Have you ever had an idea that lurks in the back of your mind, never seeing the light of day? It rears its head occasionally but quickly gets pushed into the 'too hard basket' and there it stays until the next thought bubble. Do you do this too?

One of my 'lurking' ideas is to make a wreath incorporating lights. I've always been put off by the sight of the electrical lead that strings bulb to bulb. On a recent trip to Bunnings Hardware, I recognised aluminium flashing that the builders have used on our house. Light-bulb moment (sorry for the pun)!! Perhaps I could hammer holes into the flashing and stick the lights behind. Hmmm, it might work....

The best part of the design is that the materials are so inexpensive. All you need is a styro foam ring, aluminium flashing, ribbon and battery operated lights. Of course you will need to set aside an afternoon to create your wreath but I think you'll be happy with the result. Would you like to give it a try?

Illuminated Metal Christmas Wreath

You will need
• One roll of aluminium flashing 150 mm wide x 10 metre length x .3 mm thickness (available from Bunnings or any hardware)
• Styro foam ring 10" or 25 cm total width with 6 cm wide ring (available from Koch)
• Silver ribbon
• Glue gun
• Scissors
• Battery or USB White LED lights 
• Hammer
• Nail
• Eye protection
• Template Cutting Guide

* Please note: our front door is extremely wide and I made an extra large wreath to fit it's proportions (shown above). These specifications and instructions are for a smaller wreath (pictured below) to suit the average door width

1 & 2} Glue a length of ribbon to ring and wrap to cover ring entirely

3} Cut another small length of ribbon and tie a knot. Glue knot to ring and then glue ends down. Trim

4} Download template cutting guide. Using strong scissors, cut out 16 leaves, approximately 10 large scales, 10 medium scales and 12 small scales. Remember to use eye wear for protection!

5} Hammer pinholes into metal. Note a larger hole will allow more light to seep through. Try to avoid hammering metal that overlaps ring

6} Glue onto ring with hot glue gun. Leaves should butt to each other

7} Mark each leaf as a guide to placing the inner 'scales'

8} Starting with the outer large scales, glue slightly overlapping each other. Repeat with other rows ending with the smallest size

9} Wrap lights around ring at back. Use glue or bluetack to keep in place. The more lights will give a better glow!

10} Round points of leaves. Hang wreath using a hook or fishing line