The adventure of trying to make a house a home that we built for our family of six plus some craft, home décor, recipes & any family fun we might have.

Friday 8 November 2013

Bell Wreath Christmas Ornament

With Christmas only 47 days away so I've decided to get started on a few DIY Christmas ornaments that we'll be giving to the teacher's this year. Mackenna loves her Kindy teacher. This can mean we'll spend ages at the shops looking for the 'perfect gift' and this busy end of year school mum ain't no body got time for that. So with this mindset I knew we had to start putting our thinking caps on now or else I'd be running around like a headless chook trying to find a gift that none of the other mother's would have gotten. 
 
I search Pinterest for some inspiration and I was able to find a few things that I thought Mackenna would like to give Karen as a gift. One of the ornaments that she really liked was Martha Stewart's button wreath ornament and it seemed really easy to make, so we took a trip to the local $2 dollar store to see what we could find. Now Martha's version requires 72 buttons, there was only one packet that contained 24 buttons so this meant I'd have to purchase three packets but as the store only had one packet left I needed more buttons. When I added up the costs involved for all the materials as I only had scissors it just didn't seem like a quick and inexpensive present. So while we were searching for additional buttons I found a packet of gold Sleigh Bells. So I grabbed this packet with Mackenna's blessing and we then popped over to Lincraft to get some ribbon.
I've written up a tutorial on how I made the Bell Wreath but I did get Mackenna to help a few times were it was possible.
 
Materials Needed
  • Needle nose pliers
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Sleigh Bells
  • Scissors
  • Satin ribbon
  • Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Steps
1. Using pliers, make a small loop at one end of the pipe cleaner. I trimmed some of the fibres off both ends just so that I could see what I was working with.
2. Thread the bells onto the pipe cleaner until you have enough to form the size of the wreath you want. My packet of sleigh bells came in three different sizes so I just threaded a small, medium and large bell on repeating this pattern until it would make a wreath.
 
3. Using the pliers, bend the plain end of the pipe cleaners around the looped end. This will form the wreath. If you have too much of the pipe cleaner left cut off any excess.
4. Cut a piece of ribbon to make a loop for hanging the wreath, tie the ribbon in a knot about three inches above the wreath. My piece of ribbon was nine inches long.
5. Tie a bow that you're happy with and glue it to the bottom of your loop just above the bells.
 
I had Mackenna help thread the bells onto the pipe cleaner and I made sure I asked her if she was happy with the way it looked while I moved through the steps. I'm really happy with the way the wreath turned out and this little Christmas ornament ended up costing me $1.00 which means we can now purchase a few small chocolates to accompany the Christmas ornament.
 
Giving Karen her gift at the end of November will allow her to add it to her Christmas tree this year and she can eat the chocolates during lunch time while at kindy. I have a few additional tasks for Mackenna as I want her to have more of a connection to the gift she is giving Karen. I'm going to get Mackenna to choose a few mini chocolate bars for Karen, I'm going to get her to wrap the present and Mackenna will practise her writing skills by writing a special note of thanks to Karen.
 
I'm really happy with my attempt at this bell wreath and I'm glad I tried something that I could find a tutorial for. So tell me will you be making your own ornaments this year, using the ornaments you already have, will you be purchasing new ones or will you be doing a combination of some of these options? I'm doing a combination of making some ornaments and using what we already have.
 
Megan
 

11 comments:

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    1. She will love it and it was so easy. I'm hoping that Mackenna doesn't get to upset on her last day because she really does love Karen :)

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  2. I always purchase 1 new ornament each year in my colour scheme, then add to my existing ones. We also add a bauble that we have written on with any big events that happened through the year, eg. holiday, etc. We also label the year on the bauble. Great way to recollect what you have done over the years as a couple, then as a family.

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    1. What a great thing to do. I love how you grow your ornaments every year but without adding too many ornaments that might end up costing you a bit of money. I love the bauble idea, I purchased some glass baubles and I was going to do something similar but I've misplaced them when we moved nearly 2 years ago :(. Thanks for visiting.

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  4. Great idea for Xmas deco!

    Thanks for sharing at Foodies & Crafties Soirée!
    Gosia | Kiddie Foodies

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    1. Thanks Gosia I was really happy with how they turned out. Thanks for visiting.

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  5. I am impressed! When I was teaching, I just got a whole bunch of candles- would have loved one of these! Thanks for sharing at the Foodies and Crafties soiree!

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    1. Oh no candles are nice but you wouldn't want too many. I'm hoping that she loves this little ornament and my daughter loved helping to. Thanks for visiting.

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  6. Love this easy ornament..great gift idea. Thanks! And, I must add that you have such beautiful children. I was taken by their pictures...so lovely!

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    1. Thank you Roz for your lovely comments. I like to think I have beautiful children but I'm biased. The ornament was easy to make and I'm sure my daughter's teacher will love it. We're going to give it to her next week. Thanks for stopping by.

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