Take 6: Spring Yarn Wreath

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I know YOU know I love wreaths.  No news there.  I've made two from yarn.  So what's different about this one?  Well, first off, it's mini.  I mean, sometimes you want a gigantically huge shamrock made out of a noodle on your door and sometimes you just want a little spring subtly positioned just so.  And secondly, well, it's not really a WREATH, per se.  No hole in the middle, you see.  It's a sunflower!  Or more specifically, TWO sunflowers.

For this here project, you will need:
Yellow yarn (I used two different shades)
Brown yarn
Green yarn
Some scrap felt
Floral foam - two half circles (came in a two pack for $1)
2 Circular foam discs (Also came in a two pack for $1 - check out the dollar store, floral section)
wooden skewer (not pictured)
scissors
hot glue gun (of course)

First, wrap yellow yarn all around one of the foam circles.

I mean, ALL around.

Now cut it off.  Yep.  See, if you leave it all wrapped, as above, you can see how bulky it is in the middle.  That's exactly what we DON'T want.  

So you want to cut the yarn apart at the intersection, then trim the strands down just a bit, so the middle will be free of all the criss crossy yarn.  You're only wrapping it up in the first place to get the right length AND to cut a whole lotta yarn all at once.  Otherwise you'd have to measure out each strand and cut a gabazillion.  Annoying.

So, here we are, with the middle yarn free-ish.  Lay your yarn down and place your foam circle on top.  Put some hot glue in the center of the foam and fold your strands up and over the circle, smooshing them into the hot glue.

Now let's give it a little dimension.  Take your darker yellow yarn and wrap it around to measure and cut lots of strands of the right length.  Just as you did before.


Now, taking just a few strands at a time, glue them down to the middle area, wrap around the other side of the circle, and hot glue the other ends to the middle as well - just opposite.

Do that all around the circle, randomly spaced.


You will want to trim down your half circle a little bit, because the diameter is almost as large as the diameter of the flat circle.  (Yeah, I just used "diameter" in my crafty tutorial.  mr would be so proud.)

Now cut a bunch of small strands of brown yarn.

Put a strand around the bottom of a wooden skewer.

Poke the skewer into the green foam circle.

Repeat.

Repeat some more.

Smoosh them up close together.

So your circle looks all hairy now.

Spread hot glue all over the back of the hairy circle.

Press it down in the middle of the flat yellow circle.

Trim any crazy, wild, straggly hairs.

Repeat this whole process with the other flat circle and half circle foam pieces.  


When you're done, you'll have two sunflowers.


Flip one over.  Take your green yarn and cut a strand.  Glue it to the top in a loop and glue a small square of felt over it, to keep it secure.  Then, cut a few strands of green and hot glue it to the bottom, opposite the loop.  Hot glue some felt over it to secure it.

Hot glue the other end of the green strands to the top of second sunflower.  Hot glue felt over it to secure.

You can also hot glue some loops of green yarn to the sunflowers for leaves.

Hang on your front door for a little taste of Spring.

And yes, I know my door needs to be painted, but thanks for pointing it out.

Oh, happy Sunflowers!  Now, if only all the snow would melt.




Now go over to Mandy's.  You'll be sorry if you don't.  Really.

*Be sure to check just below for all the fun parties I link to!