DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath

It is officially December. Let the Christmas games begin!
Truth be told, I have been listening to Christmas music since November 8th. That morning it was chilly, Biceps suggested we turn on “the Christmas cheer” and we haven’t looked back.
I love creating new wreaths each year for Christmas. Last year, I made two wreaths for Christmas-”Silver Twig Wreath” and a “Whimsical Silver Wreath“ that I dismantled this year and re-used for parts.

Reduce, Re-use and Recycle, right? Here is this year’s DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath that took just a few minutes and a few pennies to create. It’s so purty.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own DIY Vintage Aluminum Wreath:
A large dinner plate, charger or lid to a popcorn tin
Coffee can lid or something similar
Scissors
Cardboard
Aluminum Foil
Leftover ornaments-plastic, glass, fabric-whatever floats your boat
2′ + of Ribbon
Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Using your dinner plate/charger/lid, trace a large circle onto the cardboard.

As Uncle Joey would say, “Cut it out.”
If you don’t know what that reference was, I apologize. It’s a little Gen X humor, I suppose. Or is it Gen Y? If I had my choice, I’d rather be a Gen Z because it rhymes with Ginseng and just sounds so much cooler. But, I digress.

Trace a smaller circle smack dab in the center of your large circle using a coffee can lid. Cut out the smaller circle. The cardboard will now resemble a large donut. Yum.

Wrap the front and back or the cardboard “donut” with aluminum foil.

Tear off 2-3′ sections of aluminum foil, fold in half lengthwise. Place an end of the foil on the aluminum donut and hot glue that sucker down.

Make 3″ loops of the folded foil, hot glueing each loop down to the aluminum donut an inch or so away from the last loop. Continue doing so until you are out of foil. Start over with another 2-3′ piece of folded foil until the entire wreath is covered in looped foil.

Cut a slit in the top of each loop with your scissors (this simultaneously sharpens your scissors and makes a killer wreath, by the way).
“Poof out” each loop randomly. “Poof out” is the technical term for “fluffing”.

Loop the ribbon in half, hot glueing the ends to the backside of the wreath.

Hot glue the chosen ornaments on the front side of the wreath, interspersing them willy nilly between the “poofs”.

One DIY Vintage Aluminum Foil Wreath is now ready for your front door. Hang it up and call it a day. Grab a glass of wine and realize just how awesome you are with your hot glueing skillz.

Vintage Lace Fall Wreath

With the change in weather comes a change in wreaths for most front doors. My front door needed-nay-demanded a fall wreath. Armed with some lace and an old tablecloth, I hot-glued my way to a Vintage Lace Fall Wreath.

I’ve been hanging onto a vintage lace curtain (given to me by my beautiful sister-in-law) and a vintage embroidered tablecloth full of holes and stains. They were perfect for the demands placed before me by my front door.

 

Here’s what you’ll need if you’d like to create your very own Vintage Lace Fall Wreath:
Lace Curtain or section of material
Embroidered tablecloth, or something similar
Foam Wreath (mine is silver because it’s recycled from my Whimsical Wreath I made last year)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Scissors

It’s that simple-let’s get started!

I cut my lace to be about 12″ wide, leaving it as long as the curtain already was-about 8′. Hot glue an end section of the lace to the backside of the foam wreath.
Now, grab your partner and wrap the lace ’round and ’round the foam wreath.

 

Here’s the wreath all wrapped up in the lace. On to the embellishments (from the vintage tablecloth/fabric) that make it cute!

 

Cut out your desired embellishment from your tablecloth or fabric.

 

Wrap the raw ends of the fabric underneath, hot glueing the embellishments around the wreath however you see fit. Leave enough of a section on the side of the wreath for a bow.

 

With your remaining lace, cut out a 12″ square of fabric.

 

Gather the raw ends of the lace together, making a bow. Hot glue the bow to the side of the wreath you earlier left blank.

 

Add another embellishment in the center of the bow, if you so desire. I did-so I did.

 

Here’s a little up close and personal of my finished product.

 

My pretty Vintage Lace Fall Wreath is finished and ready to serve its purpose on my front door!

Vintage Christmas Gifts & My Etsy Store

Dear Readers:
I hate to self-promote. It seems so trite and ridiculous.
So, if you want to go over to my Etsy site and buy something, by all means, do it. But I don’t want to guilt you into it and beg of you to do it.
That said, I just added a bunch of new stuff today and am excited to share it with you. I thought you might be on the prowl for a great Christmas gift, or an idea of the vintagey finds out there in the world.
If so, here are a couple of sneak peaks at what you might find.

Super cute vintage burnt orange nut bowl ready for your next party-$25.00.

My shop wouldn’t be complete without a vintage cat or two-$15.

Vintage cow bottle opener with tongue and major sass-$22.50.

Cute vintage squirrel that won’t bite through your electrical cords like a real squirrel would-$25.

That’s just a couple of items that I have for sale in my Etsy store. It’s quite often a rotating amount of inventory, so if you don’t like what you see now-maybe I’ll hit the mark with you next time.
-Love, Rebekah

Magical Mantel Decor

Truthfully, my ‘Magical Mantel Decor’ isn’t really magical.
It can’t grant you three wishes.
It cannot get rid of that zit before the big holiday party.
It can’t make you lose ten pounds.
But, it is pretty and shiny and oh, so very easy to do.

And that, to me, is a recipe for ‘Magic’. Plus, this decor is inexpensive. Therefore, Biceps thinks our Mantel Decor is magic to our budget.

All that you need for your own Magical Mantel Decor is:
Metallic Spray Paint and a drop cloth/plastic sheet
Desired Christmas Ornaments
Tinsel (not pictured)
Felled tree limbs-or go and cut them off of your living tree, while apologizing to it. That’s what I did.

Spray the tree limbs with the metallic spray paint. I recommend doing this out of doors, unless you like that fuzzy headed feeling. Let the limbs dry.

Place tinsel on the mantel before arranging the silvery tree limbs. Hang glittery Christmas bulbs from the limbs and intersperse them on the mantel itself.

And try not to drop any of them.

Stand back and take in the amazing thing you just created. Smile at your geniusness, laugh at your dusty pocketbook, scoff at stores selling ‘mantel decor’. You, my friend, have conquered your mantel.
Be proud-or humble. Whatever you think Baby Jesus would recommend.
(PS-I have had several peeps asking me about the MIRROR above my mantel. Here’s the link, if you would like to see a tutorial on how to make it for yourself!)