Memorial Day Patriotic Crafts

• Patriotic Painted Pot or Candy Jarby Heidi Ott
• Patriotic Candle Jar
• Stars & Stripes Shirt
• Red, White & Blue Pinwheel
• USA Flag Pins
  

Patriotic Painted Pot or Candy Jarby Heidi Ott

If you leave out the lid, you could also plant flowers in this pot, otherwise it makes a great candy dish for your 4th party!

Materials
small clay pot and saucer
1-inch wooden ball
red, white and blue acrylic paint
paint brushes
masking tape
sand paper
glue gun
glossy spray varnish

Directions
Paint entire saucer blue. Paint outside of the pot's rim blue. Paint remainder of the pot white. Allow to dry. Apply a second coat of blue and white paint to pot and saucer. Apply strips of masking tape evenly spaced vertically from rim to base of pot. Paint stripes with two coats of red paint. Allow to dry and carefully remove tape.

Create a star on thin cardboard to use as a pattern. Trace star outlines evenly spaced around rim of pot. Paint stars white.

Sand wooden ball in one spot to make a flat area. Paint ball white. Glue flat area to center bottom of saucer with glue gun. This creates the lid. Spray pot and lid with varnish.

Patriotic Candle Jar

Need some fun centerpieces for this summer's get togethers? Why not this patriotic candle jar that doubles as a vase! Easy for kids to make, looks great on your table or counter.

Materials
empty glass jarmaterial with a patriotic patternwhite craft gluewaterthick bristled paint brushscissorsgoldenrod ribbonwooden starnavy blue acrylic paintraffiahot glue gun

Directions
Paint the wooden star with navy blue acrylic paint. Set aside to dry. Tie 2 or 3 strands of raffia into a bow. Use the scissors to but the bows so that all of the ends are straight, trim to even lengths. Hot glue the blue star to the center of the raffia. Set aside.

If your patriotic material has flags, cut out a few of the flags and cut the rest of the material into pieces. Size and shape does not matter!

Mix white craft glue with enough water to make a thin, paintable solution that is not see through, mixture should be white. With your paintbrush, paint the glue mixture onto the jar. Work in sections as the glue will dry before you get to it if you paint the whole thing. Paint a section with glue mixture, place pieces of material onto the layer of glue, cover material with more glue mixture. Material will be wet, but not dripping. Continue until the entire jar is covered, pieces are placed on quite randomly. When finished, use the mixture to put the flags over the top of the material scraps.

Use hot glue to adhere a piece of goldenrod ribbon around the rim of the jar. Hot glue the raffia/star to the ribbon, covering the seam.

You can place a votive candle in the jar, or fill it with white carnations for a great centerpiece!

Author's Note: This is a great project for Cub Scouts. We made these in our Bear Den for the Blue and Gold dinner and used them as centerpieces. Each boy made one of their own and they were a hit!

Stars & Stripes Shirt

Materials
cotton or cotton-blend T-shirt red and blue fabric paints paint brush stiff paper or light cardboard for star templates heavy aluminum foil or shirt size cardboard pencil scissors masking tape - 2 inch wide

Directions
Prewash and iron the T-shirt. Fold the T-shirt in half lengthwise to find the center; mark with tape. Place foil or cardboard inside the shirt to stiffen the fabric and protect the back. Smooth the front of the shirt flat.

Cut off a strip of masking tape a little wider then the width of the shirt. Place it across the front of the shirt so the bottom of the tape meets the bottom of both sleeves. Place another strip of tape down the center front of the shirt between the previous tape and the bottom of the shirt. Measure 2-inches on each side of the center tape and mark lightly with a pencil. Place two more strips of tape with the edges along your marks so all strips of tape are 2-inches away from each other. Continue placing strips of tape in this manner across the shirt (see photo). These will be your guidelines for painting the stripes.

Cut a star out of a piece of light cardboard. Use this star template to trace a star in the center of the shirt above the stripes. Trace two more stars on each side and slightly above the center star. Paint the stars with blue fabric paint. Paint the stripes between the strips of tape red. Let dry for several hours. Remove the tape and the foil or cardboard from inside the shirt.

Press: Heat-set the paint if required by the paint manufacturer.

Red, White & Blue Pinwheel

Materials
red, white and blue construction paper
scissors
glue stick
1/4 inch dowel
brass tack

Directions
Cut one 6-inch square from the red paper and one 6-inch square from the blue paper. Cut 4 1/4 x 3-inch strips of white paper and a 1-inch white star.

