To celebrate and show our patriotism, I decided to make a special wreath for our front door. I found the instructions on pinterest (where else?) and thought it would be a quick, easy project. Boy, was I wrong! It took me forever to find the colored solo cups that I wanted, turned out they were in the dollar store on the back highway in Bayonne, then I had some troubles putting the whole thing together, but over all this was a great project and I'm proud of myself for sticking with it. Here we go...
When I finally had all the "ingredients," I laid everything out in my living room and got to work. First I set up which cups I needed, in the pattern I wanted- 13 blue to represent the 13 stars on the first flag, then strips of 2 red and 2 white to represent our stripes. Once that was done, I put a strip of double sided tape along the top of each cup, and folded over a piece to make it a little thicker on the cups side.
I realize now that you really can't see the tape on my cups, but hopefully you get the idea! Next, I started sticking them together, as you can see with the blue cups in the picture above. I didn't measure them out so that they all had the exact spacing, I just stuck them together until it made a circle. In retrospect, I should have measured, but I was too excited to get it together to actually take the time. Here's what it looked like once it was all fitted together.
Now comes the fun part! Hot glue time! You have to hot glue them together because the double sided tape just isn't enough to hold them all together. I glued on the inside where they were closest to each other. Once I glued them all together, I let them dry and tried to pick it up... this is what happened....
Frustrated doesn't even begin to describe how I felt about that! But I was not going to quit on my wreath! I got back to work, found the weak links and started gluing again. My husband had a great laugh at my expense! I glued and glued and glued. You can see some of the glue when you get really close.
Once it was set, I flipped it over and glued it on the other side as well. It's quite possible that I went a bit overboard with the glue, but I don't care. Why? Because it's staying together! Here's the final product! It's a little uneven, but it's staying together, it's unique to my neighborhood, and I made it myself, so of course I love it!
I call this an official pinterest win! I strongly suggest that you try making one! How could you not love a red solo cup (sung as Toby Keith) wreath, especially for the 4th of July? Oh, and it will be staying up all summer. Honestly, I wish I had made it in May because it works for Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day. Winning all around!
Time to get ready for a day by the pool with friends, family, good food, and beer! (This is my last holiday before I get pregnant, fingers crossed, so I'm planning on living it up!)
Have a great day and happy crafting!
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