American Flag Wreath: Crafting Bug Hits Again

Just to keep it real-the sample wreath is in the bottom right corner.  My completed project and the flags I used along with the process are all mine.

I sometimes wish that when the Crafting Bug hits me, the skills or talents that I need would be a symptom of the "bug".  Often I'll get a grandiose idea for something to make for the house or a knitting project to make or a door decor item, but I'll lack the knowledge or talent to pull it off.  I'll normally call upon a friend to help me iron out the kinks, my mother in law to talk me down from a knitting disaster, or my mom to sew the item I've foolishly thought I could handle.

Blame it on blogs, pinterest or shopping, but sometimes I'll get an idea in my head and I just have to give it a whirl.  Take for interest the American Flag Wreath made from flag toothpicks. Easy. Right. Wrong.  Everywhere I looked I could not find flag toothpicks, not a Hobby Lobby, Michael's or Target.  Cupcake sticks were a plenty, but nothing to pick your teeth or hold your cheese appetizer.

Finally, I found the right supply at a local party store and purchased what I thought would be more than enough to cover the wreath form.  Did I tell you that I couldn't find a complete set of instructions anywhere on how to make this project.  One blog said they used over 600 toothpicks and I mocked them; while another claimed she did for about $10 and 250 flags.  I decided to split the difference and try out 300 toothpicks.  Plenty.  Yeah right.

Now, I just needed to decide how to place the toothpick in my Styrofoam wreath; straight, angled; should I start with the outside and work my way in or the other way?  Really, where was Martha Stewart's instruction booklet when I needed it?  Thankfully, when I was about 1/3 of the way through my flag allotment I showed it to an Art Teacher/Friend and asked if she thought I was on track.

Nope. Slant the flags and they will look more like one complete flag on the wreath.  Of course, once I started over, I realized that I would need to reconsider the amount of flags I had on hand.  Not enough.  Thankfully, I was able to nab the last four packets of the flags at the store and while I ended up needing only two more, I'm keeping the others in case a few toothpicks break during the winter storage.

Believe me this thing is coming out on Flag Day next summer and staying up until July 4th.  Who knows I might even pull it out for Veterans Day too!

If you want the instructions for the Flag Wreath, leave a comment and I'll post the directions here.