Life on Mars, 24 Days 'Til Christmas!!!

Hi! I’m Maury (aka Mars) from Life on Mars. I’ve guest posted over here once before and I’m so glad Tammy let me come back to kick of this great Holiday Series. I can’t wait to see what the next 24 days hold for us!

I’m a sucker for Christmas traditions, so I’m very drawn to the types of decorations that my Mom always put up at this time. About 10 years ago, she made this Vintage Ornament Wreath that I have always loved. Thankfully, my Mom is amazing and this year, she helped me make one of my own! Here’s how it turned out:

I absolutely love it. It’s so cheerful, isn’t it? This is hanging over my fireplace. I would show you a full shot of the mantle but I took this picture while I still had my pumpkins and autumn leaves on the fireplace. They don’t match too well. I’m not above staging a picture and, apparently, telling you that I did it.

Here’s what you need:

16” Styrofoam Wreath Form

Hot Glue

Twine/String

LOTS of ornaments… I mean A-CHRISTMAS-TREE-EXPLODED-IN-MY-DINING-ROOM amount of Ornaments:

I wanted my wreath to look very eclectic, like it had been added to year after year, like  Christmas Tree. So we used different sizes, different shapes, different colors, some were vintage, some were brand new. Whatever you can get your hands on.

1. Use the twine or string to make a hanger by looping it around either side of the wreath form and making a very tight knot. Make sure you tie it loosely enough so that hangs behind the form and not in the middle of the circle.

Sorry, I don’t have a picture of this step because I didn’t do this. I made my wreath and the had my husband figure out how to hang it. It would have been much easier to do it this way instead of having him try to thread the twine through the ornaments after the are already glued on. I’m so blessed that he’s a good sport about this stuff.

2. Start building your base. Glue a ring of ornaments around the center of the form and a ring around the outside, then start building up.

TIP: Use as many plain ornaments as possible in a bunch of different colors. The majority of these will be covered, so don’t use your really cool ones.

3. Continue building onto it until the wreath until most of the form is covered:

TIP: Use a lot of glue to get this in place. Don’t worry too much if it shows, you can’t tell once it’s done but you want these to be very secure.

4. Now you are ready for the cool ornaments. Layer them over the plain ones:

TIP: Keep in mind which side will be your top so that you can orient the new ornaments to look best from that direction. See the little TV and the ones with writing? You want to make sure that type of ornament is facing the correct direction:

5. Finally, use very small cherry-sized ornaments to fill in the gaps that are remaining. I bought packs of 5-10 at Hobby Lobby for $1 each.

Keep filling in until you like the finished product! See how many tiny ones I put on there:

I hope you all have a very

Merry Christmas!

Etsy shops don't forget to send me your buttons so you can advertise on my Etsy Shop Page.  No charge, free for the entire month of December.  When you send your buttons, if they are only JPEGs, make sure I have a link to your store!!!!