Bargain Plates Add Glam to a Holiday Mantle and Solve a Pesky Problem

Donna
by Donna
5 Materials
$10
2 Hours
Easy

I love decorating my mantle for each holiday. But hanging a Christmas wreath over our mantle always unearthed a bit of an eyesore. This year, some bargain plates and quick thinking finally solved this problem!

Most of the year, this hand carved sign hangs over our mantle. My dad made this sign for us. I love it and feel honored to hang it in our home.

However, this sign is supported with this ugly bracket. When we take down my dad's sign and try to hang a wreath over the mantle for the Christmas holiday, this bracket shows through the center of the wreath :( We've tried disguising it by painting the hardware, but it was still visible.

This year, I had a great idea! I had bought this shiny plastic plate years ago at the dollar store. I had visions of throwing fancy parties where I would serve pretty party food on this plate. But it never happened. This plate sat in the cabinet with the price tag still on it.


Then last year, I saw this cardinal plate at an after Christmas sale at Hobby Lobby. I didn't have any plan for it, but I thought it was pretty. And we have cardinals in our yard, so I bought it.


When I was thinking about my holiday decorating for this year, I thought about hanging the cardinal plate in the center of my wreath to add some color and hide my ugly bracket. But sadly, the cardinal plate was a little too small and looked out of place. Then I remembered my shiny Dollar Store plate! I realized I could layer these two plates and together they would probably fill the center of my wreath.

I bought a large plate hanger at Michael's.

Then I glued my two plates together using a generous amount of hot glue on the bottom rim of my cardinal plate. After I made sure that the hot glue had set completely, I put the plate hanger on the back of the shiny bigger plate.

I was so excited to see how this would look in the center of my wreath! But...it still looked a little blah.

Digging deep into my random pile of craft supplies, I remembered that I had these wooden snowflake pieces. I also bought these at an after Christmas sale without any plan for what I might do with them.

I had my husband cut apart one of these snowflakes so I could use the branch-like arms. I glued these arms around my plate using tacky glue. I positioned them so they looked like an extension of the greenery on my center plate.


Then I stuck on some red plastic gems to look like berries and add some sparkle. I really liked the finished design.

I think the completed plate looks perfect in the center of my wreath. It's also the perfect size to fill the center and hide the eyesore under it.


I decorated my wreath with some of my favorite handmade ornaments. You can find the directions for making my little stuffed Christmas tree here. I also have directions for making my clay wreath and Christmas tree ornaments on my blog.

I finished decorating by placing a few framed pieces on my holiday mantle. One of my favorite pieces is this patchwork Christmas tree that I made from photos from magazines. I have more photos and the directions on my blog. .

Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Donna
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Go
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Comments
Join the conversation
Next