The scale of the wreath put together for the photo shoot is very large; 28 inches in diameter - it took 81 ornaments to complete. The how-to estimates that you could make a smaller 14 inch wreath with only about a third of the number of ornaments needed.
Aside from gathering the materials, it seems to be a simple DIY, one that makes for a modern, reusuable year-after-year take on the evergreen holiday wreath.
Check the full how-to project right here at CB2's In the Loop.
(Images: CB2)
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Comments (14)
what a great and simple idea! i love it!
Great IDEA!!! I really dont have a lot of christmas stuff since we just moved!! and have a lot of left over wires! This is great!
I did the math: 81 ornaments x $4.95/ornament = $400 !!
Even assuming you're not using the expensive ornaments, it's: 81 ornaments x $2.95/ornament = $239
Yikes. I'll pass.
A box of 24 glass ball ornaments - such as those in the display - costs between $4 - 12: call it 50 cents per ornament on the high end.
81 ornaments at $0.50 each = $40.50
Of course, you could use licensed sport-themed ornaments at $10 each. Or the Santa on Jet Ski at $11. Or the Jolly Roger Pirate Flag at $14.
Do people actually buy and use these things? Chiles and ristras - of course, every household should have them - but a hand painted Box of French Fries?
AlexanderB: You may want to check out this post on Bows & Sparrows. She was also inspired by the CB2 catalog and made a lovely wreath using ornaments from Target for a total of about $15.
Where do you folks buy ornaments? The Dollar Tree has a box of 6 for a buck.
The people pricing it out are talking about the prices of CB2's ornaments, which are really ridiculous.
Thanks, Jenny. It never seems to occur to me to actually BUY things there. I just drool over the catalog and poach ideas. :)
I ocassionaly change color themes or just have left over ornaments... don't have to spend big bucks to make this...
Ikea has boxes of the plastic Kotte ornaments for $3 for a box of 25-30 pieces.
I love this idea! I have a new kitten and have decided to forgo a tree this year because of her. I'll be using the ornaments I already have and a wire hanger. My price = $0. :o)
I just made one of these two weeks ago! I bought two small boxes of Kotte plastic ornaments (one red and one silver) from IKEA, wire from the hardware store (didn't want to deal with a wire hanger) and silver ribbon from Target. The whole thing came in at under $20. I bought the supplies because as newlyweds, my husband and I don't have extra ornaments. Now we've got a super cute wreath for our door!
A macrame hoop works perfectly to hang the ornaments (since it's round and metal), but the plastic ornaments at Target won't fit (the holes at the top of the ornament aren't the traditional metal hoop and the opening is too small). I exchanged them for some glass ornaments at Target and let's say it didn't turn out too well for me- the finished product looked AMAZING but soon the larger bulbs were popping off from the weight of the other bulbs on them (the fasteners at the top of the ornaments were incredibly flimsy, probably because they were cheap, so the bulbs were popping off leaving the fastener still attached). Shattered glass ornaments all over the place is NOT fun to deal with. I really wanted to use Target ornaments since that is what is on our tree and I wanted it to match, but it looks like I'll just have to find plastic ornaments elsewhere.
This has turned out to be a more expensive project/experiment than I anticipated! I hope my mistakes help others out there. :)
I was at Target today when they marked all Christmas stuff down to 90% off. I bought boxes of 12 glass ornaments for 25c per box! So I wound up with 60 matching ornaments for a grand total of $1.25. That's plenty to make maybe two small wreaths for next year. Or I could add in some of my current bulbs to make a large wreath. Following Stevie's experience, I might try gluing the fasteners to the bulbs first.