The Art of Upcycled Holiday Decorations: A Guide to Creating an Oversized Outdoor Wreath

As the holiday season approaches, many of us find ourselves leaning into vintage holiday vibes and seeking ways to add unique touches to our decor. For those who love ceramic trees, bright poppy color palettes, and fun c9 style light strings, today's project is a must-see. Using upcycled glass bulbs as inspiration, we'll be creating an oversized outdoor wreath that exudes elegance and whimsy.

The Material: Acrylic Ornaments

The first step in this project is to select the material for our ornaments. After scouring various options, we've settled on acrylic fillable ornaments. These larger-than-life bulbs are not only shatterproof but also incredibly lightweight, making them perfect for an outdoor wreath that will be exposed to the elements. The large size of these ornaments allows us to create a truly impactful look on our oversized wreath.

Removing and Preparing the Ornaments

Before we can begin painting, we need to remove the ornament tops and set them aside. This step is crucial in preparing our bulbs for their new paint job. Next, we'll be using acrylic paint to create our own custom color palette. By mixing traditional mid-century-esque colors with a few modern wild cards, we're able to achieve a unique look that's both nostalgic and contemporary.

Making the Paint Pourable

To create a paint consistency that's just right, we need to add water to our paint. The ratio of two parts paint to one part water will vary depending on the specific paint we're using, but start with this mixture as a guideline. We'll be aiming for a consistency that's thick enough to stay opaque but thin enough to pour when the paint is ready.

Painting the Ornaments

Now it's time to apply our paint and bring our ornaments to life. Pouring inside each bulb and swirling around until most of the inside is coated, we'll then turn the ornament upside down and tap the side of a cup to finish covering the surface. This process will vary based on the size of your wreath, but for an oversized look like ours, we're using about 70 bulbs in total.

Drying Time

Once our ornaments are painted, it's time to let them dry overnight. While they're waiting, we can move on to dressing up their tops with a touch of gold. For this, we're using gilding wax – a liquid paint that can be applied with the hands for a quick and easy finish.

Reassembling the Ornaments

Now that our ornaments are dry and ready to go, it's time to reassemble them. We'll start by attaching the first bulb to the outside of our foam wreath form, gluing in two places per bulb and holding in place until set. The key is to get a firm bond between the ornament and the wreath form.

The Magic of Hot Glue

Using hot glue for this project may seem unconventional at first, but it's actually a brilliant choice. Since our bulbs are so lightweight and the foam wreath form grabs the glue, we find that the hot glue holds surprisingly well after the first row is set. This means that we can attach the bulbs to each other in addition to the wreath form, creating an even more secure structure that will withstand the elements.

Final Touches

And with every last bulb attached, our oversized outdoor wreath is complete. We're thrilled with how it's turned out – bright, fun, and shatterproof. To find your holiday decorating style, we invite you to share your thoughts in the comments below. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and follow along for more handmade projects that will inspire you to create something truly special.

