Dollar store wreath hangers are plentiful at this time of year and cheap. But they are rather plain, despite the reds and greens. I’ve always thought that the space above the actual wreath could be made more festive with a few simple materials and a bit of imagination.
Here’s what I came up with as 4 ways to upcycle a wreath hanger for Christmas. I’d love to see your ideas, too!
Snow Day
Supplies Used:
- metal wreath hanger (dollar store)
- 4-1/2 inch (approx.) wood snowflake (Dollar Tree)
- 2-1/2 (approx.) flat wood ornament (from stash)
- white paint (on hand)
- strong glue like Fix-all
- wood glue
I’ve had this metal wreath hanger for some time and I’m relatively certain that it came from a dollar store. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t choose brown for Christmas, but it seems to work in this case. If you have a wreath hanger in your Christmas collection, but aren’t happy with the colour, you could always spray paint it, weather permitting.
The snowflake came from a set meant to be used as a garland, but it was the right size for my purpose here. I painted it white. In retrospect, I should have given it another coat or two, but painting isn’t one of my favourite activities so it only got one coat.
The Santa is from a set of wood pieces that I’ve had in my stash for ages. Because of the material it’s made of, I used wood glue to attach it to the centre of the wood snowflake. Any flat decorative piece that’s approximately the same size as this Santa will work for this just as well.
After gluing Santa onto the middle of the snowflake, I used the Fix All to attach the snowflake to the metal wreath hanger approximately 2 inches from the top. The glue will need a couple of hours to cure.
Then I decided my hanger needed a bit more oomf, so I found two small faux pine pieces in my stash and turned them into a tiny swag for the top of the snowflake. Two pinecones and three faux berries completed the look.
I hot glued the swag and accessories onto the snowflake. If you live in a warm climate and plan to use this hanger on an outside door, use a stronger glue for these pieces, too.
All That Glitters
I found his beautiful gold snowflake at Dollar Tree and it was the inspiration for the next wreath hanger. It’s approximately 5″ wide from tip to tip.
I used my wire cutters to snip off the hole and hanger at the top, making sure that the length matched that of the other snowflake tips. When I cut the metal, I realized that it had two layers, so I glued the two pieces together so the tip would lay flat.
I discovered that hot glue won’t bond to metal, so use Fix All or another strong glue to attach the ornament to your wreath hanger where you think it looks best.
I didn’t do anything else to this one. I think this beautiful ornament can stand on its own, don’t you?
Bells and Bows
Supplies Used:
- metal wreath hanger
- 14″ long wired pine stem (pkg. of 12 at Dollar Tree)
- 3 medium-sized jingle bells
- baker’s twine
- pre-made bow
- Fix All glue
This was very easy to do. All I did was wrap the wired pine stem around the length of the metal hanger. If you are using this on an outside door, it would probably be wise to glue the top and bottom tips of the stem to the hanger for extra security. As my apartment has no suitable outside door to hang a wreath, (I have patio doors), I didn’t bother with that step.
Next, I threaded each bell with a length of baker’s twine and tied one to each of the three sections the wire stem created when wrapped around the hanger. You may find it helpful to thread a needle with the twine to make it easier to get it under the wire pine stem, especially if you have glued the stem to the hanger.
If I were to do this again I would probably leave the twine a bit longer so that the bells would hang down to fill more of the space between the pine stem sections.
Then all that’s left to do is to glue the ready-made bow to the top. You could always choose different coloured bells, depending on the wreath hanger’s colour, but I think this is pretty cute.
Pick Perfection
Supplies Used:
- large Christmas pick (Dollar Tree)
- small pine and berry pieces
- wire cutters
- Fix All glue
Dollar Tree has some really beautiful large Christmas picks this year. I envisioned this one on a wreath hanger.
First, I held the pick against the wreath hanger to see how much of the stem I should cut off. The tip of the stem will be flush with the top of the hanger.
I ended up using my wire cutters to trim off about an inch and a half of the pick’s stem.
After I glued the stem onto the hanger, I wanted to cover up the rest of the stem, so I dug through my craft stash and found this small faux evergreen piece. It matches what is already in the pick. Then I added another section of berries, similar to the ones in the pick, and glued them on top of the pine piece.
I think this is my favourite wreath hanger of the four I made. You almost don’t need to hang a wreath on this one!
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