25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Series: Day 8

Metallic Ornament Wreath:Thrifty Doesn't Mean Cheapo

I find some amazing stuff at my local dollar store.  Don't get me wrong, most of the stuff in that store is...well, cheapo.  But every once in a while, I come across something in my Dollar Tree that just stuns the heck out of me.  The ornament wreath that I made from metallic Christmas ornaments are a great example.

I was scouring the store a few days back, looking for things like the glass candlestick holders that I used in my Silver and White Doily Christmas Trees, and found these metallic ornaments.  I stopped for a second because I couldn't believe the visual quality of these ornaments.  They had the appearance of expensive vintage ornaments.  Well...I gobbled up several tubes of them.  For a buck each, I was frantic.

Why did I get myself all riled up?!!  Well, I have been wanting to make one of those ornament wreaths that I have been seeing all over Pin Interest.  They take a ton of ornaments to completely cover the base and quite frankly...that is a lot of money on ornaments! 

I started with a Styrofoam base that I picked up at Goodwill for 25 cents and sprayed it silver with my Valspar Metallic Metal Spray Paint.  I also had found a nice size bag of silver garland that same day at Goodwill for 75 cents, so I brought that out too.  Here were my supplies.

Materials Needed

1-12 inch Styrofoam wreath form

5 tubes (12 each) of Dollar Store ornaments

1 pack of 18 mini ornaments (Joann's Fabrics)

Valspars Brilliant Metal Spray Paint

Several Yards of Silver Garland

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Wire for hanging (optional)

I first wrapped the base with my garland, hot gluing it at the start and the finish.  I added a piece of wire for hanging it later.

Starting on the inside, I hot glued  the ornaments to the base, varying the ornaments as I proceeded.  I took a few moments with each one holding them in place for the glue to set. 

I then repeated the same process on the outside of the wreath.  As I rounded the outside closer to the end, I paid close attention to make sure that when they met, there was enough space and/or not a pregnant space left between the last ones.

I then started to work the ornaments into the space between the inner and outer ornaments.  If you look closely at this next image, you can see that the ornaments had varying colors with some ornaments with glitter.  I varied these different colors as I proceeded.

I kept going until the entire wreath was covered.  I then filled in the large spaces with a few tiny ornaments that I had previously picked up at Joann's. 

There were still some spaces that needed something and a few places where the hot glue was showing.  I didn't want to add anymore ornaments, so I just cut little sprigs of the leftover garland, put a little dollop of hot glue on the end and worked them onto those areas allowing them to spritz out a little.

Done.  This wreath took me a total of 2 hours, mostly because I worked slowly making sure each ornament was set up before moving onto the next one.  I had leftover ornaments and they look totally cool just sitting in my metal urn.

Results!

This wreath only cost me 7 bucks you guys...  Even if you paid full price for the wreath form and the garland, it would only cost you about $15.  That PALES in comparison to what you would pay to buy something like this. 

Just remember to really keep a strong eye peeled when you are at your local Dollar Tree.  You just never know what you will find that surprisingly looks super high quality! 

TIP!!

Don't forget to scour your local thrift shops right now.  They have a lot of holiday decorations because people are getting their decorations out and getting rid of what they do not want. Maybe a bag of garland, an old wreath that can be striped and cleaned up or a little dish or something that you might be able to use is waiting there for you!  Check it out!  You might be surprised.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for my

Day 9

of

25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Ideas and Gifts Series!!

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25 Day of Christmas and Holiday Series: Day 5

Upcycled Sweater Sleeve Wine Bottle Bags

Nothing goes to waste over here.  Truthfully, I have a deep problem with it.  Dinner leftovers are my lunch the next day.  Old bread gets toasted with cheese on top.  I keep toilet roll and paper towel leftovers for projects.  I find rusty old stuff in the yard and before you know it, I am wearing in on my wrist as 'jewelry.'  (I'm not kidding, I have done this.)  So why stop?!!   Why not....recycle old sweaters into cool stuff, like Wine Bottle Bags...

