If you’ve been hanging around these parts for a while, you may remember Stanley and how, last Christmas, Stanley was upstaged.

By golden balls.

Though sadly NOT those of the David Beckham variety (I wish!)

For the first time since Beloved brought him home from Sainsbury’s, Stanley the Stag was rudely plucked from his habitat in the OneandSeventy living room, to make way for something rather more luscious.

A bauble wreath.

You may have spotted it during 2015’s Christmas Home Tour. Well… you could hardly miss it, could you?

I do like a nice wreath, me.

Over on Pinterest, I have an entire board dedicated to all manner of circular loveliness, gracing the homes of likeminded wreath lovers the world over.

And not just on doors, either. Wreaths are a versatile and stylish way of adding a personal flourish anywhere in your home and they’re a great opportunity to get your craft on throughout the year.

In the main, unlike our crafting cousins across the puddle, us Brits don’t generally favour wreaths outside of Christmas, but that seems to be changing.

You’ve only got to look at what I’ve been getting up to here and here and here to see what I mean and I’ve definitely noticed the odd embellishment adorning doors here in the UK.

Suits me!

How to make a bauble wreath

• Polystyrene Wreath
• Baubles
• Paint & Brush (optional)
• Glue Gun and several glue sticks

When I was researching how best to make my bauble wreath, I discovered a couple of methods.

There’s the “thread the bauble on the coat hanger” method or, my personal favourite, the “whop out the glue gun and stick ’em on a foam wreath” approach.

Image: Hobbycraft

Polystyrene wreaths come in different sizes and I’m pretty sure Hobbycraft stocks them all year round. Mine is the 35cm version and it cost me a few quid.

Next up, baubles. You’ll need a minimum of 120 for a 35cm wreath.

If you have a ton of sparkly balls knocking around in a box at the back of the loft, then this is the perfect project for you. Me, I had to buy more and B&M had exactly what I wanted in buckets of 40… AND they were half price at £3.99 each. I grabbed two of those and a £1.99 pack of small baubles for fillers.

Note: B&M are doing these packs of baubles again for 2016, but get in quick – last year, I wanted more and our local store had run out!!

Unless you’re creating a white wreath (one for winter, maybe?), you probably won’t want the bare styrofoam showing through, so I suggest painting your wreath first in a colour that works with your baubles.

If you’re a fan of spray paint, be warned! Some sprays will eat through polystyrene, so unless you want to end up with a lopsided, soggy mess, I suggest you use acrylic. It doesn’t have to be perfect, as most of the wreath will be covered. A couple of coats ought to do it.

If you’ve got your heart set on spray paint, I did discover this work-around on my research travels.

How to paint on polystyrene

I had one wreath and no scraps, so I decided acrylic was the wisest option. But hey! If you wanna risk it for a biscuit, go right ahead! Please come back and let me know how you get on!

Once your paint is dry, you’re ready to build your wreath.

I followed a brilliant tutorial from Tesco that sadly, doesn’t appear to work anymore. It took me about an hour and a half to complete, but that’s more to do with my inner perfectionist than the tutorial itself.

Isn’t that a thing of beauty?

My bauble wreath got a lot of love last year, so I thought I’d get it out early this time around, so you have plenty of time to make your own in time for Christmas.

Stored well, you can drag this baby out year after year, so go! Grab your balls and get gluing!

Don’t forget to let me know how you get on, by dropping a comment below.

Have fun!

A hui hou,

This project first appeared on The World of Suzy Homemaker on 15 December 2015