Ornament Wreath

This is a great project to do with your left-over ornaments after you are done decorating the tree this year. Or a great excuse to scour the local dollar store or Christmas shop!

You will need a hot glue gun, a lot of ornaments (shatterproof unless you are very brave) in a variety of sizes (I used 55 total, Eddie Ross used 80 I believe, you can use less though for a smaller wreath), a wire hanger, wire cutters and a bit of patience.

First things first. Take all of the metal or plastic tops off of your ornaments. Seriously. (I mentioned you would need a bit of patience for this first part.)

Then, hot glue them back on.  Really. I am not joking.

We have all had ornaments become detached from their top, well, when placed on a wreath and bent in a circle, they will surely pop off. So save yourself some time in the years to come, and glue the tops on now. (After this is done, the project goes very quickly! I promise!)

Secondly, untwist the wire hanger, leaving the hook on the top, and start stringing the ornaments on the wire, one at a time, varying sizes and colors as you go.

This can be done with any color ornaments: red and green for Christmas, blue and silver for Hanukkah, red, green and black for Kwanzaa, pastels colors for Easter, browns and golds for the fall etc., let your creativity run wild here and have fun with it!

After the entire wreath is full of ornaments, play with the ornaments until the all lay close together, trying to fill in all gaps on all sides of the wreath.

I held mine up and gently shook it until the ornaments settled and then went back and fixed a few ornaments, as needed, until they all lay correctly. (You will be happy you put some smaller size ornaments on the wreath at this point!)

Next comes the hardest part of the entire project. (I have to confess I enlisted my husband’s help with this part!)

Bend the wire into a circle and twist the opposite side of the hanger-wire back around the hook part until it is secure.

Use your wire cutters to cut off any excess wire left over.

Add a bow and voila! Your ornament wreath is complete!