Fourth of July Crafts

The 4th of July is one of my absolute favorite holidays: family and friends gathering together, grilling out in the sunshine, exploding fireworks, brass bands playing Sousa marches, and eating all-American food. What could be a better way to celebrate this great country's Independence Day?


Oh, I know! How about a little crafting?

Yesterday, we had a few friends over for a small barbecue. I decided to make a few festive crafts to welcome them. And here they are.....

From Purl Soho's blog (the Purl Bee), I used patriotic colors of felt to make the New Year's Garland.

I  only made one garland because I had a wee bit of difficulty and frustration with the invisible thread. Yes, that's right. I said invisible thread. I didn't even know such a thing existed before reading the garland directions.

I felt so silly while in the thread isle at my local craft store searching for this invisible thread. It seemed like something from the Harry Potter books, sewing with invisible thread. So after finding it, cutting out the felt circles and winding the bobbin with this mystery thread, I began to sew. It started out smoothly, but after a little while the circles began to bunch up a bit. I'm guessing this is due to my lack-of-outstanding sewing skills. To fix this, I simply ironed out the garland gently, which seemed to do the trick.

The next craft, which I admit I have made before, is from Martha Stewart's craft website. They are called Pretzel Sparklers. Basically, you melt chocolate (I used white chocolate this year) and brush the top third of a pretzel rod with the melted chocolate and then cover that part with sprinkles. They always turn out great and look so festive too!

The last craft, which is also from Martha Stewart's craft website, is called Easy Sand Candles.  My 2 year old daughter helped me with putting these together and boy did she have a swell time. If it was up to her, she would have put sand in and on everything in our kitchen! If you are doing this craft with children, I suggest putting a rimmed cookie sheet under your cups to catch any stray grains of sand that miss the intended target.

And finally, here are a couple pictures of my finished products. I vow to one day own a very pretty camera and develop amazing photography skills, so that my pictures will not continue to look so second-rate and ordinary.... anyway, here they are....

Happy 4th of July, everyone!!!