Aren't these totally cool and cozy and festive?!!  I made these out of the sleeves of sweaters that I picked up at Goodwill for next to nothing.  This project is super easy. One that anyone can pull off and can you imagine walking into the party with such an adorable wine bottle cover?!!  Here is how I make them.

First, start with the sweater.  Doesn't matter the condition of the sweater, as long as the sleeves are still nice.  I like to use sweaters with a lot of cable knit in them because they add that cozy, textural feel.  Look at these sleeves...

The very end of the sleeve where your wrist would be will serve as the top of your bag, so pay close attention to it's condition.  Notice the green sweater above has an amazing scalloped edge?  Well, that is a nice detail to pay attention too. 

At this point, you just slide a wine bottle up into the sleeve and eyeball the length you will need.  Lay the sleeve back down flat and cut it off straight. 

In order to 'sew' up the bottom, I use a piece of yarn with a needle with a large eye.  It doesn't matter the color of the yarn because it will not be seen in the end.  For purposes of this demonstration, I used white because I knew it would be more visible in my images. 

Turn your sleeve right side in!  The outside of a knitted sleeve is prettier and there is usually an ugly seam on the inside.   

Now you simple make a large running stitch through the cut end.

 Pull the running stitch to cinch the end closed and tie off the ends of the yarn tightly.

Turn the sleeve back to right side out.  Walla!  A bottle bag!!  Now you could simple put a pretty bow on your bag.  After all, at this point, you have done your part for the environment and created something unique. 

I added additional decor to mine.  It's all preference.  For one of the red sleeves, urr I mean bags, I created a poinsettia embellishment out of felt and buttons using a hot glue gun.

I cut a circle out of the felt that was about 3 inches and placed it down for the base of the poinsettia.  I quickly snipped out three different sizes of rectangles for the petals.  I then cut one end of the rectangles to form the petals and laid them down in a pattern starting with the larger and working smallest on top gluing them with a little hot glue as I went.

I finished off the center with a few black buttons.  You could use anything. If you don't have spare buttons, get creative and use something you already have.  You could even use the button off the sweater.  I am saving that part of the sweater for another project, so I didn't want to use it now. 

Now simple hot glue the poinsettia to the bag, tie of the neck of the bottle with a little string or ribbon and you are done!

For one of the red bags, I made rosettes out of felt and ribbon.  There are a ton of tutorials out there on how to make these rosettes, so if you want... look around.   I make mine using a large circle of felt that I cut like a corkscrew starting on the outside and working into the center.  For the ribbon, I folded a wired ribbon in half lengthwise and starting in the middle wound it around itself.  As I got to the outer 'petals' I twisted the ribbon a few times as I went to give it the look of opening petals.  I then hot glued the ribbon flower to a piece of felt.


All of the rosettes above are glue onto a round piece of felt for stability.

I then hot glued the rosettes to the bottle and tied off the neck with a ribbon. 

I had one more red bag and I felt like getting a little silly.  Plus, I was looking for something a little quicker and easier.  I simply took black felt and cut out a strip that would fit around the sleeve and hot glued it down.  Using a piece of the green wired ribbon that I made the rosette with, I cut out a rectangle the size I wanted the bucket to be.  I then snipped a little piece of black felt and glued it to the center of the ribbon to make it look like a buckle.  I then tied off the top with a ribbon.  Ho Ho Ho...

Aren't these just so much fun?!!  Anyone can do this...  You don't even have to have a red or green sweater.  You could use just about any color if you jazz them up with holiday colors on the embellishments.  You could even use blue and white, or all white for a switch up.  Go for it!  It's a great way to make something special for that bottle of wine and do something for the environment at the same time.  Heck, how about save money?!!  These bottles cost me $1 each to make!  What are you waiting for?!!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for my

Day 6

of

 25 Days of Christmas and Holiday Ideas and Gifts Series!! 

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