb hanger into the wreath.  For a while things went fine but after the wreath filled up with bulbs it was pretty difficult to fill the remaining holes without popping off some of the already-placed bulbs.  Plus, this took A LOT of bulbs.  I thought I was forewarned with what my sister told me and bought many more bulbs than I thought I would need.  I still had to go back for more.  TWICE .  Also, using the floral pins meant the bulbs could shift around a bit and things were pretty unstable until the very end (not to mention the blister on my finger from pushing them in).  Eventually I pulled out my glue gun, secured a few bulbs to the wreath form and each other and glued smaller bulbs in place to hide the remaining holes.

I think this wreath turned out beautifully but it definitely took more time, money and effort than I thought it would.  It also weighs a ton.  My sister had suggested that a wreath like this could be used on the front door one year, hanging inside one year and as a centerpiece another year (my mom’s hurricane lamp would look great in the center). 

In the end I used over 120 large/medium sized bulbs and another 30 small bulbs.  I spent well over $50 for the bulbs and another $15 for the other supplies.  Here is what I learned from this project and what I would suggest if you want to make your own:

1. Use a 12” wreath form.  18” is really too big.  By the time you place all of the ornaments, the wreath weighs a lot.  Plus you will use fewer bulbs with the smaller size.  The finished wreath will end up much bigger than the underlying form.  Mine grew to almost 26” across.
2. Buy your floral pins at Walmart.  I bought my first batch from the local craft store and paid $3 for a box of 50 (I bought two).  When I needed more I checked Walmart and found packs of 100 pins for $1.
3. Shop around for ornament selection.  I bought my bulbs at both Target and Walmart.  If you are willing to be flexible with your bulb color, Target had sets of 8 bulbs for $1.  $15 would buy you enough bulbs for this project, but they will all be the same size, and the color selection is limited.  Or do as another friend suggested and pick up ornaments on sale after the holidays and plan ahead for next year.

My wreath is hung, the blister on my finger is healing and I am already forgetting about the troubles I had.  All's well that ends well.

I'm sharing today over at Today's Creative Blog and their Get Your Craft On feature.  Lots of great ideas over there.