Jingle Bell Wreath or Christmas Ornament

Brass jingle bells have an almost magical appeal at Christmas time, bringing to mind the ringing of church bells or the cheerful jingle of a horse harness on an old-fashioned sleigh ride.

Jingle bells are also traditionally made of brass, bronze, silver or gold; polished to a shine, and added to a wreath or ornament, these glowing metal bells will catch and reflect light, and tinkle when moved - all without the benefit (or extra cost) of batteries or electricity.

You'll find packages of jingle bells, in a wide variety of sizes and metal finishes, in most craft stores or dollar stores. Pick up a package or two and make yourself a homemade jingle bell wreath, or a small jingle bell decoration to hang from the tree.

Copyright © 1999-2011 Susan Spatone All rights reserved.
Published with permission from CraftAtHome.com

Craft Supplies:

• Jingle Bells
• Coat Hanger or Heavy Gauge Wire
• Wire Cutters
• Pliers
• Embellishing ribbon

Craft Instructions:

Open up the top of a coat hanger using pliers (it's a little too difficult to do with your fingers) and feed jingle bells onto the open wire. The wreath I made took almost 100 jingle bells to fill the hanger. Once you have the hanger full of jingle bells, twist your hanger back together using pliers. The hanging loop on the hanger serves as a hanger for the wreath. To create a clean hanger, twist the end of the hanger onto the wreath section to form a circle loop. Be sure to twist this securely as the wreath is quite heavy. Now you can add a bow or streams of ribbon, simply by securing to the top of the wreath with a piece of wire or ribbon.

Wreath Ornament (for hanging on the tree):

Cut a piece of heavy gauge wire to approximately eight inches long. Feed one small jingle bell onto the wire through the loop at the top of the bell. Continue feeding bells onto the wire until you have covered seven inches of the wire with the bells.

You will have two ends of the wire that need to be joined; twist these together securely to hold the bells in place. Make a bow or strand of ribbon and tie around the top centre of your ornament creating a loop to hang your ornament with ribbon.

Jingle Bell Ornie

As you can see from the close-up photo at left, it's possible to make beautiful tree trims with only a few bells. Just add a little Christmas greenery, with a cluster of red berries, and finish with a pretty ribbon bow.

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