Hanging Up Our Masterpiece

As the finishing touches are applied, we can't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. With its bright colors and whimsical design, this oversized outdoor wreath is sure to be a showstopper on our front porch. We'll hang it up outside and enjoy it for years to come – and we hope you will too.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eni absolutely love how this wreath came out it's right miles do you love it too do you love it too hey everyone welcome back to handmade i'm liz well it is day 4 317 of 2020 and guys we made it it's the holiday season at my house i love to lean into the vintage holiday vibe i love ceramic trees you can see a couple behind me i love that bright poppy color palette and i especially love those really fun c9 style light strings the c9 bulbs are actually what inspired today's project which is an oversized outdoor wreath i've seen quite a few tutorials using the upcycled glass bulbs and those are really cool but because i'm putting this wreath outside i really wanted to go for something shatterproof and i think i found the perfect material and the best thing about this material is that you can customize the color palettes with colors that you love so have you guessed what it is yet let's get started and see if you were right if you guessed acrylic ornaments you got it these clear fillable ornaments are bigger than the classic vintage bulb which i like because i'm going for a more impactful look on my oversized wreath and they're shatterproof and super lightweight which is perfect for outside so the first step is to remove the ornament tops and set aside we're going to dress those up a little later and like i mentioned earlier i really want to create my own custom color palette so to do that i'm using acrylic paint i'm mixing traditional mid-century-esque colors with a few modern wild cards to do this easily we need to make the paint pourable by adding some water the amount you'll need will vary from paint to paint but start with two parts paint and one part water you can always add more from there this consistency is what you're going for it should be thick enough to stay opaque but thin enough to pour when the paint's ready just pour inside the ornament and swirl around until most of the inside is coated then turn it upside down and tap the ornament on the side of a cup to finish covering the surface and get rid of that extra paint then repeat for the rest of the bulbs it will vary based on the size of your wreath but since i'm going for an oversized look i'm using about 70 bulbs total place these on a few sheets of craft paper or plate and let them dry overnight while the bulbs are drying let's deal with these ornament tops now you could leave these silver but traditionally the bulbs have gold tops and you know we love a gold moment here at handmade to add the shimmer i'm using gilding wax if you haven't used this it's sort of like liquid leaf but you can apply it with your hands which makes this go really quickly because this is oil-based paint i'm wearing gloves for this and i recommend that you do too you don't want to end up like gold finger i actually don't know what happens to cold fingers so once everything is dry reassemble the ornaments i have to say i'm absolutely loving the final color palette i want to use this color palette on everything now okay we're ready to make this wreath i'm using a foam wreath form you could use green but i think white kind of disappears into the background a little bit more using a hot glue gun i'm starting on the outside of the wreath form with the first ball to get a firm bond i'm gluing in two places per bulb and holding in place until set honestly i wasn't sure that hot glue would work for this project but since the bulbs are so lightweight and the foam wreath form grabs the glue it holds surprisingly well after the first row is set you can attach the bulbs to each other in addition to the wreath form which makes this even more secure and now that every last bulb is attached we're done well i love how this wreath came out it's bright it's fun and i'll be able to use it for years to come let me know in the comments below what is your holiday decorating style don't forget to like subscribe and i think i'm going to go hang this up outside i'll see you next time byei absolutely love how this wreath came out it's right miles do you love it too do you love it too hey everyone welcome back to handmade i'm liz well it is day 4 317 of 2020 and guys we made it it's the holiday season at my house i love to lean into the vintage holiday vibe i love ceramic trees you can see a couple behind me i love that bright poppy color palette and i especially love those really fun c9 style light strings the c9 bulbs are actually what inspired today's project which is an oversized outdoor wreath i've seen quite a few tutorials using the upcycled glass bulbs and those are really cool but because i'm putting this wreath outside i really wanted to go for something shatterproof and i think i found the perfect material and the best thing about this material is that you can customize the color palettes with colors that you love so have you guessed what it is yet let's get started and see if you were right if you guessed acrylic ornaments you got it these clear fillable ornaments are bigger than the classic vintage bulb which i like because i'm going for a more impactful look on my oversized wreath and they're shatterproof and super lightweight which is perfect for outside so the first step is to remove the ornament tops and set aside we're going to dress those up a little later and like i mentioned earlier i really want to create my own custom color palette so to do that i'm using acrylic paint i'm mixing traditional mid-century-esque colors with a few modern wild cards to do this easily we need to make the paint pourable by adding some water the amount you'll need will vary from paint to paint but start with two parts paint and one part water you can always add more from there this consistency is what you're going for it should be thick enough to