DIY Flip-flop Wreath Tutorial

Friday was my first official day of summer, and I can honestly say I thought it would never arrive! This has been the longest year ever, and I am so happy to finally have a break. I start two weeks of classes today, so I promised myself I wouldn't even THINK about anything school related this weekend.... So please forgive me for posting something that has nothing to do with teaching :)

My friend and I have a craft group and try to make something each month.... But the last few months we've been slackers and haven't done anything... Anyway, the other day she saw a cute wreath that she wanted to make, so we went to Walmart Saturday night and set out on a crafting adventure! I decided to take pictures as we made these because I couldn't find a lot of tutorials on Pinterest.

Forgive me in advance, I don't really care about fancy photography, so all my photos were snapped with my iPhone. That's just how I roll ;)

basic supplies: flip flops, 14" foam circle

Okay here we go....

Supplies needed:

* 4-6 pairs of colorful flip-flops (we found ours for 98 cents each at Walmart!)

*14" foam circle (I used a foam rectangle board and cut out 3 circles so I could make some for some family members) just kinda depends on what you can find in your local craft store -- I would suggest a FLAT one instead of a round one so that the flip flops will glue on better.

* large flower (Walmart didn't have a great selection.... Try Michael's or Hobby Lobby for really cute ones!)

* ribbon to hang it (Walmart craft section or floral section)

* hot glue gun

You will want to get your circle first, then spread out the flip flops to get an idea of how many you need ** make sure you buy the SAME SIZE flip flops. Also keep in mind that depending on the size of circle you get, you will need more or less flip-flops than I used. **

Step 1: spread all the flip flops out the way that you want them to be on the wreath. Play around with it as much as you want right now (as you can see, I overlapped mine just slightly).

Step 2: glue the flip flops together (I did left over right for each pair of flip flops)

Step 3: once the hot glue has dried, lay the flip flops out again to make sure they fully cover the wreath. I've included a few pictures to show you how I layered them. I also used a sharpie to mark where each set of flip flops sat on the wreath (this way I could take them off and glue one pair at a time and be able to put them back in the right spot) -- your flower will cover the middle of the circle, so don't worry about the marker lines.

Step 4: glue each pair of flip flops onto the wreath; you will find a natural "over/under" layout that occurs as you put each pair on the wreath -- just slide them in carefully and make sure to use plenty of glue.  Let the wreath dry for a few minutes after gluing each pair of flip flops onto it.

Step 5: glue your flower into the center of the wreath (you can also add small flowers around the wreath for accents if you wish). You can also add more glue around the edges of the flip flops at this time if necessary to make sure they are glued on extra well.

Step 6: this was definitely a "winging it" step.... Since we were using a foam board, and not an actual wreath, there wasn't a way to hang it.... We just poked two holes with a small screw driver :) here's a picture of the back-side of the wreath so you can see how we tied the ribbon. You could also glue the ribbon, but I felt like a hole in the back worked better. 

Ta-da. There you have it. A fun, summery wreath, for about $10-12. If you make one, I would love for you to share a photo on my facebook page. Thanks for stopping by!