Halloween Wreath Upcycled To A Winter Centerpiece

I had made two wreaths for Halloween, starting with the same type of nutty twig wreath.
This was my first one, which I sold.
The second one that I made I spray painted black.  It did not sell.
What to do with a black wreath for the holidays?

After yanking off the Halloween decor, I spraypainted it white.  But it did not look white,
it looked a sad gray.

So I brushed on some off-white chalk paint and immediately sprinkled on some vintage mica "snow".  I did about a quarter of the wreath at a time, to make sure the paint was still very wet when sprinkling on the mica.

 It had a nice effect, and I am using it as a table centerpiece while I am hosting my family this weekend.

Wreath Goes From Autumnal To Skeletal

Sometime during 2017 I picked up this wreath for cheap.  It has a nice natural fall look.  But I am looking to add a bit of black and a few faux bones to anything this time of year.

In fact, I had already hotglued a skull in place before

I thought to take a photo.

Where's Waldo?

 Here he is!

Since it had such great natural elements to begin with,

I spraypainted some water lily pods black and added them.
A couple of skulls and a skeleton makes it Halloween worthy.

Three Upcycled Christmas Wreaths

I always like to make 2-3 Christmas wreaths every year.  I buy enough kitschy Christmas items, that 2 or 3 Christmas themes usually evolve for the wreaths.

I  buy my wreaths at a garage sales.

You can get them cheap, and it is a great way to recycle.

I actually took a picture of two of the "befores"!

 

 

I usually end up with a bunch of santas,

(click  HERE  to see my Santa wreath from last year)

maybe not all that great by themselves -- but a whole flock

of flocked santas is very appealing.

Add a touch of vintage holly, some recycled poinsettias,

and some great vintage Christmas bulbs.

Notice I kept the original bow?

 

 The grapevine wreath lent itself well to the herd of little carved

wooden camels that I corralled this summer.

And I decided to make this wreath a nativity theme.

 

 

The last wreath my husband entitled

"It's Reining Deer".

I used some of my mercury glass Christmas bulbs,

see mercury glass bulb tutorial  HERE  ,

and little silver beads from a necklace that recently

fell apart.  It also got to keep it's original bow.

Vintage Christmas Time On Ebay

I love vintage Christmas items.  And this year I was fortunate to find some really fun pieces.  I have several aluminum trees, normally I would be thrilled to have just one to sell.  I am putting quite a few items on ebay in November, that way if they don't sell for the price that I want, I can put them in my vintage decorating booth. Here are a few of the nicer items that I will be listing soon:

I actually have THREE bottlebrush wreaths,

this is my favorite.

Too cool, with original box.

Star tree topper, I am a sucker for anything covered in mica.

 

A tinsel star tree topper.

 

Do you think it was a good idea to pair

electricity and water?

This beauty was originally had bubble lights,

made by Noma.

Bought for $20, sold for $158.

Kitschy.

One of several hard plastic angel

tree toppers I'm selling this year.

A little creepy.

Sold for $15.

I have an abundance of reindeer this year.

It is raining reindeer.

Candy cornucopias.

Bought for $2, sold for $7.

I don't normally put shiny brites on ebay

(hard to ship) but these had such great graphics.

Large putz house.

 

TWO of these cute little Rudolphs.

Sold for $11.

 

More reindeer.

Vintage Santa and Elf Adorned Wreath

I had gotten one of those big ugly fake fir branch wreaths with a bunch of stuff at an auction.  Instead of donating it to Good Will, I thought I would consolidate some of my old santa and elf doodads (mostly mid-century). 

It took quite a few Santas and elves

because it is a good sized wreath.

And then I added some poinsettias for color.  I am selling it at the Rusty Chandelier.

Rusty Wire Wreath Forms Recycled

I bought two well-aged green wire wreath forms with a project in mind.  Being female, I changed my mind and used grapevine wreaths for the project.  So I was basically ready to give away the two wire wreath forms when I saw a flyer from Lowe's.  They had a wire wreath that looks like two of these put together with a nice 3D look, which had small Christmas bulbs trapped on the inside.  Sure, I could do something like that.

Except I didn't have any small bulbs that would

fit inside. What I did have:  lots of great rusty wire.

I wove it around the outside edges to hold the two pieces together.

Then I wound it around the inside edges to secure them together.

Then I wrapped the whole shabang.

I really like how it turned out. 

It could use a little rusty bell or something hanging down from the top.