So I decided to make a Christmas ornament wreath...because I saw it on Pinterest.
"No Wire Hangers! (Well Maybe Just One)"-Original pin from Eddie Ross
Wow...isn't that wreath amazing? I love it so much, I'm thinking about getting it printed life-size and taping it to my door. Because after the last 24 hours, I am convinced that is the only way I will ever have a beautiful ornament wreath out there! And I'm sure as heck not trying to make another one!
Here we go.
I have been dying to make this wreath in red and gold for Christmas. But I am allergic to paying full price, so I was waiting for the ornaments to go on sale at Hobby Lobby. Well, they were finally 50% off this week but most of the colors were sold out. I got the last tube of red. The only other color left was brown. Surely there MUST be some gold somewhere. Right?
So I'm looking around the store for some flipping gold ornaments. And the whole time I'm thinking, "Where da gold at? I want the gold!"
Now, if you're from Mobile, AL you are probably laughing out loud right now. Maybe even holding your sides you're laughing so hard. If you're not from Mobile, you're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about.
And there you go.
Sadly, I never did find da gold.
This project got off to a bad start. Maybe you'll have better luck. This is what you'll need if you decide to make your own wreath.
The burlap is just for fun. I foolishly thought I could make a pretty burlap bow with which to hang my wreath. But, as it turns out, burlap is not really into making bows out of itself. Nope. Not at all. It is, however, into making your nose twitch and your skin itch. Yep, it sure is.
Anyway, start by bending a wire clothes hanger into a circle. Easy. Then untwist the neck so you can thread the balls on.
I swear, every time I would move a glue stick out of the shot, Miss P would throw two more in. And I had the WORST case of Dead Arm Disease in the history of America from carrying her sweet sleeping self all over Hobby Lobby for an hour! Me and my one good arm finally just gave up. So there. Glue sticks in the shot.
Lack of perfection is probably a good theme for this post anyway.
I read all of the directions on Eddie Ross's site. I really did. I just thought it was kind of silly to go to the trouble of removing the tops of the ornaments just so I could hot glue them back on. Especially since only one of my arms was working properly.
Lazy is a really tough hurdle to clear isn't it?
So I didn't hot glue the tops.
Things were going so well. I was just sliding those balls on so fast with my one good arm. And everything was fine until I tried to twist the hanger back together. That sad little worn out arm just couldn't hold it. There's a lot of tension in the wire after adding all those balls.
The wreath flew out of my hands and across the table.
I think I sat in the chair with my mouth hanging open for a good minute. Just thinking. About not being lazy, mostly. Because when the wreath landed across the table, nearly half of the balls detached from their tops. Yeppers. Sure did.
Nothing like 25ish ornaments bouncing around your dining room at midnight.
Hello, old friend.
Sipping and thinking...
What's that old saying? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?
So I took every last ornament off the hanger and took off every last top. I glued the flipping tops down and put them all back on the dang hanger.
This guy was taunting me, I swear. Can you tell?
A little while later...I finally got all the balls back on the hanger.
This time I really focused on not letting go of the wreath while twisting the hanger back together. Great success on the second attempt!
And here is the finished product:
Ok, it's not that bad. But does it look like Mr. Ross's wreath? Not. At. All.
Let's talk about why this might be. For starters, all my balls are the same size which made little open spaces (smaller balls mixed in would have been a nice touch). Secondly, there's no glamorous burlap (or satin I guess) bow. And I only have one color going on (thank you Hobby Lobby). These are all fatal flaws.
When I finished this monster in the wee hours of the morning, all I could think was, "I'd rather have my $10 back."
I give myself an L for Lazy on this one. If I'd just followed the instructions exactly (various sizes of ornaments, glue the dang tops on, make a satin bow), I know I would have ended up with a fabulous wreath.
Instead I am missing three hours beauty sleep and $10 from my wallet!
Lesson learned.
At least until the next project.
Happy crafting, friends!
Here we go.
I have been dying to make this wreath in red and gold for Christmas. But I am allergic to paying full price, so I was waiting for the ornaments to go on sale at Hobby Lobby. Well, they were finally 50% off this week but most of the colors were sold out. I got the last tube of red. The only other color left was brown. Surely there MUST be some gold somewhere. Right?
So I'm looking around the store for some flipping gold ornaments. And the whole time I'm thinking, "Where da gold at? I want the gold!"
Now, if you're from Mobile, AL you are probably laughing out loud right now. Maybe even holding your sides you're laughing so hard. If you're not from Mobile, you're probably wondering what the heck I'm talking about.
And there you go.
Sadly, I never did find da gold.
This project got off to a bad start. Maybe you'll have better luck. This is what you'll need if you decide to make your own wreath.
The burlap is just for fun. I foolishly thought I could make a pretty burlap bow with which to hang my wreath. But, as it turns out, burlap is not really into making bows out of itself. Nope. Not at all. It is, however, into making your nose twitch and your skin itch. Yep, it sure is.
Anyway, start by bending a wire clothes hanger into a circle. Easy. Then untwist the neck so you can thread the balls on.
I swear, every time I would move a glue stick out of the shot, Miss P would throw two more in. And I had the WORST case of Dead Arm Disease in the history of America from carrying her sweet sleeping self all over Hobby Lobby for an hour! Me and my one good arm finally just gave up. So there. Glue sticks in the shot.
Lack of perfection is probably a good theme for this post anyway.
I read all of the directions on Eddie Ross's site. I really did. I just thought it was kind of silly to go to the trouble of removing the tops of the ornaments just so I could hot glue them back on. Especially since only one of my arms was working properly.
Lazy is a really tough hurdle to clear isn't it?
So I didn't hot glue the tops.
Things were going so well. I was just sliding those balls on so fast with my one good arm. And everything was fine until I tried to twist the hanger back together. That sad little worn out arm just couldn't hold it. There's a lot of tension in the wire after adding all those balls.
The wreath flew out of my hands and across the table.
I think I sat in the chair with my mouth hanging open for a good minute. Just thinking. About not being lazy, mostly. Because when the wreath landed across the table, nearly half of the balls detached from their tops. Yeppers. Sure did.
Nothing like 25ish ornaments bouncing around your dining room at midnight.
Sipping and thinking...
What's that old saying? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure?
So I took every last ornament off the hanger and took off every last top. I glued the flipping tops down and put them all back on the dang hanger.
This guy was taunting me, I swear. Can you tell?
A little while later...I finally got all the balls back on the hanger.
This time I really focused on not letting go of the wreath while twisting the hanger back together. Great success on the second attempt!
And here is the finished product:
Ok, it's not that bad. But does it look like Mr. Ross's wreath? Not. At. All.
Let's talk about why this might be. For starters, all my balls are the same size which made little open spaces (smaller balls mixed in would have been a nice touch). Secondly, there's no glamorous burlap (or satin I guess) bow. And I only have one color going on (thank you Hobby Lobby). These are all fatal flaws.
When I finished this monster in the wee hours of the morning, all I could think was, "I'd rather have my $10 back."
I give myself an L for Lazy on this one. If I'd just followed the instructions exactly (various sizes of ornaments, glue the dang tops on, make a satin bow), I know I would have ended up with a fabulous wreath.
Instead I am missing three hours beauty sleep and $10 from my wallet!
Lesson learned.
At least until the next project.
Happy crafting, friends!
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