Summer is a comin'

Here in southeast Virginia, the weather has definitely changed into warm summer days. Don't know what happened to spring, but the air conditioner is on and I'm already thinking of some summer crafts. One of the things I saw when the weather was frightful was the really cute Flip Flop Wreath that is all over Pinterest. So I have been gathering my supplies and today I finally got a chance to work on mine. All of these pics were taken with my phone so the pics aren't the best but I wanted to show you how I achieved the look. I did a lot of searching until I finally found a site that actually said how they attached the flip flops to the wreath.https://familystyleliving.wordpress.com/tag/flip-flop-wreath/

So here is how I did it.
Supplies:
16 flip flops ( found @ thrift stores and dollar tree)
piece of foam board (found @thrift store)
strips of fabric to cover foam board (made from a sheet I found @ thrift store, you can't really see it, but if you look close (click to enlarge pic) between the 2 lime ff at the bottom of the pics you will see it
flat assorted gems, have had for years
silk flowers
jewelry glue
lightweight wire
wire cutters
awl
large eyed needle 

Directions:
Decide how large you want your wreath. I traced a grapevine wreath on the foam board and cut it out to make my wreath base. I have a storm door and there is not a lot of clearance between the front door and the storm door so I wanted the finished wreath to be as unbulky as possible.

I then took my fabric and tore 3 inch strips to wrap the wreath form. You can use ribbon of course, I just had the perfect fabric to go with my colors. Sorry no pictures of this step.
Started laying out my flip flops, the first layer I placed all the the toes to the inside. You will use your awl to make two holes thru the flip flop and thru the foam board, I used the large eyed needle threaded with the light weight wire to place the wire in the holes I made with the awl on each flip flop around the wreath to secure it to the wreath.

Once the first layer is down, the next layer goes between two bottom flip flops with the heel into the center as shown with the blue flip flop on the bottom of the picture. I used my awl and wire and needle to  attach each flop on the top layer on each side of the top flop, going thru the top flop, the bottom flop ( in the picture above, there would be wires going thru the blue, pink and foam board on one side and blue, green daisy and foam board on the other.) Believe me when you are finished wiring, those flip flops are going no place.

Then it's time to decorate. I had a bag of gems that I purchased years ago, probably at Michael's or Walmart and I just blinged them up. Add the silk flowers and you are ready to hang. Didn't it come out cute. I love it. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask, I'll try and help.
And the finished product....