Wooden Toy Christmas Wreath

I saw the idea for vintage wooden toy wreaths on Pinterest and just loved them, and set my heart on making one, although the prospect did daunt me.

I had a small collection of vintage wooden toy decorations picked up in various charity shops over the past couple of years but wasn't sure if I had enough to complete a wreath, it was touch and go for a while, but after searching every single nook and cranny of my crafty drawers and cupboards I just about managed it.

I started off using a card ring that I have had for ages and simply covered it with a gold lame ribbon that came with the Christmas hamper Marc sent me for Christmas, gluing it in place with my glue gun.

It looks OK from the front but because it was just a tad short, the back is a bit dodgy, but there again, no one is ever going to see the back but me.

I also used my glue gun to attach all the wooden bits and pieces, sorry no pictures of a work in progress until the very last part because I was sooooooooo engrossed in what I was doing.  To fill in the gaps round the edges I used small, bottle brush trees  (The Works) 

It was when I got to the stage (above) that I needed to search high and low for bits to fill the last small gaps. So far it had cost me nothing to put together as I already had everything in my stash and to stumble at the last hurdle to either look for (and buy) something on eBay or even worse, leave the project unfinished until the months running up to Christmas to see what I could find in charity shops ....... that, I was determined wasn't going to happen!

So in the end, not everything I used was wooden, or vintage, but it still works. Small, wooden, flat backed teddies and resin Santa's and snowmen helped to add layers and fill the gaps.

I need to alter the string on the back ever so slightly so that it hangs a little more to the left using the yellow figure at the top as my guide, but that's me being ultra picky.

If I see any more tiny wooden/resin flatbacks I might be tempted to add a few more.  Initially I was also tempted to add a few beads and stars to the bottle brush trees, but I know I must resist the temptation as that would really over egg the pudding, as well as spoiling the vintage feel/look I was looking for.

I wouldn't mind repeating the idea, so if I find anymore similar wooden decs. on my charity shop travels and they are going for a song, well, it would be rude not to buy them wouldn't it?