Beehive Art Salon: vintage tinsel holiday wreath tutorial

i am a bit of a vintage tinsel junkie. . . so there was this big ball of green and silver tinsel at the antique store for $1.00. i couldn't resist. even though it looked a bit ratty and melted in places from sitting a little too close to those old big bulb lights on someone's tree fifty years ago. i had visions of little wreaths adorning all my packages. i am working like a little christmas elf making a big pile of tinsel wreaths today and thought i would share how to make them. the tinsel i am using is 1 1/2 inches wide. you could use a smaller tinsel and make a smaller wreath, or loop it around twice to get the fullness.

the bows are from dollar tree $1.00 for 12. they are a fun old looking velveteen ribbon with a wired silver cord twisted around the center. here is the tiny 1 inch bottle brush wreath that was my inspiration.

step 1. cut 7 inches of tinsel and gather together a small red bow, 5 glass garland beads, and Aleene's tacky glue.

step 2. form the tinsel into a circle 3 1/2 inches across. overlap the two tinsel ends and secure by twisting the silver wired cord around the tinsel. trim ends

step 3. put a bit of glue on one side of the glass garland bead and nestle it down into the tinsel.

here is the tinsel wreath class i taught to the art group retreat last holiday season up at Sundance. i added some frosted pine cones, berries and a tiny red bell.