Zipper Flower Wreath

I decided that I wanted to try my hand at zipper flowers.  Turns out, I'm not very good at making them the way so many tutorials say they should be made.  Essentially, most folks seem to be stitching them entirely by hand, and not using hot glue at all.  I can't make the bulk in the zipper behave without using my hot glue gun (which is, by far, my favorite craft tool - it's kind of masochistic of me to choose that, since I can barely use the thing without inflicting third degree burns, but I digress.)  So, for this project, I just fiddled around with them until I felt like I had something presentable.  Fiddling around does not make for a good tutorial.  I say, if you want to make zipper flowers, there are plenty of tutes out there.  If you, like me, are destined for failure at the traditional method (is there a zipper flower 'tradition'?), then try fiddling around with your zippers a bit.  Cut them apart.  Use glue.  Pull out your favorite craft tool.  Whatever it takes.  

But here's my result.  I think, at least this time, fiddling around worked out just fine:

 

Here are some shots of the detail work:

 

 

One thing you may notice:  I've added everything to this wreath by pinning it on.  Those are nothing more than straight pins in the buttons, and the flowers are pinned on, too.  I liked the green yarn base color a lot, and I think it will be versatile, so I didn't want to commit.  I also think I can use those zipper flowers in other ways, as well.  They're even a good match for my wedding colors.  Who knows?

To create the base, I found some really chunky yarn.  It's almost rug weight, but it's really soft.  The wreath form is a large one, but it's just one of those plastic-wrapped straw wreaths.  You can see a bit poking out here, though a bit of careful rearrangement hides that little gap.

 And wasn't the day glorious for taking these photos?  I love it that Spring is starting to show off.  I surfed over to someone's blog the other day and drooled all over their roses, but they were in Georgia, I think.  It's a pretty far cry from Montana.  In fact, I took these pics in the afternoon, but we had had a pretty good snowstorm that morning.  Truly.  It melted off by the time afternoon rolled around.  

I staged this in our blooming apricot tree.  Aren't the blooms beautiful?  I hope this means a nice crop of apricots.  We love them so.

And one shot of my helper.  This is Lucia.  According to MMM, she's five pounds of quivering fury.  I know you're terrified.  It will be OK, I promise.

MMM loves his little dog a lot.  And, unless you have a chihuahua, you don't know what devotion they have.  She is a one man dog.  She tolerates me, but she comes positively ALIVE when he comes in the room.  It's kind of amazing.

I'm pretty devoted to him, too.  I get it!

Love,

Sass