Let Freedom Ring

A Little History~
In 1776, Congress declared that there was a new, independent nation, the United States of America.

In honor of our countries independence I have created a freedom wreath! This wreath is both easy to assemble and somewhat inexpensive. On Etsy.com, a comparable wreath would be priced between $50 and $130.00. I find solace in knowing I can accomplish the same effect if not better at a fraction of that price. Between the in-store sales and my coupons for Joann's, I saved about $25.00 and the overall cost of this wreath was $25.15. No... not the most inexpensive wreath, however, it will hang on my door every year when celebrating our independence!

First Things First~
I first did a little Pinterest searching for creative inspiration and pinned the wreaths that I wanted to take my inspiration from. Next I grabbed my coupons, wallet, and headed to Joann's in search of the perfect materials.

Red~
First I walked around the store to see what materials I could utilize for my Red, White and then the Blue. I searched first in the flower section for my red. Unfortunately, the flowers were not on sale so I had to be choosy about what I selected but would still make an impact. I found the red African Daisy in the clearance area and they looked like a bursting firework to me so I snagged it up.. and then I luckily found a second one! At $1.79 each I couldn't go wrong.  

White~
Next I searched for some white flowers. There is always a big selection of white or white-ish flowers. So I searched them over looking for a great pairing flower for my red firework flowe And for one that the price was reasonable as well. r. I found the Dahlia flower at $5.99 each (plus one was 60% off and the second was 30% off!). Now we're at 6.59 for the two white flowers.

Blue~
I found this awesome blue metal star that had the same diameter as the center of the wreath and was in the holiday clearance area! Perfect! The star was originally $14.99 down to$4.49. I love when things just come together. 

A Strong Base~
I really like using the grapevine wreaths so I knew I would go with it again. A grapevine wreath is only $4.99 at Joann's and is a great option for just about any wreath design. The trimmed flower stems secure nicely in the branches with a little help from the hot glue. Also it gives it a nice neutral background that you don't have to worry about covering every square inch for a nice finished look.

All Together Now!
The last piece of my wreath was the American flag. I didn't want to just have the red, white, and blue on my wreath. I wanted to have our flag as well - the ultimate symbol of our freedom! Joann's was selling American flags as well and I found the 12" x 18" flag to be a perfect fit for the size of the wreath. The cost of the flag was $2.49.

Fill Me In~
Burlap is really in for decor and I knew I wanted to have some accenting my wreath. I looked at the spooled burlap and the price just was more than I would like to typically pay. So I continued looking through the isles and found these 4" x 4" burlap squares that I could thread through or hot glue them in place. The filler squares were $4.99 for the stack and I only used about 1/3 of them. In the end I used about $1.66 worth of squares.

All my supplies~

Just Right~
First I take the flowers and trim all the metal stems to be about three inches in length.This makes them just long enough to weave through the wreath, but not stick out the back. Then I took some thick ivory thread and tied the blue star in the center of the wreath. I typically don't secure anything until I know the placement is perfect, but this part of the process would not change. Next I did a test run and arrange everything, with the exception of the burlap filler, and tweak till it's just right.
Now we're ready for the hot glue! Next step is just putting some hot glue down on the flowers and replace them where they were. After the flowers were in place I took the leaves that came on the white Dahlia's and hot glued them in place throughout the wreath.

The next step was placing the burlap squares. I folded the squares diagonal and then diagonal again and glued them in place.

The flag was a little tricky to get it folded just the right way to look as if it is waving. I trimmed the flag staff and stuck it in the wreath at the bottom. Then I secured the top half down by using the burlap string that was holding all the squares together by weaving it through the wreath and tying it to the top of the flag staff. I then made some folds to give the flag the appearance of blowing in the wind. And Viola!

Laid out how I would like to assemble~

And the last piece of the project was just filling in more burlap to really get the wreath to have a full feeling!
Here is the final project! Hope you enjoy and enjoy your 4th of July Holiday weekend!
God Bless~