4th of July Details & a Round Up!

My kitchen table needed a little patriotic boost and I was still trying to think of cute things to do with my new stripey straws.  Being red & white they were practically screaming patriotism! 

I grabbed a little bucket and some rubber bands and got to work.

I glued about every 10th straw to the bucket.  If I didn't do that they were uncontrollable!  If I weren't planning on using these in future projects and didn't care I probably would have glued each one.  It would have been much sturdier.  But since I knew this was just a quick temporary fun thing, I didn't bother.  Plus I want to reuse these straws at some point!

Anyway, then I tied a big navy ribbon around it and was done!  10 minute project, tops.

Coupled with my printable I posted last year it is super cute on the kitchen table!

You can download a 5x7 or 8x10 HERE!

Here are some other fun projects and ideas I've seen around the web for your 4th of July fun!

First of all... love this mantel by Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous!  She has the full tutorial HERE on that adorable navy & white striped board and red star.  Love it!

And of course, the girls at eighteen25 never miss with their subway art printables!  I love the colors of their Pledge of Allegiance subway art.  They are printable geniuses!  

I also love this cute printable from my adorable friend Kristy at The Diary of Dave's Wife!  Chevron + America = perfection.

I spotted this on Pinterest as an "uploaded by user" thing so there is no link but how cute, right?   Cut out a star template, sprinkle on some flour, line a walkway... love it!

The next two ideas I LOVE because they could be adapted for any kind of holiday/party!  The first is from Jessica at Two Shades of Pink... she mod podged fabric and paper circles to the bottom of plastic cups!  My love for this cannot be adequately described.

And then Diane from In My Own Style came up with this brillz idea to attach the cutlery and napkin to the paper plate so guests just need to grab one thing and go!  So. Dang. Cute. And. Smart.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!  Mine is insanely busy but in a good way.  I think things will start slowing down in the fall.  :)  PS At Hobby Lobby today there were putting up their FALL decor... FALL!  It's still June!!  What the?

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog,  Thrifty Decor Chick

Easy 4th of July Wreath

I posted my patriotic 4th of July mantel last week and then took off to Girls Camp before I had a chance to post the tutorial on the cute wreath I had made.  After many naps to catch up on sleep since Girls Camp I am now here to fix that.

If you've been following me for a while then you've probably noticed my penchant for quick and easy wreaths.  My favorite thing to do is to wrap straw wreaths with ribbon and pin them (rather than glue) so I can remove the ribbon and reuse the wreath form in the future.    I did just that for the basis of this patriotic wreath.  Starting with wide navy grosgrain ribbon I just pinned it on and started to wrap...

...I then added some red with white polka dot ribbon and then some cute white ribbon with red ticking for some fun detail.

Then, about two weeks before, I had gotten my fun striped paper straws I had ordered from Pick Your Plum!  Yay!   I had seen entire wreaths made out of these fun straws but I just wanted to use them for a quick little accent.

I  cut a few of them in half and hot glued them onto a sturdy cardboard circle I had cut off the back of some packaging.  Then I cut even smaller pieces of straws to fill in between the longer pieces and glued them all in place to make a cute little "strawburst!"  I also used pins to attach that to my wreath.

I had this paper mache star ornament on hand (I had gotten it at Michaels a few months ago) so I doctored it a little.  I cut off the gold string and spray painted it white as I was spray painting the picture frame for the mantel.  

When it was dry I hot glued that on to the center of my "strawburst" to hide the ugly glue/cardboard and was done!

It was the perfect addition to my otherwise square and boxy patriotic decor.  For full details on the rest of the mantel click HERE.

To see my 4th of July Wreath from last year click HERE!

I {heart} the USA!

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Today's Creative Blog,  Thrifty Decor Chick, The Frugal Girls

4th of July Mantel

I love America!   

The good (Pottery Barn), the bad (McDonalds) and the ugly (Walmart)! 

 And I finally got my 4th of July decor up to show my patriotism to this great country.  Here is what I put together for my mantel this year.  I pretty much want to pledge allegiance every time I walk past it!

