Bauble wreath

I intended for this to be a nice, communal activity with my children this weekend.  The reality was that I was left to carry this out by all myself as the girls all scattered like mice once they saw my shirt ripping and my skin change to a nice shade of green.  They are very perceptive, my children.

It makes me laugh how it all seemed so easy to do at first glance.  Automatically be suspicious of any tutorial that only has a photo of the finished product and has instructions that use the words 'in no time at all'.  I am here to reveal the cold, hard truth.  This wreath took ages.

I had to make two attempts fashioning a circle out of a wire coat hanger after the first one died a very slow and painful death when I tried to bend it into shape by hand.  Don't. Do. That.  If you have a penchant for coat hangers, please look away now.  The following photo is not pretty.

Rest in peace, my old friend, rest in peace

On the second attempt, I grew a brain and used a pair of pliers.  Much easier.  I also got to reacquaint myself with the glue gun, a tool I hadn't used in years.

During this activity, I discovered that not all baubles are created equal. The loops at the top of some of them were slightly too small to feed on the coat hanger and would snap - not all the time but just enough times to make me hiss.  If they did not break, the entire clasp would come loose instead and I'd be left holding the bauble in my hand with the clasp dangling on the coat hanger.

Off to join Coat hanger in the Christmas decoration graveyard

Here is a look at the wreath almost completed.  If, by some small miracle, you are tempted enough to try this for yourselves, save yourselves a lot of heartache and glue the clasps to the baubles before you start to thread them onto the coat hanger.  Or, do yourselves a favour and just go to the shop and buy one.

Monstrosity or masterpiece - I really can't tell?!  I'll let the thief plundering the neighbourhood at the moment decide.  If it's still hanging up on the front door in the morning, it's a pretty safe bet it's ugly.

Time taken: 3 hours
Cost: $17 (I used 45 baubles for this wreath and had a truckload left over so I was able to decorate our tree with the remaining ones)
Result: It looks cheap and nasty. Maybe it might look better without the pendant baubles? I'm deluding myself - not even the nice silver ribbon can save it.