Vintage Sheet Music Wreath Tutorial

Make an easy sheet music wreath using vintage music sheets and a glue gun. Stunning and unique holiday decor that lasts for years.

One of my most favorite things that I've made for Christmas decor is this gorgeous vintage sheet music wreath.

While it coordinates beautifully with these pretty 3D music sheet ornaments, these music sheet and book page coasters and ornaments like these vintage book page rosettes, it's beautiful all on it's own.

The wreath I made is about 23 inches around which was big enough to make a good show in our ranch-cottage's great room and yet still find a place on the walls of our 1900 farmhouse.

You can make this wreath any size, though - bigger by using three rows of music sheet cones or smaller by cutting the sheet music smaller.

Best of all - you won't believe how easy this is to make! If you have a glue gun and scissors - plus pages of old sheet music of course - you can make this in just about an hour.

Vintage Sheet Music Wreath Tutorial

Supplies

• Vintage/Old sheet music - I made 51 cones from that many pages, but if you were making a smaller wreath you may be able to make two cones from one page
• Cardboard - big enough to make the base of the size wreath you want
• Scissors
• Glue gun
• Ribbon, twine, yarn for hanging

Steps to Make a Sheet Music Wreath

1. Cut the Music Sheets

First, you'll need to cut your music sheets into squares to be able to roll even cones. Mark the longer edge at the spot of the width and cut across (if it's an 8.5x11 page, then you'd want to mark at 8.5 inches to make an 8.5 inch square).

This size will be your biggest size - the bottom layer. To make the smaller cones for the inner layer, you'll need to cut a smaller square from the music sheets.

I cut 6.5 inch squares for the smaller cones, though you should cut one and see how you like it, adjusting the size square as you'd like. You can see above the differences in the sizes and how just a couple inches smaller makes a much smaller cone.

2. Cut the Cardboard

Grab your cardboard and use a large plate (or protractor if you're that kind of household that has one!) to draw a circle in the size you want for the wreath base. Cut along the lines.

Then grab a small bowl, about six inches or so in diameter, lay it in the middle of your cardboard circle and draw around it. Cut along this circle and you have your wreath base.

Note: The cones will hang over the cardboard base so you don't need to make the base as large as your finished wreath. The plate I had was 16.5 inches diameter, so that's the size of my base.

3. Create the Music Sheet Rolls

Roll the larger squares you've cut into cones. You want to make sure that there is a point at the larger open end and that it is the best part of the sheet (be sure it's not just blank, but that there is music showing some) and make the smaller end as tight as you can.

4. Glue the Cone Closed

Unroll a bit of the bottom of the cone and use hot glue to glue them closed so they won't unroll. I sometimes added a piece of tape if the hot glue needed time to dry.

5. Attach Cones to The Base

Once the cone is glued closed, use more hot glue to attach it to the cardboard base. As you can see from the photo above, you want both ends of the largest cone to hang over the base - we don't want any of the base showing.

Glue your first cone to the base and then use it as a guide for placing the cones next to it and then all around the base.

Make one cone at a time and then and use more hot glue to attach them to the first row of the cardboard base. Making one at a time lets you roll the cone bigger or smaller as needed to fit them evenly around the base.

After the first row is complete, use the same method to attach the smaller cones of the second row to the first row. Again making them one at a time and placing where they look best to make the inner row.

6. Attach Hanging Ribbon

Use ribbon, twine, or yard to make a holder for the wreath by one of two methods:

• For wider ribbons like my wreath, you can simply staple the ribbon ends to the cardboard base.
• For thinner ribbon or twine, you can make a hole in the cardboard and thread it through to create a holder.

Vintage Sheet Music Details

While you can use any sheet music you can find (even copies), I used actual music sheets from the 30s, 40s, and 50s that I had been collecting for crafts. They have that wonderful authentic worn and faded color.

The majority of the sheets for this came from a student's practice book (meaning, nothing precious or noteworthy) from the 1940s - complete with the teacher's penciled writings of when it was due, which I think adds so much character.

I also love some of the titles of the pieces. One in the photo above is called, "Right Hand Alone."

There are a couple of "Trills" and "Universal Rhythms."

And of course you've got to have "Equality in Both Hands" as well as "Thirds."

Wreath Storage

When I first made the wreath I would proudly show it off to anyone who came to our Christmas decorated house and when my sister-in-law saw it, she threw me for a loop when she asked, "How are you going to store that?"

I really hadn't thought of that! I did mention it was big, didn't I? And made of paper?

UPDATE: I'm happy to report that I found a large shallow box to fit the wreath and it has made it through many years of Christmas decorating! The tips of the cones are a little bent now, but to me it just adds to the character (see last picture above of the completed wreath - that's more than 10 years after making it!).

Lesson: If storage is an issue, do think about that before deciding on the size of your wreath.

More Holiday Tutorials to Try

• Easy 3-D Vintage Sheet Music Ornaments Tutorial
• Book Page Ornament Tutorial: Accordion-Fold Rosette
• Book Page and Sheet Music Decoupaged Coasters

This tutorial has been updated - it was originally published December of 2011.