Independence Day Decor

Well it's about that time! Time for parades, BBQ's, and FiReWoRkS! Yes, it's almost the 4th of July! So I thought I would write this post before the actual holiday, so you can make these crafts for this year. I am cutting it kind of close, but hey, it's better than most of my other posts where I show you what and how I made my decorations after the fact. So here you go.

First up is my tulle wreath. Click HERE for the link on where I found the idea. I love this wreath so I just copied it rather than doing something different.

You'll need tulle (I purchased 2 yds. of blue and 3 yds. each of red and white), a foam wreath, scissors, ribbon (that matches), wooden stars, mod podge, glitter, a sponge brush, and hot glue gun.

First, cut strips and strips and more strips of your tulle. This is my least favorite part but necessary. Then I grabbed 3 strips of one color and put them together then fold in half. This is the tricky part, not because it's hard to do but just hard to describe. So just follow the directions from the link above. I used the same tying technique. It's like a loop knot where you put the tulle around the wreath and slip the loose ends of the tulle through the middle of the tulle loop and pull tight. Here's what it looks like.

I like the look of this loop knot better than just a regular knot. Anyway, I did a quarter of the wreath in all blue tulle. Then I did the rest in red and white stripes (I did three red, then three white and repeated until I hit the other side of the blue tulle).

When you're done with the tulle it's time for the stars. Paint your wooden stars white.

After the paint dries, put a layer of mod podge on the star and then place in the glitter, coating the whole star. Let dry.

Next, start hot gluing the stars to your wreath. I glued them to the blue tulle and started by gluing one in the middle and then one on each side.

Then I glued the ribbon on (I should have done it like the one I linked to, by gluing the ribbon first and then tying the tulle around it to cover it up). I just folded the ribbon in half, glued the two ends together, and then glued the ends to the wreath where the blue and red tulle meet.

Note: I ended up pulling the ribbon back and cutting some off because when you looked at it face on, you could see the ribbon coming around from underneath and I didn't like the way it looked. So just glue in the middle of the wreath rather than gluing it all the way to the front again. I hope that makes sense. But to avoid this issue, just glue the ribbon on first before you add the tulle.

Trim the tulle all the way around the wreath so they're all the same length, and tada!

Okay, my second craft. Super easy. Buy wooden letters from the craft store. I bought a "U", "S", and "A" well, because it's the 4th of July.

So you'll need wooden letters, red and blue paint, mod podge, and sponge brushes. I painted the "U" red (I know, for us BYU fans, this is an abomination but I didn't even realize what I'd done until after I painted it and my husband pointed it out). I painted the "A" blue and then after a few coats and the letters were dry, I mod podge the two letters to make them shine and seal the paint. I left the "S" white, how it came, and you're done.

And my last craft, are the fire crackers! Click HERE for my inspiration.

You'll need tubes (I used a paper towel roll, Pringles containers, and a baby cracker container), patriotic paper, stickers (letters, stars, etc.), ribbon, silver pipe cleaners, and tape (double sided is the best so you can't see all the tape but I ran out so I just used regular). Tubes with lids are easier too because then you have somewhere to stick the pipe cleaners.

So first, you'll wrap the tubes with paper and then tape closed. Replace lid.

Then using stickers and ribbon, decorate each tube to your heart's content.

Last, I wrapped the pipe cleaners around my fingers to curl them and then pulled the curl out, so it's not too tight. Then I poked a hole in each lid and put 3 pipe cleaners in each lid. For the paper towel roll, I just taped the pipe cleaners to the inside of the roll.

And voila. Your very own fire crackers!

And here is my finished mantle.

The banner and circle fans I bought at Dollar Tree. Click HERE for my subway art. I printed one off for each holiday.

Happy Independence Day and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!