Long time ago I started a holiday tradition of making one wreath each year dedicated to one person/place/event. It doesn’t need to be fancy or frilly, just made from components that remind me of something wonderful. I hope, as years past, my home will be filled with oodles of nifty wreaths, each with a story to tell. So far I have 10 and counting. I try to make them in between Christmas and New Years, the time of year reserved for family and reflection and eating pie for breakfast.
I’ll save the story behind this year’s wreath, but, let me tell you: this sucker is snazzy. Like Pee-Wee’s Playhouse style snazzy. And, get this, it’s functional! You can even hang it up all year round.
Snazzy + Non-Seasonal + Totally Functional = Awesomeness.
This wreath is like the velour sweatpants of home décor.
I know you want it.
The idea of making a cookie cutter wreath came from this project in Better Homes and Gardens. It’s a lovely piece, but it doesn’t really allow you to use the cookie cutters once they are incorporated in the wreath. Sure, sure, that’s fine for someone who has antique pieces that are no longer in use, but what about my green plastic stegosaurus cookie cutter? If I glue him in a wreath, that would mean no more stegosaurus stamped pie crust. Can I live without stegosaurus stamped pie crust? Hello no.
So what am I going to do? I am going to use the wire branches to create little loop pockets where I can insert Mr. Stegosaurus. This way I can reach in and pull him out any time I want. Beat that!
Materials
* Cookie Cutters
* Wire based tinsel wreath. The branches need to be the sort of sturdy wire you can bend and mold easily. Just about any cheapy faux greenery wreath will work. I picked up this pink number in the dollar section at Target. Suppose you could also have fun painting an old wreath you have laying around the garage. And yes, I saw your garage, I know you have an old wreath lying around. PS: I borrowed your camping thermos. Thanks!
Tutorial
Prepare yourself, this could get complicated.
Step 1. place your cookie cutter on the wreath.
Step 2: use the wire branches to twist in the cookie cutters
Step 3: repeat
Step 4: get a diet coke and take a load off. This is exhausting.
Step 5: insert a thumb tack on your wall and hang it up.
Whew! We made it!
The really nice thing about this is that the wreath is 100% functional. I know it seems odd to think of a Christmas wreath as an organizing tool, but hey, think twice! Those little branches are sturdy yet super flexible. Perfect for gripping things that you don’t access everyday, but don’t necessarily want to relegate to the basement or under the bed.
When I was a kid my mom clipped all my hair barrettes and ribbons onto a tacky old wax grape wreath she picked up at a garage sale. It hung in my room and I stared at it every night wondering what barrette I would wear the next day. Pink and green polka dots bows or the Raggedy Ann clips?
Unfortunately, scrunchies came into fashion and the wreath got thrown away. Still, I look back now and realize what a smart idea my mother had back then. To this day I have never seen another quite like it. Now I think about it, there are so many things you could organize and/or display using a wire wreath….kitchen utensils, measuring spoons, pens and pencils, legos, beanie babies, barbie dolls….the possibilities are endless.
Have fun. Have fun Y’all!
PS: In combing through my cookie cutter collection, I found one that I cannot identify. Can anyone tell what this is? It does not appear to be bent or damaged in any way. I think it might be a platypus. Or a matinee. Ideas?
I knew you would have a wreath for me! Love it!
xoxo Mary Jo
Turned other way it looks like a Bunny
definition of snaz!
and it’s a dinosaur. definitely.
My daughter is looking over my shoulder and she said, “That’s beautiful. We could make one of those. And paint it purple. And put the decorations on it.” You two would get along famously.
Dinosaur? Pheasant? Partridge? lol
I think you are going to have to bake a batch of cookies to see if the shape makes any sense….try putting eyeballs in different places LOL! Now, where do you store all of those wreaths, I know you live in Florida so you do not have a basement. Stop by if you have a chance I am having a giveaway.
Carol
I love pie for breakfast!
That cookie cutter is a dolphin at SeaWorld walking on top of the water on its tail fin while keeping balance by flapping its flippity fin. In profile. Duh!
I found your blog via a comment you left at Maxabella’s and I think I’m in love. I’m also now following. LOVE your ideas.
I just freaking love your style! Thanks for putting it all out here on the interwebs for our delight 🙂
Definitely a brontosaurus!
I’m trying to convince the BF that we NEED a tinsel wreath of some kind in our lives…
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Love the practical magenta tinsel wreath. Wait – did I just write practical magenta tinsel wreath? Hee ha ha! It is way cool. Also – all those guesses are completely wrong. That cookie cutter is OBVIOUSLY a
Cookie cutter storage solution: check! Now what to do with all my wooden spoons? A wire tinsel topiary? Please?
Okay I have the answer….. it is the creature from the back lagoon …….or perhaps you have solved the mystery of where is the Loch Ness monster – simple it is now hanging on Peaches wreath!
I love this and they way it is still functional is freakin fantastic !!!
Speaking of I am whipping up a batch of gingerbread shapes as we speak on request from the boys – better go before they decide to include the cat in the mix…..
I think your cookie cutter is A: Dino from the Flintstones or B:Giada De Laurentis….she has extremely short arms….am I the only one that noticed that?
Poor bronto, he’s been smooshed. Squeeze his little head back out of egg-ville and he might just make it. That, or hide him on your wreath and give the person who next pulls him off a prize! It could be a new holiday tradition.
Dee hit the nail on the head! It is so obvious…how could I have missed? Now I remember buying a Giada De Laurentis cookie cutter!
Although it might be a dinosaur, too. Were there dinosaurs w paddle feet? Must have been….
” The Velour Sweatpants of Home Decor” made us roar with laughter. My ex husband is engaged to, I am sure, a lovely woman who has a particular fondness for matching velour sets. I can’t meow out on her that much because she does teach grade 2…..She has been nicknamed “the velour whore” and my daughter described their unfortunate choice of dress as “frump times 7”.
I’m so glad you left your link at the Better Homes & Gardens comment that you made – I thoroughly enjoyed your post here! And your wreath is wonderful – I love the unique way you put it together, it’s beautiful!
Leslie Anne
I think it’s a rather chubby, flat-faced, prissy cat. Because the face is all wrong for a brontosaurus!
We can’t figure it out either, but my daughter says that, in the interest of science, she is willing to bake a batch of cookies with it and send the results over for your consideration. Let us know if you figure it out.
mystery cookie cutter could be a squirrel? the fluffy looking bit could be it’s tail&the bits that stick out slightly its arms and legs? the other bit would be its head and ears?
lol , its the barbie head logo
It is a duck. Turn it 90% to the right, see the head and the protruding “object” at the bottom is the webbed feet. Oh, and Love your wreath, too.
its a vintage barbie sillouette cookie cutter… and i have been looking for one! lol
To me, your cookie cutter looks like a whale blowing a water spout. I think it’s very cute.
I can’t figure out what the cookie cutter is – but I am intrigued by the fact that it is sitting on the page of a book of shorthand. I learned shorthand in high school almost 50 years ago, just before electronic inventions made the duties of an administrative assistant much easier.
Your crafts are beautiful. I love ideas for using things that would normally be thrown away or given to a thrift store.