Ornament Wreath how not to, and how to

So, every year for like the past three years, I walk by the lush, pretty color coordinated ornament wreaths in cute antique stores and home decor shops. And sigh, because there is no way I"m paying $65 for a wreath. No way.

So this year, I'm embracing my craftiness and trying to do a lot of homemade things. And I decided to make my own ornament wreath.

So, I bought ornaments. And ribbon. And found a piece of foam core leftover from design school (Thanks Mom!)

I found a round platter that was a nice large size. And traced it on my foamcore. Found a pedestal that seemed the right size for the inner circle, and traced it too.

Cut it out with a very un-sharp exacto knife. It had lots of jaggedy edges, so I sanded it smooth.

And started gluing my ornaments on.

And it totally looked like crapola.

Got frustrated.  Tore everything off. Used a different, thicker sheet of foamcore. And changed the blade in the knife. Started over. Hated that you could still see the foamcore.

So, in desperation, I actually READ the tutorials all over blogville. I know, amazing concept. When all else fails, read the directions.

And I found this post from Better Homes and Gardens.

So, off to Joann I go. Bought my foam wreath.

And I glued them like shown in this post.

Starting with the inner circle, then the outer circle.

And then just add ornaments on top until you can't see any of the wreath form anymore.

I used hot glue and held them until set.  Use a lot of glue.

Once done, I  realized it's way too deep to fit between my front door and storm door. So I added it to my mantle instead.

I then decided to make a burlap and tulle wreath for my front door. Post on that coming soon! You can see the picture here.