I made those three patriotic boards for my Etsy shop and could not WAIT to figure out how to use them on my mantel this year!  {you can get the set of three here or individually-- God Bless America, I Heart the USA and Stars & Stripes}

And for that cute piece of art with the United States map on it, I just rummaged through my thrift store frame box and spray painted one white.  I had found this ADORABLE piece of scrapbook paper at Archiver's and just cut out the map and mounted it on that cute navy scrapbook paper with stars and taped it to the back of my frame!  So easy and I love how it turned out.

And now, for my favorite part... the pennant banner!  I gathered my favorite red, white and blue papers (not even really "patriotic" patterns for most of them) and then cut them in to cute pennants.  Then I punched holes in the corners, strung them up with baker's twine and I was done.  

If you have a Silhouette, they have this shape in their online store.  If you don't have one, I created a template for you!  Right click, save and print the image below on cardstock.  Then cut out the design and use it to trace the shape on any paper you'd like.  Cut and string it up!

I'll have a tutorial for that wreath later this week but you can sure bet it was easy too.  Just like all things American!  :)

Have you got your 4th of July decor up already?  Am I a bit early?  Too late?  I never know the timing on these things.  I guess it's never the wrong time to show your love to your country though, right?  God bless America!

Link parties I participate in: Tip Junkie, Tatertots & Jello, I Heart Naptime, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, Craftomaniac, Skip To My Lou, Thrifty Decor Chick, The Frugal Girls

Paper Fireworks

As I am trying to put together my 4th of July mantel this year (yay! one of my favorite holidays to decorate for!) I realized I never posted this on my own blog last year!  This was done as a contributor post over on I Heart Naptime.  

I  loved making these cute paper "fireworks" and still think they are so cute and versatile.  Here is the tutorial on how to make them.  

I love the Fourth of July.  It is a wonderful day to spend with family and friends to remember and celebrate, for just a moment, how truly blessed we are to live in such an amazing country.

That said.... I don't want to spend a fortune decorating for it.  

This year I came up with some of my most inexpensive, yet positively eye-pleasing, Fourth of July decorations to date!  And I'm so excited to share them with you today.  I will show you how to make some easy fireworks decor for your Fourth of July barbecue you are hosting. Or maybe just to gussy up your mantle for the occasion?  Either way, I've got you covered.  

PAPER CRAFTED PATRIOTIC FIREWORKS

Step 1: Go through your scrapbook paper stash and pull out your red, white & blue papers.  This works with cardstock as well as regular paper.

Step 2: Cut your paper to size.  I made various sizes so here is the formula... cut your paper to whatever width (the diameter) you want your firework to be.  Then the paper needs to be 1.5 times as long. 

8 inch diameter firework= 8" x 12" sheet of paper

7 inch diameter firework= 7" x 10.5" sheet of paper

6 inch diameter firework= 6" x 9" sheet of paper

5 inch diameter firework= 5" x 7.5" sheet of paper

4 inch diameter firework= 4" x 6" sheet of paper

I probably wouldn't go much smaller than 4 inches.

Then score your paper every inch or so.  Varying scoring widths here will give you different effects but just make sure it's consistent.

Step 3: Fold paper back and forth like an accordion along scored lines.

Step 4: Find the center of your paper and staple it as perpendicular to the paper as possible (my stapler wasn't QUITE long enough to get it perfectly straight, but it still worked!).

Step 5: Cut the ends of the paper in a decorative way.  Again, different cuts here create different effects.  Round it, cut it at an angle, cut it to a point, etc.... play around!

Step 6:  Fan out half of the firework and tape it together at the top.

Step 7:  Use either regular Elmer's glue or a hot glue gun and glue in two sticks (I used inexpensive bamboo skewers from the grocery store) on either side of the bottom folds.

Once dry, secure the two sticks together and you've got yourself a cute decorative fireworks fan!

I can just imagine these down the center of a barbecue table in bud vases or mason jars!  Or maybe smaller ones stuck in everyone's drinks?  One on each plate?  Endless possibilities!

I decided to forgo the sticks on some of them and simply taped them together on each end.  I then hot glued them to a ribbon and created a fun garland for my mantle!

Combined with the amazing printable Sugartots Designs shared on I Heart Naptime and some paper lanterns I made a while ago, I have one festive Fourth of July mantle going on here!

The best part?  It cost me $0.  Now THAT'S the American (crafters) dream!  Happy Fourth of July!