When thinking about what crafts to make this holiday season, I really wanted to focus on creating something that could be an heirloom piece. Something that year after year, decade after decade, I’ll be excited to bring out of storage.
I have a vintage ornament wreath that I found at an antique mall that I treasure dearly. But, since I have more than one door in my home, I decided to make my own colorful version!
What’s great about this project if you decide to recreate it for yourself is that you can make it in ANY colors that you want. It can be perfectly tailored to your decor and your family. So let’s get right into how to make an ornament wreath!
Head over to my Youtube Channel to watch the full DIY!
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What You’ll Need
Clear ornaments
Wreath frame
Acrylic paint
Hot glue gun + hot glue sticks
Cups
Stir sticks
Paint pour medium
Paper towels
Gloves
Tinsel
A few quick material notes:
Plastic ornaments will most likely have a seam, so keep that in mind if it will bother you when finished on the wreath (I opted for glass).
A roll of paper towels will be your best friend– same goes for a pair of gloves. Filling the ornaments with paint can get a bit messy!
You don’t have to use the medium, but it will help your paint last a bit longer and spread easier.
I suggest using 7 different colors to help give variety when glueing everything together (I used two bottles each).
Before starting, you’ll want to sort your ornaments by size and then assign them to a color. I used ornaments in small, medium, and large. I would’ve loved to have found mini glass ornaments, but I had no luck! This wreath needs a lot of ornaments, so organization up front will help you make enough of each color.
How to Make Paint Filled Christmas Ornaments
A large part of this project is making your custom paint filled ornaments. There are a couple of tricks that I learned along the way:
Just know that this will take you a few days to do. Between mixing and pouring and dry time, it’s a lot of time. But it’s absolutely worth it.
A paint pour medium will help you stretch your paint and coat the inside of your ornament easier. But it’s important to not use too much. You don’t want to thin the paint so much that it leaves streaks inside. Too much medium could also increase your dry time.
My ratio wasn’t anything scientific. I just filled my cup with the two bottles of paint and then added enough medium to barely cover the top. It’s better to start light then add more later if you need. Once you stir to combine, you’ll get a good sense of the consistency.
Add about a quarter size amount of paint in the ornament. To coat the inside, you can swirl the ornament around. I also found that placing a paper towel over the hole and shaking works too.
Once the ornament is fully covered, it’s time to remove the excess by placing upside down. Tap the sides a few times to get any excess paint out. And then set aside, upside down in a cup, to dry. I found the paint needed two full days of dry time.
You don’t want to rush the drying! Not waiting long enough might cause you to scratch the inside of your paint when placing the cap back on. Even worse, your ornaments could leak when you start glueing them down.
How to Make an Ornament Wreath
Now it’s time to put everything together! Regardless of how well you glue everything down, there will inevitably be small gaps. If you don’t want to see your wreath form in the gaps, cover your form with tinsel.
You will also want to add your wreath hanger in this step before you start glueing down ornaments.
Start glueing your ornaments along the inside of your wreath form. You’ll glue the ornaments upside down, but to give it extra strength, place your glue on the ornament and not the silver cap. Glueing the ornaments to the form as well as to each other will give it the best possible hold.
If you’re using glass ornaments, be extra careful with the amount of pressure you have with these holds. Continue until you’re all the way around.
Continue glueing your ornaments around the wreath, arranging in clusters. You want to avoid repeating colors right next to each other. Play around with the placement before glueing!
I think this almost took me 2 hours to glue everything in place. Take your time, be thoughtful with the placements and enjoy the process! Christmas music and hot coco will certainly help the time go faster.
And that’s all there is to making your own ornament wreath! Just a bit of acrylic paint and hot glue!
I really can’t wait to hang this on our door year after year. It may just be my favorite Christmas DIY of all time! Please tag me if you give this project a go. I can’t wait to see all the colorful doors!
