Vintage Ornament Wreath Tutorial

I love Christmas. I love decorating for Christmas. I always have more ideas than I have time and this year is no different. I have so many things I want to do and won't get a fraction of them done. But one of the things at the top of my list this year was to get out all of my vintage ornaments and decorate with them this year. I've seen some wonderfully beautiful vintage ornament wreaths on Instagram and I wanted to make one for myself. So, yesterday I did it and I'm so happy I did! I love it!

I wasn't sure I would have enough ornaments for a wreath and still decorate a tree too, so I picked up a few things while on our vacation in November. I scored big with a box of vintage ornaments at an estate sale. My favorite ornaments in the box were these wire wrapped ornaments, which were too neat to glue to a wreath, so they'll grace my tree instead.

I didn't have to worry about not having enough ornaments though. I had forgotten how many I had. I just love vintage ornaments, especially Shiny Brites.

It was so fun making this wreath that I thought I'd share how I made mine.  I started with a 12" foam wreath form and tinsel garland. I used one 15' package of garland, but if you use a bigger wreath form you'll need another package.

First, I made a hook for hanging. I used a sturdy piece of floral wire, folding it in half and twisting a loop in it. Then I wrapped it around the wreath form tightly to secure it.

Next, I wrapped the garland around the wreath form, securing the ends with hot glue. Sorry, I forgot to take a photo after I wrapped the wreath, but you can see how it looks in one of the photos below.

I gathered up my ornaments. I used round ball ornaments in small, medium and large sizes. I also had a variety of focal ornaments too. It takes a lot. I used 125-150 ornaments in my wreath.

I just love this photo. The colors look so rich.

Next, I glued large round ball ornaments around the outside edge of the wreath. I used a variety of colors but they were all the same size (well except for one, which was a little smaller because I couldn't fit the last ball in the remaining space). I used an ample amount of hot glue to secure the ornaments. I used 18 ornaments around the outside edge. The larger the balls used in this outer row of ornaments, the larger the finished wreath will be. My wreath ended up being 17" across. You can also see here how the wreath form looks wrapped with the tinsel garland.

Now came the fun part. I started adding my focal ornaments on the top. I grouped some ornaments that were similar together, like these two birds.

I placed the larger focal ornaments first, filling in with medium-sized balls around the focal ornaments. Lastly, I filled the small gaps with small balls and old Christmas light bulbs. A little tinsel peeked through, which I like.

Isn't this vintage Santa so cute?

I think the more variety of shapes of the ornaments, the more interesting the wreath will be.

I hung my wreath on an old door that I found at a garage sale while on vacation, along with stockings and a metal joy banner. Once I get the rest of this area of my living room decorated, I'll share more photos. I had hoped to have it finished tonight but I ran out of ornaments hooks so couldn't finish decorating my vintage ornament tree:(

Do you collect vintage ornaments? Tell me about your collection and how you decorate for Christmas with them! And if you make a vintage ornament wreath, please share a photo.

Wishing you a homemade, vintage kind of Christmas!

~Sharla

Leave A Comment