stay opaque but thin enough to pour when the paint's ready just pour inside the ornament and swirl around until most of the inside is coated then turn it upside down and tap the ornament on the side of a cup to finish covering the surface and get rid of that extra paint then repeat for the rest of the bulbs it will vary based on the size of your wreath but since i'm going for an oversized look i'm using about 70 bulbs total place these on a few sheets of craft paper or plate and let them dry overnight while the bulbs are drying let's deal with these ornament tops now you could leave these silver but traditionally the bulbs have gold tops and you know we love a gold moment here at handmade to add the shimmer i'm using gilding wax if you haven't used this it's sort of like liquid leaf but you can apply it with your hands which makes this go really quickly because this is oil-based paint i'm wearing gloves for this and i recommend that you do too you don't want to end up like gold finger i actually don't know what happens to cold fingers so once everything is dry reassemble the ornaments i have to say i'm absolutely loving the final color palette i want to use this color palette on everything now okay we're ready to make this wreath i'm using a foam wreath form you could use green but i think white kind of disappears into the background a little bit more using a hot glue gun i'm starting on the outside of the wreath form with the first ball to get a firm bond i'm gluing in two places per bulb and holding in place until set honestly i wasn't sure that hot glue would work for this project but since the bulbs are so lightweight and the foam wreath form grabs the glue it holds surprisingly well after the first row is set you can attach the bulbs to each other in addition to the wreath form which makes this even more secure and now that every last bulb is attached we're done well i love how this wreath came out it's bright it's fun and i'll be able to use it for years to come let me know in the comments below what is your holiday decorating style don't forget to like subscribe and i think i'm going to go hang this up outside i'll see you next time byei absolutely love how this wreath came out it's right miles do you love it too do you love it too hey everyone welcome back to handmade i'm liz well it is day 4 317 of 2020 and guys we made it it's the holiday season at my house i love to lean into the vintage holiday vibe i love ceramic trees you can see a couple behind me i love that bright poppy color palette and i especially love those really fun c9 style light strings the c9 bulbs are actually what inspired today's project which is an oversized outdoor wreath i've seen quite a few tutorials using the upcycled glass bulbs and those are really cool but because i'm putting this wreath outside i really wanted to go for something shatterproof and i think i found the perfect material and the best thing about this material is that you can customize the color palettes with colors that you love so have you guessed what it is yet let's get started and see if you were right if you guessed acrylic ornaments you got it these clear fillable ornaments are bigger than the classic vintage bulb which i like because i'm going for a more impactful look on my oversized wreath and they're shatterproof and super lightweight which is perfect for outside so the first step is to remove the ornament tops and set aside we're going to dress those up a little later and like i mentioned earlier i really want to create my own custom color palette so to do that i'm using acrylic paint i'm mixing traditional mid-century-esque colors with a few modern wild cards to do this easily we need to make the paint pourable by adding some water the amount you'll need will vary from paint to paint but start with two parts paint and one part water you can always add more from there this consistency is what you're going for it should be thick enough to stay opaque but thin enough to pour when the paint's ready just pour inside the ornament and swirl around until most of the inside is coated then turn it upside down and tap the ornament on the side of a cup to finish covering the surface and get rid of that extra paint then repeat for the rest of the bulbs it will vary based on the size of your wreath but since i'm going for an oversized look i'm using about 70 bulbs total place these on a few sheets of craft paper or plate and let them dry overnight while the bulbs are drying let's deal with these ornament tops now you could leave these silver but traditionally the bulbs have gold tops and you know we love a gold moment here at handmade to add the shimmer i'm using gilding wax if you haven't used this it's sort of like liquid leaf but you can apply it with your hands which makes this go really quickly because this is oil-based paint i'm wearing gloves for this and i recommend that you do too you don't want to end up like gold finger i actually don't know what happens to cold fingers so once everything is dry reassemble the ornaments i have to say i'm absolutely loving the final color palette i want to use this color palette on everything now okay we're ready to make this wreath i'm using a foam wreath form you could use green but i think white kind of disappears into the background a little bit more using a hot glue gun i'm starting on the outside of the wreath form with the first ball to get a firm bond i'm gluing in two places per bulb and holding in place until set honestly i wasn't sure that hot glue would work for this project but since the bulbs are so lightweight and the foam wreath form grabs the glue it holds surprisingly well after the first row is set you can attach the bulbs to each other in addition to the wreath form which makes this even more secure and now that every last bulb is attached we're done well i love how this wreath came out it's bright it's fun and i'll be able to use it for years to come let me know in the comments below what is your holiday decorating style don't forget to like subscribe and i think i'm going to go hang this up outside i'll see you next time bye\n"