Holiday Project #1 - Wire Picture Holders

As I mentioned in my post last night, I have decided between now and Christmas to post nothing but holiday decorating, craft and gift ideas.  My goal is to make these projects simple, quick and inexpensive....something I think we all want during the busy holidays.  So here's my first easy holiday project that could be adapted for year round use.

We've all seen these picture holders at various stores (you can see I got this one at Goodwill):

I have purchased these and cut off the picture holder part to use in several different projects.  Here's a picture of some Halloween picture holders I made with wood blocks, scrapbook paper and a wire holders.

                                   

                                      

But since these holders aren't always the easiest to find (at a good price to cut apart) I decided to get some wire and make my own. 

I purchased a roll of 18 gauge wire (110 ft. of wire for under $5.00 at Lowe's).  I typically start with a 12" piece of wire for each holder so you get a lot of picture holders for the money.  I had my son take pictures of me making a holder...hopefully this will make sense.

The first step is to bend the wire at a right angle at about the middle of the cut piece.

Next, turn the piece towards you so the bent piece is facing you.

Find something round that you will wrap the wire around to make your circular photo holder.  For this project I just used the glue stick I had in my studio.  For the smaller circle you will see in pictures below I used a Sharpie marker.

Holding the glue stick at the bend of the wire begin wrapping the wire around the glue stick, away from you.

Wrap the wire around the glue stick twice.

Slide the glue stick off the wire and you should have something that looks like this.

With wire cutters cut the tail that was left hanging after you finished wrapping.

With round nose pliers, curl the remaining part of the wire tail around towards the circle (This step is decorative but also keeps you from having the point of your wire exposed.)

 

And here is the finished wire picture holder

The length of the wire can be cut to fit your project.  With the larger ones I made last night I created this using an old wood spool, a scrapbook paper scrap and a sticker:

And using the smaller wire holders (using the Sharpie marker) I was able to take one of my altered bottles (this one is Halloween) and turn it into a picture holder (I plan on doing this with some Christmas bottles).

Or how about sticking one in one of the holes of a vintage silverplated salt shaker.  These would be great for pictures in the dining room or name plates for a holiday dinner.

Once you make some of these you will be seeing all sorts of possibilities to create picture holders out of everyday objects.  They are not only decorative but could make great gifts too.

I am posting today at Just a Girl for her "I Can Make That" Party.  There are a lot of fabulous ideas posted so go take a look.