Ornament Wreath

 

I have been wanting an ornament wreath for years now.  Each fall/winter I see Pinterest blow up with these awesome looking wreaths, but I can never find inexpensive shatterproof ornaments to do it myself.  I'm also not ok with shelling out $100 for one of these store bought guys.  This year, I finally found it- $5 for a set of 12 shatterproof ornaments at Bed Bath & Beyond.  Yes!!!  And of course once I clued in to the term "shatterproof" I saw tons of listings on Amazon to get anywhere from 60 to 100+ of these bad boys.  Anyway, now that I'm in the know, I'm happy to share my great wreath with you.

Supplies

• 4-6 dozen shatterproof ornaments
• 2-3 dozen mini ornaments
• Foam wreath form
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Knife

Directions

1. Cut hole in wreath form large enough to fit the top of your large shatterproof ornament into (the part you normally put the hook in).  Put a dab of hot glue in the hole, and set the top of the ornament into the hole.  Hold a minute to set.  Repeat times a gajillion until the wreath form is evenly covered in larger ornaments.
2. Hot glue a circle around the top of a mini ornament and glue into gaps between the large ornaments.  Repeat times a gajillion until gaps are well filled in.
3. Hang!  Bow optional. :)

This really isn't a complex project.  The key is to varying the placement of your ornaments so they have a pretty organic flow and don't look like perfectly lined up rows of ornaments.  You want them to look random and bubbly, and you use those small ornaments to fill in the spaces so you don't see your wreath form underneath.  That's it!

First layer down.  Looking good!  The base is well covered, I alternated red and silver, shiny and matte, and the inner part of the wreath out to the edge.

Now we've got the mini ornaments layered on to fill in those gaps.  I even pulled out and rearranged and added more of the larger ornaments as I went.

Copycat Pottery Barn Glitter House

Continuing my trend of redoing Pottery Barn decor for a fraction of the price, I bring you my $2 glitter house!  That's right- instead of spending $30-$40 for a flimsier version from Pottery Barn, you can make your own sparkly gorgeous glittery houses for just a couple dollars each.
I first fell in love with the idea of a snowy white gingerbread house when I saw an adorable pin on Pinterest a couple years ago.  The link it went to is now defunct, but you can still see the picture here.  This has been at the back of my mind since, and when I came across a super cute plain gingerbread house at Michael's, it all started to come together.

Supplies

• Unpainted wood house from Michael's (usually ~$5; take advantage of sales and coupons to get it for just $2)
• White craft paint
• Mod podge
• Fine white glitter
• Clear spray paint

Directions

1. Paint the whole house with white paint.  Let dry.
2. Coat in Mod podge, small sections at a time, and sprinkle with glitter before glue dries.  Let dry all over.
3. Spray with clear spray paint to set the glitter, so it doesn't come off every time you touch the house!

Suggestions: Add small bottle brush trees, use silver glitter for accents like the roof and windows, hand paint designs in contrasting colors like green or gray.

Ooooo.  Aaaahhhh.

Copycat Pottery Barn Candle Holders: My First Flea Market Flip!

I recently discovered and fell in love with an HGTV show called Flea Market Flip.  It's basically rewarding people for their Pinteresty reinvention skills of an artist.  Now, my husband has always tried to convince me how rewarding a flea market scavenge can be, but after my first experience with an indoor flea market at a rundown strip mall near Pittsburgh, wherein people were selling all sorts of guns and ammo and more knives than I knew existed, I begged off.  It was an ongoing joke to take me to flea markets as a form of torture.  This show gave me a new perspective and willingness to try, though, so we found ourselves at the Harper's Ferry Flea Market in West Virginia last weekend.  We didn't have any specific projects in mind and just meandered, looking for things to catch our eyes.  There was one very cool trunk that I didn't investigate when we walked by, and later regretted because it was gone on our way out.  Lesson learned.  What we did walk away with was this little stash:

2 lanterns: $8
Side table: $5
Pillar candle holders: $2
Magazine caddie: $10

I can't even imagine where else $25 would get me so far.

So the first find was that pair of candle holders.  We were walking down a row and I immediately locked eyes with those.  I hated the bubbled green treatment on them, but they had great shape.  The #1 rule I hear from Flea Market Flip and every other makeover/DIY show I've watched is to look for good bones, and sure enough the underlying shape of those cheap ceramic candle holders was one I liked a lot.  I knew that with a coat of glossy black spray paint, they'd look Pottery Barn worthy.  Turns out I was spot on.  Check out this set I could have spent $70 on instead of my $2.

Oooo I love the feeling of a good deal!  Muahahahaha.

So first things first- cleaning up these holders.  They had old wax drips on them and a layer of dust/grime.  Because they're ceramic, I used a plastic child's spoon to scrape off the wax without damaging the base.

You've gotta go, gunk.

Once the wax was scraped off and I gave them a nice scrub with my Mister Clean Magic Eraser (really- it's magic), it was time to spray paint.

I used Krylon shiny black spray paint and checked the back of the can to make sure it would adhere to glass and ceramic.  The candle holders are made out of ceramic but the coating on them was glassy, and I wanted to be sure the spray paint would adhere well.  I'm happy to report that yes it did!

I sprayed on two coats.  The first one was as shown here, with the holders upright.

I let that dry, then flipped upside down and did coat #2 to catch everything from the opposite angle.  This was my first time spray painting in a LONG time, and I could have been more careful about making sure I did a good job at the base.  It was too sunny outside to really see where I was missing spots, and I only noticed that I didn't have a completely even coat until I was inside.  I am just being overly critical, though.  They look great- I'm just sharing advice on what I encountered. Anyway, when spray painting, remember- nice even spraying at a good distance, and be careful you don't overload with paint and cause drips.

End result: don't they look great?!  And I'm not talking just for Halloween, here.  They'll be wonderful all year long.