Christmas Card Wreath

For years, I have struggled with how to display the Christmas cards we receive.  This year I happened upon the Craftiness is not Optional blog and found the perfect solution!  A clothespin wreath!  Brilliant.  Not only is it useful, it is also attractive!!  And simple to make.  Let's do it!

Here are the things you need:
clothespins - about 50
green spray paint
red beads - pony beads would work here
ribbon
a wire hanger from the dry cleaner
glue gun/glue

First, you need to spray those plain Jane clothespins green to get them into the holiday spirit.  I bought green glossy spray paint from Lowes for this purpose.  Clamp those clothespins around a cardboard box before you spray.  You want them to be open a bit so you can get the paint in more of the crevices.  A diaper box works great for this!!

While the clothespins dry, cut the hanging part off of your wire hanger so you just have a big piece of wire.  Shape that into a circle but do not close it up.

When the clothespins are dry, string them onto the wire, alternately with a red bead.  I used these red wooden beads my dad gave me a while back.  If you don't have a dad like mine who has a load of random crafty supplies that he periodically sends your way (I think he is likely one of a kind), head to a craft store like Michael's, Joann's, Hobby Lobby, etc. and pick up a bag of red pony beads.  Those will work perfectly.  Clothespin, bead, clothespin, bead.... all the way around until you are close to the end.  The clever girl participated in this part!

Now heat up your glue gun (no clever girl for this part) and put a big glob around where the two ends of the wreath meet.  Don't worry about it's ugliness, as it will be all covered up by ribbon!

Loop a strand of ribbon around the glue glob, and glue the ends to the existing glob (so the ends are underneath.  Tie a pretty bow, and glue that to the front of the ribbon, atop of your ginormous ribbon-wrapped glue glob.  The glob is hidden!  Yeah!

Now you have a clever, attractive way to display your Christmas cards!  Yahoo!  Thank-you, Jess, for solving my card dilemma!