New Steampunk Christmas Wreaths

I started Christmas decorating extra early this year, since I knew the steampunk room was going to take some time. This is our first Christmas after the big room renovation, so I was starting from scratch - and with me still fighting off the dregs of a 3-week ear & sinus infection, it's just as well I had so much done early. [Urg]

I'll show you guys the new steampunk tree soon, but first: wreaths! I wanted a matching pair to hang over these two windows on the main focal wall:

I started with two blank wreath forms, then used what I had on hand (Deco mesh, berries, etc.) to wire together a simple, classic design. Trouble was, even with a few small gears mixed in, they just weren't steampunky enough. In fact, they were kind of boring. Bleh.

Enter John the problem solver, who took one look and said, "Why don't we put giant gold gears behind them?"

And so we did:

The gears are made from light weight foam board: John taped two sheets together, drew the gear using a large ruler and some math, then cut out the pattern with a craft blade. After that it just took a few blasts of gold spray paint, and voila! Gears!

We poked small holes in the gears for floral wire, and then wired them directly to the wreaths. They're hung with a bit of rough twine from removable Command hooks, which are hidden under the window valances.

For the finishing touch I hung one of my steampunk nutcrackers in the center of each wreath:

Our room has always leaned to the more elegant side of steampunk (as opposed to grunge and rust), so I think these fit in nicely.

The little gears are the same foil ones I use on just about everything, which my friend Sharyn makes with her die-cutting machine. They're barely thicker than aluminum foil, and impossible to stick down, but oh so shiny and pretty.

I took way too many pictures of these, btw. Can you tell?

Ok, I think you've got the idea. ;)

I'll leave you with a crappy cellphone pic - taken in the dark - of the whole steampunk room:

You can see how the wreath gears catch and reflect the low light. And consider this a blurry sneak peek at the tree, which I'm super excited to show you guys; the new theme is airships & hot air balloons! *squee!*

Plus the whole room has all these little vignettes of shiny glass and sparkly gold, and lemme tell ya, it's just about the prettiest sick house a sick girl could ask for. (I like to pretend the heavy menthol in the air from my vaporizer is the scent of fresh pine. It's... um... kind of close?)