Tulip wreath #1

    In the last two days, I have made two different types of Spring Wreaths. I have the materials to make two more. The first two aren't for myself. One was for a friend. This one is for my father-in-law to hang on my mother-in-law's grave.
    Mom LOVED decorating for any and every season or occasion!! And usually it was not just a couple of things here or there. No, no, no. You always knew what holiday it was, or which one was coming, once you entered her house. And often even before you entered. The front yard usually showed signs of it too.
     So when I decided that I was going to make one of the wreaths I had found on Pinterest and really liked, I questioned Brian if I should make one for his mom's grave too. He got teary eyed and replied, "that'd be a good idea". Last Sunday when his dad was here, I questioned him about the idea. He too got all misty eyed and said, "she would have appreciated that".
    Amy took me shopping on Thursday and I picked up the supplies. My brain was ever so fussy on Thursday... I am so-o thankful for Amy and how patient and protective she is of me! What a blessing of a friend!
    My plan had been to go to one store and pick up the type of silk flowers I wanted. They didn't have them. Period. We found it strange that they didn't have any tulips. B-u-t, they did have these silk roses.. and they were on sale... That wreath is yet to be made. o;-p.
    We went to another store. One where I often go to get silk flowers. They had them. By the boat load. But not a single type of their flowers were on sale. And I recoiled when reading their non sale prices. Bother!
     Okay, I'll be brave and try a third store. They did have them, but at first I didn't think I was going to buy any. See, I wanted three specific colors of them. But it appeared as though all they had, were stems of them with more than one color flower on the stems. And none of the stems had only the color combinations I wanted. And no, I didn't want to change my color scheme. Turned out that whom ever had stocked their display case, had stuck them in so that all of the stems were mingled together. It took a bit of pulling and separating, but I was willing to do so to get only the colors I wanted!

     Here's a link so that you can see the picture I had pinned of the wreath. Turned out that the 'trail' didn't lead back to a tutorial on how to make them, rather it went to a etsy shop where you could order one. "Okay then, you've made plenty of wreaths before. Your capable of winging this!" (I said to myself.)

    I gathered the supplies together on the floor in the living room, turned on a show I wanted to watch, and got started.
    First step was to divided the flowers in half, so that I didn't accidentally use too many on mom's wreath and not have enough left to make one for myself.
    Second step was to use the wire cutters to cut each stem off of the bunch.
    Third step is to start laying the flowers out around the wreath to see how I want the finished project to look.

     A row of yellow tulips all the way around.

      A row of pink.

       A second row of yellow.

      A second row of pink.

       Add in the purples here and there.

        Take one single flower, wrap a cut piece of the metal wiring around it.

         Wrap the wire around the metal wreath frame itself.

          Add a couple more flowers.

          And  a few more.

          Sometimes you end up needing to lift some already wired on flowers up a bit so that you can wire more on.

       Here's what it was starting to look like from the underside.

         I got most all of the flowers attached all of the way around the wreath and got to the point where it looked like this.Hummm... What had she (the owner of the etsy shop) done?          Oh!  She had attached all of the flowers so they went in the same direction all the way around the wreath. I on the other hand, had all facing upwards. In other words, on both the right and left sides, the bulbs were facing upwards. The bulbs then met in the middle of the top and the stems were meeting in the center of the bottom. I got them as overlapping as I could on the bottom... but what should I do with the middle space?!!
        I didn't have any appropriate ribbon on hand, so I couldn't just hide the area under a big bow.

       I tried spreading the leaves out like this and tying them into place.
      Humm, that doesn't look too good.

      I tried adding a couple more flowers, after cutting their stems much shorter. But the wiring still showed.

         I tried taking a single flower bulb and running some of the wiring through the middle of it.

        To the end that was going to be inside the bulb, I made a big knot so that it wouldn't pull free.

         What the inside then looked like.

          Ran the other end of the wire up and around the wreath.

           Then around the bulb and secured it.

      I'm not showing you how that looked. Why not?  It looked so tacky I immediately removed it with out stopping to take a picture. Bother!

      I tried a couple more ideas.....

      In the end, I got the already attached leaves to lay just so, and hot glued the bottoms of them so they'd stay.

       The finished wreath.

     Not sure what I'm going to do when I make the one for myself. Do I make the flowers go one direction around the wreath, or do I do it this way again? ....

     The guys are headed down to dad's tomorrow on a particular errand. Hopefully they'll remember to take the wreath along.

      All in all, I got through several shows during the course of making it. Yes, it might have gone a bit faster if I hadn't also been watching TV. On the other hand, not necessarily. See, my quick hand work on projects seems to have left my repartee of abilities, when I became 'Ms. Vertigo'. 8-/.  BUT, I refuse to just give up!

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I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:
 ~ "Saturday Is Crafty Day", hosted by Laura, at 'Along For The Ride' (http://iamalongfortheride.blogspot.com/)
 ~ "the simple things", are hosted by Rebecca, at 'simple as that' (http://rebeccacooper.blogspot.com/). 
  ~ "Amaze Me Monday('s)", are hosted by Carrie, at 'Dittle Dattle' (http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", are hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)'  (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).
  ~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Jen, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven'  (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
  ~ Show Me What Ya Got" (Tuesday's), hosted by Stacey, at 'Not JUST A Housewife' (http://www.notjustahousewife.net/)
  ~ "Anything Goes" (Tuesday's), hosted by Tammy, at 'Type A Decorating' (http://typeadecorating.blogspot.com/)
  ~ "Hookin Up With The Hepworths Every Thursday", hosted by Allison, at 'House of Hepworths' (http://www.houseofhepworths.com) 
 ~ "Inspiration Friday('s)", hosted by Vanessa and Heather (sisters), at 'At The Picket Fence' (http://www.atthepicketfence.com)
  ~ "Feathered Nest Friday('s)", held at 'French Country Cottage' (http://www.frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com)