Oh So Pretty Vintage Wreath

Happy December Friends!

The Altered Pages Design Team is focusing on lace this month. 

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. 

I have done basically an easy project...it is just time consuming.  However, it is well worth the time and effort (and carpel tunnel syndrome.)  My finished piece is quite stunning at over 2 feet wide...that is quite a big bang for your buck.  You may have seen this type of project before.  They are nothing new, but they are oh so lovely, do-able for just about any craft ability level and I thought this complimented the lace theme perfectly.  I am incorporating lace doilies into my piece. 

First a commercial from Jean -  Read to the bottom to see your gift for this weekend!

This project starts with vintage book pages...many, many vintage pages!  

You will also need foam core, chip board or card board as your backing. 

A handy dandy stapler is needed. You will use lots of hot glue as well. You can choose whatever you like as your centerpiece for your wreath.  I will show you what it looks like with a few options or you can leave it just text pages throughout.  If you plan it right you can create this so it can stay on display all year long.  I have lightly adhered my centerpiece as I plan on this being a perpetual decor item.  I will remove this Christmas ornament/brooch and add a lovely little Valentine image in February, a pretty lamb or bunny for Easter, a raven or skeleton in October...you get my drift. 

Okay, let's get into the details. 

So, to start you will need a sturdy, yet lightweight backing.  I used a piece of chip board that measured approximately 15 inches by 15 inches. 

I then used a 10 inch dinner plate to trace my outer circle and an 8 inch plate for my inner circle.  I left a bit more room at the top than the bottom, this is for the hanging mechanism (a binder clip will work just fine for hanging).  I made a  notch at 12:00, 3:00, 6:00 and 9:00.  This is where you will line up your beginning cones. 

Allllllright, let's get to making cones.  

Here is the basic cone made of vintage text page...music sheet looks amazing too.  Both of which can be found at Alteredpages.com    here  and here.   The best part of buying your vintage text from Altered Pages is that most of these pages come from books that were part of a private law library collection that was headed for the recycle bin due to the electronic age.  These books were lovingly saved literally by hand, one by one and are now still with us today to create something beautiful. 

I am using a sheet that is about 6 inches by 8 inches.  I am showing you in the pic below what it would look like using more of an 8 x 10 size page.  This will give you a MUCH larger wreath.  I see a huge music sheet wreath in my near future.  ;-)  

The way to make the cone is to lay the paper on a flat surface with the most aged edges away from you (you can always coffee or tea stain the paper for a more aged look or even give it a spritz of glam  with Shimmer Spritz in Gold.)  Then grab the two bottom corners and twist them first away from each other and then bring them back towards each other until you achieve a cone shape and then give it a quick staple about an inch up from the bottom.  This really will take a few tries as it does not feel like a natural movement, but once you get going it is super easy.  This at least was the way that I found the easiest for me, it is one of those things you have to try a few times and find the right groove for your hands and dexterity.  

Many, many, MANY cones later......I made about 120 and used at least 100 of them (there are 80 in the pic above.)  There were 28 cones in the first row and then I lost track.  Christmas Carols playing and my eggnog probably aided in my lack of concentration through the second, third and fourth rows.  ;-)   

I found nesting them by 10's to be a good way of herding the cones as the cheeky little buggers definitely tried to travel around my work surface. 

Below, you see the bottom row is started.  I lined a cone up with the 12, 3, 6 and 9:00 marks and hot glued those in place.  I then dry fit all the others and found that it would take approximately 6 cones to fill in each space between.  I then hot glued those down.  For the second row I repeated this process staggering the cones in the empty spaces of the first row and hot glued them on the 8 inch line I previously created. 

With the third and fourth rows there was less open space and I basically eyeballed the placement and hot glued them down.  Once your wreath gets to the third row it will fill in nicely and placement is much less measured.  You just repeat until you reach the center. 

When I got to the center I found that the cone size was a bit too tall so I just folded them over by an inch or two and hot glued it to create a shorter cone...see below. 

And, here is the completed wreath.  It is just so pretty all on its own.  I am truly pleased with this allbeit easy, yet time consuming project.  I truely believe it is so worth the effort.  This is one of those create the cones while Netflixing projects.  I know I have had other "Netflix" projects for you...but come on, popcorn, movie and a fun craft project with these results...sounds like a great Friday night to me.  

Here is a close-up of the center piece for my wreath. 

It is white and cream hand crocheted lace doillies adhered using hot glued to a vintage inspired snowflake ornament. 

I love using different shades of white, on cream, on white for my vintage projects. 

Here you can see what I used to create the hanger for this.  This is pretty light weight.  So, hot glueing this binder clip/chip clip to the backing was plenty sturdy enough.  I made a little pencil arrow on the backing to remind myself where the top  was to allow for the hanger.  Once you get all those cones in place it is easy to loose track of which end is up.   

And, here you see a few different ways to display your vintage wreath.  I changed mine out for a blue poinsettia in one version and added a Jolly Old St. Nick in another.  You can find him here.

Think of Poe's Ravens as your focal point for October or maybe pink is your color...you can add a little vintage image in your  signature color with our perfectly pink Santa collage sheet.  Make it your own...add your own flare!  

Here you see a Halloween inspired oversized flower that I made for an earlier project in October...look how it works perfectly tucked into the center of this wreath. 

And, here you can see a sweet little Santa image front and center. You can find this image here.   

I hope you were inspired by this project.  Make sure to follow us all month long to see what we create with lace as our inspiration.  And, always tag us in your projects on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest. We love to see what you create! 

Thanks so much for joining me. 

As always...have a great weekend!

Steph S. 

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