On the red square draw diagonal lines from corner to corner intersecting at center. Layer red and blue squares together. Cut along the lines through both squares, 3 inches from each corner. Glue white strips onto blue square.

With red and blue paper layered together and red paper on top, bend every other corner to center overlapping the tips. Push a brass tack through center of star and then through overlapping tips. Press end of tack onto the side of the dowel.

USA Flag Pins

Wear your American Spirit with these USA Flag Pins on 4th of July or Flag Day. Decorated beautifully with Red, White and Blue beads, these pins are extremely simple to make.

Materials:
1 large safety pin (1-1/2 inches)
13 standard-size safety pins (1 inch)
Red (44), white (38), and blue (35) beads

Method:
Assemble seven standard-size safety pins by sliding five blue beads and then a white bead, then a red, then white, then red onto the open pin.

Be careful not to stick yourself.

Assemble six standard-size pins by sliding beads on in this order: red, white, red, white, red, white, red, white, red for a total of nine beads on each of the sixpins.

You'll begin and end with red. Assemble the final pin by sliding the red, white, and blue pins onto the large safety pin.

Then slide on the remaining six red and white pins. To ensure that your beaded pins will not fall off of the big pin, spring the hinge on the big pin and slide the beaded pins around and place them on the other side of the hinge.

It's almost like sliding a key onto a key chain.

Wear your American flag pin proudly

Source: http://www.dotcomwomen.com/

Drying flowers for crafts.

I don’t know whether its useful or not,but i got this article which i think is pretty good for craft lovers.

Check this out!Although there are somethings we wish could last forever or a moment we wish would never end, ultimately they do. The memory of the special event, however, can be preserved for us to recall and enjoy for a long time to come. Drying flowers is a simple and inexpensive way to preserve these cherished moments. There are multiple ways to use your flowers and preserve them for crafts and decorations. Whether they were a gift, or from a special day they can be made into something to enjoy long after that time has passed.

One way to preserve flowers and use in crafts is by hanging them to dry. If you decide to preserve your flowers whole, and intact, you will need to decide this before they have fully bloomed. If a flower has opened up too much, when it is dried the petals will fall off. The brighter and more vivid the fresh flower is, the better color it will have as it dries. If you want more intense colors, be sure to start with that trait in the fresh flower. If the dried flower will be used with it’s stem, it would be best to wire the stem while the flower is still fresh. Then attach the flower, upside down, to a wire hanger and leave in a dark place for two to three weeks. If the dried flowers will be stored a while before use, cover them with a light material, such as tissue paper to keep the dust off.

Flowers preserved in this way can be used for a variety of purposes. For a special event, such as a wedding, some people want to preserve their bouquets. After following drying instructions bouquets can be placed as a wall hanging next to the wedding photo, in a shadow box, or simply placed on a table or in a hutch. After flowers are dried they can also be put back in a vase and set on a table. If a single flower is preserved, perhaps to save on space, it can be laid over the wedding frame on in front of the wedding photo. Individually dried flowers can also be used when making a wreath. Flowers do not have to have special meaning, any flower that dries well can be used to make an arrangement. In addition to adding a variety of leaves, berries, ribbon or other embellishments, dried flowers look beautiful in a wreath. Sometimes less is more, if your wreath is not looking right, try lessening the amount of items in it.

Flowers can also be preserved by being pressed. This method is simple and can be used for things you want to keep forever, or for special cards or invitations. Although you can buy kits to press, they can also be made by having several layers of cardboard stacked with flowers laid out on each sheet and then bound with adjustable straps that you can tighten to ensure a successful drying process. Pressed flowers are very versatile in their uses. When making wedding announcements a pressed flower of the wedding colors is a beautiful addition to the invitations. They can also be used to make cards or baby announcements. Another option for pressed flowers is to place them as a garden scene in an old window or frame. Glue them on a separate piece of glass, not part of the original frame, cut to the same size and then placed and secured to the frame. Any size can be attractive and used any where in a home, from a bathroom to bedroom. The flowers do not have to be the center of the picture, but can also be placed around a photo or poem on the mat. This is a wonderful way to incorporate the flowers to the event, but do it in a small, elegant way.

If you can find a way to preserve special memories they will bring joy for years. Although fresh flowers are beautiful, dried ones can be just as enjoyable. By finding various ways to use your flowers, you will be surrounded by your memories and remember those happy times when life might be more difficult.