Dollar Store Decorating--Thrifty Summertime Flip-Flop Wreath

• Who can find a virtuous woman? her price is far above rubies
• She worketh willingly with her hands
• She maketh herself (and her home) coverings of tapestry...

Summertime Flip-Flop Wreath

For the last couple of weeks, I've been a woman on a mission.  Several years ago, I made myself a cute spring/summer wreath using a re-purposed grapevine wreath, and some craft ribbon and frou-frou I picked up from Dollar Tree.

Not bad for $3.00 out-of-pocket, huh?

You can see the step-by-step for this one here, if you'd like to click through. I don't know what it was about this wreath, but I just loved it--the colors, the dragon-fly, and the thriftiness of if all combined to suit my fancy, and I hung it out usually from the first sign of anything resembling spring until the leaves were falling off the trees in the fall.





Unfortunately, three years of wear-and-tear, and it being left out in the sun on top of the birdbath (don't ask!) made it just a faded shadow of it's former self. 


I was determined to re-do it with something similar, and went confidently off to the Dollar Tree in search of inspiration.  Unfortunately, apparently craft ribbon like I used here is not the "in" thing anymore--everything seems to be going to the big puffy deco mesh stuff, and while I think some things made with deco mesh look pretty, it just wasn't what I was looking for. 


I even went to the big Dollar Tree when I went to the city for a meeting a couple of weeks ago. 


Disappointment, again.  No craft ribbon, no cute wind chimes, nothing. 


Think outside the box, I told myself.  Too late in the year for spring colors, anyway, what is bright and pretty and summery and cheap and can be hot glued to a wreath?  A hot pink flowered beach bag first caught my attention, but standing in the middle of the store I couldn't figure out what to do with it--and then I spotted the flip-flops hanging right beside the beach bags. 


I'm not much of a flip-flop person, myself, the only time I wear them is to get a pedicure, and those occasions are very few and far between these days.  But they were bright, they were pretty, they were summery, and best of all--cheap!  Oh, and hot-glueable!  So I grabbed a pair in each color.  (I figured if I didn't use them all, I could always throw them in my give-away/donate box for the clutter-busting challenge!)





Step 1--remove the old ribbon stuff. 






Step 2--remove the tags and hanging thingies from the flip-flops







Step 3--try some arrangements.  In pairs...







...or separate?





Step 4--Hot glue to the wreath and to each other. 


Note: The bad thing about hot glue is that it's called "hot" for a reason. 
The good thing about hot glue is, it dries clear, and if you need to move things, once it cools, you can usually just pop things off and peel the hot glue remnants right off.

And here is the finished product on display.  My out of pocket--$5.00 for the flip-flops

I think this would be easier with a styrofoam or straw wreath form--the hot glue did drip through the wreath a little onto my kitchen table--luckily, as I mentioned above, it peeled right off once it cooled.  You might want to do this on newspapers or something if you have a nice table that might be ruined by hot glue dripping on it. 

What thrifty pretty have you bought or made for your house lately?

Until next time...

This post is linked to:
Show and Tell Friday at My Romantic Home
Friday Favorites at Simply Sweet Home
Pity Party at Thirty Handmade Days
Happy Hour Friday at Happy Hour Projects
Anything Blue Friday at The Dedicated House
Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound
Sunday Scoop at I Heart Naptime
Sew Darn Crafty at Sew Many Ways
Penny Pinching Party at The Thrifty Home
Homemaking Party at Hope in Every Season
Wow Us Wednesday at Family Home and Life
A Round Tuit at Creating My Way to Success