Ornament Wreath Tutorial

I know, I know it’s not even Halloween yet and I’m creating Christmas decorations! I’ll admit I’m all over the place creatively lately.  I’ve got several projects going at once that range from rag quilts to Halloween wreaths to something to display the laneybug’s masterpieces.

I got my inspiration from a wreath I spotted over at ourfinehouse.com.  I had seen a lot of similar wreaths on Pinterest, but the base of the wreaths were wire hangers.  Being a child of the 70’s I had seen Mommy Dearest too many times and got rid of all my wire hangers , so I liked the idea of a foam form.

It really wasn’t until I was editing my photos for this post that I actually realized that this wreath is definitely still a work in progress.  I could see several spots where the foam form was still visible and it needs “rounded off” a bit, but you’ll get the general idea.
Here’s what you’ll need:

• foam wreath form ( I used 12” white foam from Pat Catan's)
• LOTS of shatterproof Christmas balls in your choice of colors (I hit the JACKPOT at Ollie's and scored 8 packs of the large balls for 29 cents a pack!!! I also got 30 smaller balls for just over 3 bucks). There are over 100 ornaments on my wreath already and again it’s still in progress.
• about 3 feet of ribbon (again I lucked out again and got an entire roll at Dollar General for $1)
• glue gun
• a metric ton of glue sticks (seriously, you need a LOT of glue sticks.  I think I used at least 20)
• PATIENCE

  Here’s everything!!!








First off I hot glued the ribbon to the foam base.  In retrospect I probably would not have done this again.  I think I would have been better off waiting until the end and looping ribbon directly over the ornaments.  That would have been easier and then you could change out the ribbon if you wanted.  Oh well, learn from your mistakes!



Then I popped off the little silver hangers.  The first few balls I just stuck some hot glue on the tip and held it in place.  I wasn’t happy with the results so I actually got a wire skewer to create holes in the foam that I could put the hot glue in to and then place the tip of the bulb into that.  I liked those results a lot better.


Then I started gluing away.  At first I was just randomly placing ornaments, but then my OCD kicked in and I began plotting my next move.  Either way I think you’ll get the same results and have a LOT of wholes to fill in at the end.


And then I glued and glued and glued some more.  Then I went to sleep, got up in the morning, made the bug some breakfast and starting gluing again and this is what I had made:

So, now it was time to break out the smaller ornaments and start gluing again!!!!

And when it was all said and done, VOILA
I can not stress enough that it’s still a work in progress, but I think with the addition of some more smaller ornaments to the middle and some larger ornaments to the periphery to round it out, it will be awesome.

Hope you enjoy!
~ Kim

Hello World!!!

Hello All! Welcome to LaneyBugz Creations.  So, before we go too far let me tell you a little something about myself .  My name is Kim and I am HAPPILY divorced (don't judge, it's a looooooong story) and a single mom to the most precious girl in the world.  She's my little Laneybug!   I am lucky to have my Mom in my life, and I mean REALLY in my life, she lives with us :)  Life can be crazy with three generations of very stubborn gals living under one roof and hopefully this blog will document some of the crazy.  Life gets nuttier attempting to keep Delaney entertained,  playing chef to a picky toddler, working full time as a Trauma/Burn Physician Assistant and finding time to do what keeps me sane - CRAFTING!!! 

I have never been what you would call creative, but I must say Pinterest has opened up a new world for me.  It introduced me to a whole new culture - the world of crafting.  It calms me.  It's nice to transition from the serious decision that I need to make during the day at work to simply trying to decide whether I want to learn to quilt or make a wreath. 

Crafting for me is a very general term, basically it means I'm making something.  That something may be a new recipe, summers stackers, Halloween decorations using Delaney's hands and feet, Christmas cards using Delaney's hands and feet, home decor using Delaney's hands and feet.....ummmm...I sense a theme here.  Yep, you guessed it - I like to keep my girl involved whenever possible in my craft obsession.  Not only do I get to do what I love, but I get to do it with the one I love.  Hey, if I can make a little extra money doing something I really enjoy I'm going to do that too, so I opened an Etsy store.

I make no guarantees here.  I can not promise a Tutorial Tuesday or a Fabulous New Recipe Friday, but I will try to share my projects when time allows.  Heck, I'll even try to throw in some tutorials.  Keep in mind, you take the good with the bad, so for every project tutorial you get you may also have to endure a project epic fail or a rant or two from me.  Whatever your reason for stopping by I HOPE YOU HAD FUN!!!

                                                    - Kim