DIY MOMS - Red, White & Blue

By Leslie Pleasants
4th of July is right around the corner.  To me the best memories I have of the 4th of July is when I am with my family and friends.  When you gather all together and have a BBQ... kids are running around....  everyone is mingling... summer is HERE! 

Celebrate in style with these great DIY Red, White & Blue decorations and ideas!   The more you get in the spirit the more your guest will too!!

Pom-Poms

Vellum paper

Scissors

Double sided tape

To make pom-poms, fold a 3-by-15-inch piece of vellum in half twice lengthwise. Cut slits every 1/8 inch, leaving inch at the top uncut. Unfold the paper, and attach a 1-inch piece of double-sided tape to one uncut corner; adhere to a bamboo skewer, and wrap the paper around several times. Once you reach the other end, use another piece of double-sided tape to secure. Curl the lower strips with the edge of a scissor blade, as you would a ribbon.

by Martha Stewart

 
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Pinwheels

•Scrapbook paper (preferably with double-sided pattern)

•Wooden dowels

•Hot glue gun and hot glue

•Double-sided tape

•Scissors

•Star stickers

•Spray adhesive (if necessary)

1.To create dual-sided pinwheels, gather double-sided scrapbooking papers in patriotic hues, or if you can't find pages in palette, create your own. Find pages in contrasting patterns, and use the spray adhesive to adhere them together.

2.Cut paper into square shapes — we made 8-inch and 6-inch squares to create pinwheels of varying sizes.

3.Fold squares in half diagonally to create a triangle. Crease.

4.Open the triangle and fold diagonally the opposite way. Crease.

5.Open up the triangle and flatten out the square.

6.Cut along each diagonal fold three-quarters of the way to the center.

7.Pull the tip of every other corner toward the center. Use double-sided tape or white craft glue to adhere the first tip to the center, then each folded-in tip on top of each other. When you finish, you'll have the pinwheel shape.

8.If you want your pinwheel to spin, skip to step 10. If not, simply hot glue the pinwheel to your wooden dowel. Skip cutting down wooden dowels from the hardware or craft store and use inexpensive flag dowels (removing the flags, of course).

9.Finish your pinwheel with a decorative star sticker in the center.

10.If you want your pinwheel to spin, you'll need to push a pin through the center (a straight pin works), then a bead beneath the pinwheel. You'll drive the pin into your dowel with a hammer. If needed, fold over (or cut and then fold over) any part of the pin that sticks through to the back to prevent injuries.
by good housekeeping

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Garland
Letter-size, stationery-weight paper in red, white, and blue
Paper cutter or scissorsby censational girl
Ruler
Pencil
Bone folder
Mini-stapler
1/8-inch hole punch
White cotton string

1. Cut paper to 6 by 11 inches. Using a bone folder to make crisp folds, fold the paper in half; then, fold it in half twice more. Open the folded paper, and use the creases as guides to accordion fold the paper to resemble a fan.

2. With the paper still folded, find the center, and mark it with a pencil. Use a desktop stapler to staple the center. (The staple should be perpendicular to the folds.)

3. Make a mark, 1 inch from each end on the folded side of the fan. Using scissors, trim both ends of the paper on an angle, starting from the 1-inch marks and cutting to the paper's edges.

4. Fan out the paper to form a star, and bring the ends together. Staple the ends together with a mini-stapler.

5. With a 1/8-inch hole punch, punch 2 holes, one fold apart from each other. Thread cord through one hole, around the back of the star, and then through the other hole.
by martha stewart
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Star-Spangled Luminarias

Brown paper sacks
Blue and Red tissue paper
Glue stick
Tea light candle

1. Cut a star from cardboard (ours was 2 1/2 inches from point to point) and use it as a template to cut other stars from red and blue tissue paper.

2. Glue the stars to the insides of lunch bags with a dab or two from a glue stick. For a bit more pop, add other small star-shaped stickers on the inside and perforate the sides with a star paper punch.

3. Fill each bag with 2 to 3 inches of sand and sink a tea light or votive candle into the sand. Place the luminarias in a spot outside where you can keep an eye on them, and light the candles. (Tip for parents: To avoid scorching your forearm, light a piece of uncooked spaghetti and use it to light the candles.)


4. From inside the bags, the tissue paper stars will cast a red and blue glow guaranteed to shine on long after the twilight's last gleaming.
by family fun
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Wreath

Red, White an Blue yarn

Foam or straw wreath

Die cut stars

(or print out from computer an cut on cardstock)

Hot glue gun

If you use straw wreaths do not unwrap the plastic.. you will just end up making a mess.

1) Start with one color and glue down one end and start wraping.  You might want to premark the wreath on where you want each color to be so you don't get confused.

2) Once you get all the ribbon around then you can glue on the stars.  If you want to make them different heights you can hot glue them to little objects first then glue to the wreath.

Now you have a 4th of July wreath that is super cute and inexpensive!

by the creative imperative.blogspot.com      

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Easy Sand Candles

Red, White and Blue sand

Various glasses or vases

Skinnier glass to fit inside

Tea light candle

To make a sand candle, fill a clear drinking glass with enough sand so that a votive candle placed on top falls just below the rim. Set the glass inside a clear glass vase or jar. With a funnel, fill the gap between the two containers with layers of colored sand, using enough to reach the rim of the drinking glass.

by martha stewart

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Firecrackers

Toliet paper tubes

Felt sheets (paper size), cut in half

Ribbon

Decorative paper

Double sticky tape

Small toys or candy

1) Fill the tube with candy, gifts or toys. 

2) Take you felt and wrap it around the tube.  Tie each end with a piece of ribbon.

3) Now you can be creative on what you want to do.  You can leave it as is or you can use some decorative paper and stamps or write a persons name on them or you could even write 4th of July on it.  Wrap it around and use the double sticky tape to hold it together.  Great for party favors, decorations, placecards, etc...

by  fantasy celebrations

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Festive Cans

Prepainted cans or silver
Ribbon
Hot glue gun
Double sticky tape
Flowers
Flags

Add a bit of ribbon with hot glue to the back seam.  Then use double sided tape to guide your ribbon around the canister, and keep it straight.  Use one more dab of hot glue to keep the other end of the ribbon in place.