Wire Coat Hanger Christmas Ornament Wreath-DIY

 I was in need of a quick and inexpensive Christmas wreath for my front door, so I headed to the thrift store,  only to find there were no wreaths at all, BUT there was a big bucket of glass Christmas balls. 12 for .49, so I found about 2 dozen and headed home. I decided to try making a Christmas ball wreath using a wire coat hanger. I had made one using a wreath base before (more on that later), but not a coat hanger. I did need more ornaments, so I headed to the dollar store and bought 5 more tubes of plastic balls in red, green and pearly silver. And this is the result......................

 

 I also bought the big, red, glittery bow at the dollar store. Love that bow! 
(and yes a spring project will be to paint that door!)

I'm not posting a tutorial on this, but HERE is a nice little tutorial you can follow found at My Girlish Whims.

I will give you some tips however:

1. Glue on all the tops of the balls whether you think you will need to or not--you will need to--believe me!

2. It is far better to use plastic balls than glass balls. Save the glass balls for a wreath made with a wreath base. 

3. Depending on how full you want it, will depend on how many balls you use. I used roughly 50, but if you see the wreath below, made by my daughter she used about 70.

4. Use a heavy wire hanger, not some whimpy hanger or your wreath will sag and not keep its shape.

5. It is windy here today and I have no storm door, so to keep my wreath from banging against the door I used some double sided foam sticky tape--like you use for scrapbooking--and put it on three balls that make contact with the door. No more wreath whipping around on the door.

6. Also I cheated and stopped adding balls about 3 or so inches from each end of the wire, so I could pull my wreath back together and get it to connect. After I got the ends wired back--a bit challenging!--I wired more balls on over that area to help fill it in and then the big bow hides what you can't see! 

This big beautiful wreath was made by my daughter Jennalee and was also made with a wire coat hanger. She used about 70 balls instead of the 50 that I used and you can see how much fuller it comes out.

This is a glass ball wreath I made several years ago, using all vintage glass ornaments and using a wreath base. I have a TUTORIAL for it HERE. For myself I much prefer this method, because I found it simpler and I had more control over the whole thing. But don't let that discourage you, the wire wreath is good too, this is just my preference. As far as time though I don't think one way is quicker than the other. They both took about the same amount of time to make and they are fun to make and they come out so gorgeous! 

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