My vintage ornament wreath

A couple years ago, I saw a GORGEOUS vintage Christmas ornament wreath on Pinterest. I wanted it, rather I wanted to make my own.

I started off by posting an ad on local yard sale sites looking for old vintage ornaments, that was a bust! I didn’t get any replies! I posted on my own Facebook page asking friends if they had any, I received one reply from my boyfriends mom, and a picture of some vintage ornaments. YUS!!!!!! 🙏 there were only a couple I was interested in, but it’s a start! 

After that I found an ad on a Facebook yard sale group for 9 vintage Santa ornaments for $50. I didn’t need 9 and I certainly didn’t want to spend $50, so I messaged the woman and asked if she would part with just one, she replied and said they were already spoken for but if the sale fell through, she’d let me know. Days went by, then I received a message! The sale fell through! Woot! I asked how much for one and she replied “0”, I thought

it was a typo but it wasn’t! She said she’d be happy to give it to me for free! Double Woot!!! The only thing was, I had to drive one hour each way to pick Santa up! I was fine with this because it meant I could visit thrift stores I don’t normally get to! 

The thrift store wasn’t as great as I had anticipated, but I did manage to score a few vintage glass balls that I needed. Finally picked Santa up, I was so grateful that I was gifted him, that I left the woman a little truck ornament that I had made, as a thank you. 

The road trip had ended and I was happy with the days findings, but I still needed a lot more. A few days later we went to a local antique flea market. As soon as I walked in the door I zeroed in on another vintage Santa ornament! I had to get him, it was $6 but they are scarce. I also found an old angel with drum and another Santa ornament, they had to come home with me, I couldn’t leave them. 

Getting excited that my collection was growing, but I still needed more more more! I went to a few local thrift stores and found some more vintage glass balls and also this amazing bag of elf heads for $0.50! I wonder what happened to their bodies 🤷‍♀️ 

Christmas was nearing, I hadn’t even started my wreath yet, I had to get some silver tinsel garland but I didn’t want it to be new, it had to be vintage, so off to my local Salvation Army thrift shop! To my surprise they had some! Still in its original vintage packaging AND it was 50% off day! Wooot! I was getting closer to almost being able to start my creation! 

Late one evening I was scrolling through Facebook and came across a post on a free stuff group. The woman was giving items away that belonged to her late cousin who recently passed. RIP DAWN. I looked through the photos and there were 2 lots of vintage ornaments! I messaged her and arranged for pickup. Turns out, I went to school with Dawn, I remember her as always being very happy and doing anything she can to help people. 

I had a different design in mind for my wreath, but when I received Dawns ornaments, my vision changed. These ornaments were exactly what I was missing and tied the whole thing together. This is why I only used one of my vintage Santas, but don’t worry, I have big plans for the ones left over!

The first step of making the wreath was to secure the vintage garland. I did that. I was so scared to start gluing on the glass balls! I was afraid of breaking them or not liking the way it looked. Finally one day I picked up my Ryobi cordless glue gun and started attaching the balls to the wire wreath frame I bought at Dollar Tree (the only item that isn’t vintage!) it took me months to collect all of the ornaments, 2 evenings to put it all together, and I will cherish it for a lifetime. I hope you like it!